Greed is Good

"Wall Street"

I don't know much about the business of the stock market.  So I suppose there's a lot in the language of Oliver Stone's Wall Street that I probably missed.  Just like in Margin Call, the characters speak in tons of lingo and use terminology that is above my understanding.  But after having sat through the whole film, one can look back and realize that getting bogged down in the choice of words isn't worth the worry.  It's the themes of this flick that are significant and still prevalent throughout society today.  Greed, power, corruption, moral dilemmas, and business ethics all play apart in this tale of one man's rise and fall in a world full of business suites, beautiful woman, extravagant penthouses, and fat paychecks.

Bud Fox, (Charlie Sheen) like so many other Americans wants to become rich, successful, and live in the lap of luxury.  When we meet him though he lives in a crummy one bedroom apartment, struggling to pay his bills (and student loans,) going to his father (Martin Sheen) for money just to stay afloat.  Bud works at a piddly investment firm as a stockbroker.  He is a small fish in a big pond.  The shark that he aspires to be goes by the name of Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas.)  Bud's goal is to somehow woo Mr. Gekko.  By giving him some insider information about upcoming transactions that would then greatly inflate Gordon's bank account, Bud then could be shown the ropes of what it takes to become a successful stockbroker on Wall Street.  The question though is, how much of his own personal dignity is Bud willing to sacrifice at the hands of his mentor?

Gordon Gekko is a bad guy, there's no way around it.  But he is a business bad guy.  A certain charisma and likability follows him in every scene.  Douglas knows how to play this character with fantastic style, cunning smarts, and underhanded shrewdness.  Considering that Bud has a rather low opinion of his father, Gordon steps in as this paternal figure that he can look up to.  At the same time though Gordon and Bud's relationship isn't as cut and dry as it appears on the surface.  Gordon keeps Bud on this leash that changes lengths throughout the picture.  Bud is only willing to learn so many new tricks from his master before he then bites the hand (deservedly so) that feeds him.  

There is an interesting power struggle between the two characters.  Stone achieves this not only through Douglas' and Sheen's performances but also through Robert Richardson's camera movement.  Many scenes have this effective theatrical style of presentation to them.  I think this adds a dimension of realism by allowing us to be a part of the show.  Intimacy works in a film like this because the story is so contained to really only a few characters.  When Bud confronts Gordon over some shady (to put it mildly) business dealings, Richardson's camera acts as more than just a fly on the wall.

Oliver Stone has put together a somewhat dated but still very effective character driven piece with top notch performances from his two leads.  Wall Street gives us yet another glimpse into the seedy underbelly of corporate America.  While the screenplay is predicable I wasn't ever uninterested in what was going on.  Gekko is such a fascinating character to watch.  He clearly lives up to his last name.  The suave intensity Douglas shows us is wonderful but also conflicting to our morals.  I wanted to like him but I know that would be wrong, so wrong.  For a character to evoke so many different emotions in the viewer can sometimes be a good thing.  The complexities of Gordon Gekko are unique to the world of Hollywood villainy.  Greed knows no limits.