Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay For the last time this year, I revisit the book “1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” by Steven Jay Schneider by examining Oliver Stone’s white-collar drama Wall Street thirty-five years to the day that it came to theaters back in 1987.
[NOTE: This blog will contain spoilers for “Wall Street.” You have been warned.] The History As far back as 1981, director Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July, JFK) was thinking about making a movie about Wall Street loosely inspired by his stockbroker father Lou Stone. Coming off of the success of his Oscar-winning war film Platoon, Stone met with friend and screenwriter Stanley Weiser (Project X, W.) to discuss the idea of two investment partners using each other in shady financial deals while being pursued by a prosecutor. Specifically, Stone wanted to tell a story about “a boy…seduced and corrupted by the allure of easy money” who “sets out to redeem himself” in the end. At Stone’s request, Weiser read novels such as Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” as sources of inspiration. However, Weiser found the literature unfit as bases for the screenplay. Instead, Weiser conducted research about the world of stock trading and corporate takeovers; along with Stone, he also spent nearly a month visiting brokerage houses and interviewing investors. Weiser and Stone both wrote their own first drafts (during which they stripped away their protagonist’s Jewish heritage to avoid stereotyping). In crafting the antagonist Gordon Gekko, several real-life investors, bankers, stockbrokers, and financiers served as inspiration. According to Weiser, Stone’s fast-paced manner of speaking on the phone even helped influence Gekko’s speech patterns in the film. Stone always had Charlie Sheen (Red Dawn, Platoon) in mind for the lead role of young, naïve stockbroker Bud Fox because of his “stiff” approach to acting. However, there was some disagreement between Stone and the studio about who should play Gekko. The former wanted Richard Gere (Pretty Woman, Primal Fear, Chicago), who turned down the role, while the latter preferred Warren Beatty (Bonnie and Clyde, Heaven Can Wait, Bugsy), who also turned it down. Against the advice of friends in Hollywood, Stone ultimately went with Michael Douglas (Fatal Attraction, The American President) who really liked Stone and Weiser’s screenplay. For the character, Douglas read profiles of corporate raiders such as T. Boone Pickens. Principal photography began in April of 1987 and lasted until July. Due to Orion Pictures (the studio that distributed Platoon) deeming the project too risky, Stone and producer Edward R. Pressman (Conan the Barbarian, Talk Radio, American Psycho) took it to 20th Century Fox who authorized the 15 million-dollar shooting budget which allowed Stone to shoot on location in New York City. Stone hired multiple investment bankers, such as Jeffrey “Mad Dog” Beck and Kenneth Lipper, as technical advisors on the movie by offering insights about the characters and the production design. Lipper leveraged specific criticisms about the potential one-sided nature of the story, which Stone placated by allowing Lipper to rewrite the script (despite cutting the one scene from Lipper’s screenplay that he shot). Cinematographer Robert Richardson (Platoon, The Aviator, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight) collaborated with Stone to make the camera “become a predator” because, according to Stone, they were “making a movie about sharks” and “feeding frenzies.” As a result, Stone and Richardson made the camera very kinetic in order to depict Wall Street like a “battle zone” by shooting conversations like physical confrontations and having the camera encircle the actors like “a pool with sharks.” In contrast, the film moves into the world of Bud’s father as a stationary camera to give “a sense of immutable values.” To prepare himself for Gekko’s fast-paced dialogue, Douglas worked with a speech instructor on breath control but also received immersive coaching from Stone himself. Notably, Stone entered Douglas’s trailer one day and insulted his talent (which shocked Douglas) just before performing the “Greed is good” speech. Stone was under his own pressures, such as having to switch from 12- to 14-hour shooting days in order to wrap up filming before the start of a Directors Guild of America strike (Sheen remarked that, while directing, Stone was always looking at his watch). With a final budget of 16.5 million dollars, Wall Street was released on December 11, 1987 to generally positive critical reception. While some reviewers found Stone’s preachiness a bit much, the performances (particularly Douglas) were highly praised. Going on to gross nearly 44 million dollars, the film also won Michael Douglas his first (and, to date, only) acting Oscar. Furthermore, the film went on to become representative of the virtues of greed and excess strongly associated with the 1980s. According to the director and lead actors, it even inspired some people to become stockbrokers and investment bankers. The Cons I made the mistake of watching this movie after already having seen Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. And, simply put, that movie supersedes Oliver Stone’s Wall Street in virtually every way possible. To try and address all of them in this blog would exhaust me. So, instead, I’ve narrowed down my critiques to a few key points. In a general sense, Stone and Weiser’s screenplay feels more like a “soap box” melodrama than a substantive drama. Its depiction of the greed of 1980s America possesses a rather preachy tone that takes away from its potentially compelling characters. Furthermore, the way that it subverts a well-structured narrative in favor of exploring themes that could make for interesting and important storytelling but never feel like they are being given the conscious attention that they deserve. In my research, learning that Stone cast Charlie Sheen in the lead role specifically for his stiffness as a performer confounded me. Maybe Sheen’s young, naïve presence worked for his role in Platoon. But, it just doesn’t work here. In my humble opinion, the lead character in this kind of story needs to be interesting. To be clear, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Bud Fox should’ve been portrayed as a charming and outgoing social butterfly. But he needs to be magnetic by making everything that he does convince me to watch what he’s going to do next. And Sheen just never really did that. Also, not to shit on Sheen, but his performance is simply outshined by Michael Douglas. The film also has a similar effect to Stone’s film Natural Born Killers. Essentially, in trying to satirize and critique an aspect of late-20th-century American society, he’s managed to glorify what he is trying to criticize. Whereas that movie takes aim at the mass media’s tendency to sensationalize violence by…sensationalizing violence, Wall Street tries (and fails) to warn Americans about the moral corruptibility of greed by showing what people can accomplish by being greedy. Are they good people? No, but it doesn’t really matter within the context of the story because the characters whose greed drives their actions don’t receive the punishments that they assuredly deserve. All in all, these are some of my specific criticisms of Wall Street. But, my general problem with it is that it’s just so damn boring. 😊
The Pros If there is one silver lining in Wall Street, it’s Michael Douglas. I know this isn’t news, but Douglas is a great actor (much like his father Kirk Douglas). And his portrayal of the megalomaniac stockbroker Gordon Gekko is easily the most interesting character in the entire film. Not only did he typify the greedy American banker for the time (and generations to come), but he more than deserved the Oscar that he won for his performance. That’s it. ☹ So, what are my final impressions of Wall Street? It’s boring and largely unforgettable, and is not worth watching since Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street now exists. Just go and watch that; it’s a far superior film that targets similar societal culprits but actually does so well. 😊 What do you think about Oliver Stone’s Wall Street? What’s your favorite (or least favorite) Oliver Stone flick? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst
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Austin McManusI have no academic or professional background in film production or criticism; I simply love watching and talking about movies. Archives
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