Wall Street (1987)

The Criterion notes describe this movie as a classic Faustian bargain, set in the backdrop of the 80s Wall Street excess. For those who know me, I love a classic Faustian bargain, especially when it involves moral dilemmas where neither choice seems quite right. Consider In the Mood For Love for example, where the underlying moral dilemma makes for my favourite film of all time. When we put this exciting moral quandary up against the extravagant set design and locations promised by 80s Wall Street, you can see how I found my perfect Saturday evening watch.

The first half did an excellent job of living up to these expectations: the pacing was perfect, the locations were striking and the new world that faced our protagonist (Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox) was seductive. This is not an easy feat, especially when it comes to pacing a movie set on Wall Street, where everything is in go mode and everyone is one step away from catastrophe. The film successfully executed this demanding task, and perfectly sketched out the shades of the speed in this very high-paced world (from the crowded floors in the trading center, to the stop and go nature of the conversation between Bud and Gordon, to fleeting moments of luxury like the squash clubs). The camera work was also scintillating. My favorite shot is the one where Bud and two of his fellow traders are shown in the same frame (one of these traders is middle aged and the other visibly older), communicating the progression that faced Bud. The beautiful locations include the beach house party, the exclusive restaurant Bud gets invited to, and Gordon’s office which faced the magnificent New York skyline. I left the best for the end, Michael Douglas was absolutely amazing in the role of Gordon Gekko.

The narrative arc was perfectly established by the first half. Bud starts by sharing some insider’s information to Gordon in hopes of breaching his inner circle, and soon finds out that he must keep repeating this “deal”, ie he must get Gordon insider information to trade with, in order to stay there. Bud has many opportunities to get his foot out of the game. At one point, we even see him signing a waiver which legally protects Gordon in case any information is found but the allure of the world at hand is just too much for him to ignore. Even the audience feels this very allure (courtesy of the tight writing, locations and camera work), and we prepare ourselves to watch this “deal” play out.

Unfortunately, just as we prepare ourselves for a payoff or an inflection point, things start to break down. I first felt this with the “speech” that Gordon Gekko delivers to the Teldar shareholders, where he gives us gems like “Greed is good” (if you were wondering, yes that is indeed verbatim). I found this speech to be far too on-the-nose and got the sense that they were preparing us for some grand showdown where Gordon is the villain. Side note, Gordon most certainly is, but we didn’t need this information to be presented so explicitly, certainly not by making him seem like a financial Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb. Then, the movie veers to Bud trying to save his Dad’s company (Bluestar Airlines) by having Gordon acquire a majority stake. The grand plan is that Gordon acquires a majority stake and makes Bud the primary executive for Bluestar, and they save the company from certain bankruptcy. This plotline was ripe with opportunity, especially the parallels between the righteous, genetic Father (Bud’s dad) and not-so-righteous, adoptive Father (Gordon) and how that would play out.

Sadly, the movie was not able to profit from this storyline and started to tumble from here on. The obvious factor is turned up a notch, everything is communicated with grandiose, dramatic moments and we fully enter into black and white, children’s cartoon fantasy mode. I’ll spare you the details, but Gordon predictably tries to sell off Bud’s dad’s employer for parts, Bud decides to do the “right thing” (even whispering “Who am I?” into the air at one point) and (possibly) saves the day. The final line delivered by his real Dad is along the lines of “Trading is bad, make something of yourself.”

I rated this film 3/5 on my Letterboxd. I recommend watching it once if only for the great acting and the exciting first half.