Wall Street (1987)

You can watch Wall Street and take it for face value. If you want to do that, all you have to do is watch Michael Douglas, probably the most underrated actor of the last 30 years, give his greed speech. You will be amazed at this man's talent for delivering a performance. You can watch Daryl Hannah give a flawless interpretation of the high priced trophy girlfriend/wife. And you can just feel the disappointment that your father showed you the first time you let him down when you watch Martin and Charlie Sheen deliver the hospital scene. The story is a classic. It is purely timeless. The setting is as grand as the money that they are playing with. The supporting cast is excellent (realtor, boss, traders, etc.) This film is everything a casual movie fan needs to sit for 2 hours and be entertained. However, if you want to look deeper into the film you will appreciate the true intent of Mr. Stone's effort. Don't get too caught up in the façade of tall buildings, trading stock and corporate tycoons. Wall Street is not necessarily all that it seems. Rather, it is consistent with Mr. Stone's clever work in the past. It seems that to a creative genius like Stone, it is not enough to make the typical story of the kid hits it big and suddenly crashes back to earth (see secret of my success, cocktail, top gun, etc.) The intent of the picture may be completely different from the actual medium chosen. Stone drops clues throughout the film. It's the dawn of a new age, 1987. The journey from the old economy i.e. the airline industry and paper industry to the age of information. The sun is rising in the east as shown in the beach scene. A quote from Stone's character Gekko `damn I wish you could see this' is the perfect hint of what Mr. Stone is trying to say. Oliver Stone sees the future, it is a future economy based on information being the most powerful resource in the world. The eastern philosophy, the greed, the self-destruction of smoking and working out. All these things brought Gekko down. Gekko was brought down by what? A man with a micro tape recorder. A man armed with the medium of the new economy, electronic media. He was nailed by a person whom he trained to `get information' Well, he got the information and Gekko was brought down by the fact that he was short sighted to it. Great movie and excellent foresight by Mr. Stone as always. I suggest you watch it again. But, this time I suggest that you look for the real intent of the film. In my opinion, this is quite simply one of the best films of all time. Not only because of its timeliness, amazing foresight (see stock market crash in October 87, and the rise of silicon valley and Microsoft in late 80's) and one of the best performances by an actor period in Michael Douglas' portrayal of Gordon Gekko.