Wall Street

Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Stanley Weiser and Oliver Stone. Starring Charlie Sheen (Bud Fox), Tamara Tunie (Carolyn), Franklin Cover (Dan)

Bottom line: Wall Street is known for Gordon Gecko’s monologue about greed but, as a whole, it is sexist and greasy movie that can, for the most part, be missed.
2/4

Wall Street is about an ambitious financial director, Bud Fox (Sheen), who is trying to make his fortune in New York. He comes from humble background: his father, Carl Fox (Martin Sheen), is the honest union leader of mechanics for a regional airline. He disapproves of his son’s profession, insisting that a traditional, honest hard working job is the ticket. But where’s the money and power in being a mechanic? Bud’s hero is the suspender-equipped, veritable God of Finance, Gordon Gecko (Douglas). After years of working, Bud is granted audience with the economic giant. With him, Bud brings a box of illegally ascertained Cuban cigars (Gecko’s favorite) and his best stock options. Gecko already knows the options so, in a last ditch effort to demonstrate his worth, Bud tips off some profitable (and illegal) insider information with regard to his father’s airline. This is the start of Bud’s downward spiral into corruption and greed.

The little stock tip leads to Bud tailing a CEO to figure out future market patterns, a move which could potentially end a steel company putting hundreds out of a job. After that, he literally breaks into a company’s office to find out more secrets. He starts to make fortunes beyond his dreams (which are hidden in offshore accounts) but at what cost?

Wall Street is famous particularly for Gecko’s monologue where he says, “Greed is, for lack of a better word, good.” Michael Douglas does a wonderful job of portraying the cold-blooded backstabber Gordon Gecko. He makes a twisted grimace of a smile much like the Grinch. Have you heard of Glengarry Glen Ross? Alec Baldwin won Best Supporting Actor for his seven minute monologue and yet I don’t think I’ve met anyone who has seen anything but that scene. Wall Street is like that too, you can go ahead and see that scene and you can get the idea of the movie.

I was talking to a friend about this movie and we discussed the role of money in Wall Street. It is the prime subject of the movie but we only actually see any cash once or twice. Everywhere they are talking about how this painting is worth two million or that rug one million; his wealth is virtualized. He explains that money is “a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses…” He plays within the constructs of the financial system, manipulating it. He “doesn’t make anything but owns everything”. In fact, Gecko doesn’t actually own anything he just owns the concept of wealth. Compared to other movies which feature money (like Scarface), money is the means not the ends.
Perhaps this shift is to show to universality of money, as opposed of US dollars, and a burgeoning global economy. What better way to illustrate a rapidly changing geographic presence than to have Carl Fox work for an airline? Even in honest work, the world is now accessible. We can also look at the other characters in the movie. One of Gecko’s rivals was recently knighted by the Queen and hopes to invest in American companies. We also see Gecko meet with Japanese businessmen.
To merge the ideas of a global economy and a changing sense of wealth consider the conversation between the Fox father and son. When Bud states, “There is no honor in being poor anymore,” is the movie disagreeing? I don’t think so. I am leaning more towards saying there is honor in general integrity or that economic standing does not necessarily correlate to character.

I’ve seen this movie twice and, to my surprise, there are two different version of the move: one with epilogue text and one without. Bud is arrested by the FCC and gives them information to implicate Gecko. The finale sequence shows Bud in a car with his father. “I am going to be arrested,” Bud says as he steps out and walks alone up the stairs to the courthouse. The camera zooms back to show New York as busy as usual as if nothing happened at all. Text appears to say that Bud served some amount of jail time and the information he provides was used to arrest Gecko. Without the text, this is a much more depressing finale. For all we know, Gecko is able to continue unabated in financial manipulation. The two different versions remind me of Blade Runner, the theatrical release included a voice-over which explained the plot and changed the ending because it was more palatable for general audiences. This was such a drastic change that it affect the movie as a whole, I just found the difference noteworthy.

When all is said and done, however interesting it was, I didn’t really like Wall Street. I found the sexism to be greasy and sleazy. It was enough to turn me off to the movie. When Bud gets his new office, for example, he “gets this pretty thing too” referring of course to his female secretary. Bud’s one coworker only wants “an eighteen year old Bimbette”. To say that Wall Street is a male dominated, sexist environment would be true but it isn’t like the movie is including this stuff ‘to show the reality of Wall Street’ it is a selling point. There isn’t any criticism of it. The worst example when we see Bud’s initial girlfriend (if you can call her that); she isn’t ever given a name but referred to as “that same French girl”. She is naked and getting out of bed while Bud works at his computer. She stands up, stretches and walks out of the frame; we see her entire body with the exception of her face. This is bad. It makes me want to wash my hands and eat a salad. At least the movie is consistent with this feeling. I associate it with Charlie Sheen so he is a perfect fit for the starring role.

I have to really think about how to recommend Wall Street. I didn’t like it and it wasn’t a particularly enlightening experience. It provided some pleasant enough food for thought but was it really worth it? With your critical hat on and if it is convenient then I would say “fine,” but otherwise you aren’t really missing much. You could always just see Gecko’s monologue and save yourself some time.