MIDDLE-AGED MATINEE! #15 - 'Wall Street' (1987)

5/5 Stars

Now that I've expanded the criteria for 'Middle-Aged Matinee!' from 1984 to any film from 1984 to 1999, I've decided to take a look at director Oliver Stone's "Wall Street". As always, I hope you enjoy the article.

Surprisingly, when I was a kid, my dad introduced me to films made by Oliver Stone. He was a fan of “Platoon” and “JFK”. After watching those movies, I finally watched “Wall Street”. While I may not have understood the financial jargon (let’s face it, I still don’t understand much more today than I did then), I understood the story of good and evil that was going on here.

Charlie Sheen plays Bud Fox, a young broker who wants to break into the big leagues on Wall Street. Namely, he wants to work for Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), the most successful broker on Wall Street. The only problem is that while Gordon is charming on the outside, he’s a corrupt person who screwed everyone around him in order to get where he is.

He plays with a desperate Bud in order to get the young man to go out and get Gordon illegal insider information so they can manipulate the stocks in their favor. At first, Bud gets more money than he’s ever had, he starts dating a beautiful art designer (Daryl Hannah), and he’s able to finally pay back some of the money that he’s borrowed from his dad (Martin Sheen) over the years.

Michael Douglas plays the charming yet absolutely corrupt Gordon Gekko.

I will say that there is one weak point in this movie and that is Hannah as Bud’s love interest, Darien Taylor. Hannah gives a dreadfully bland performance with barely any emotion. On top of that, Bud and Darien’s “love” story is the weakest part of the movie overall.

The other performances outside of Hannah are fantastic. Sheen gives a good performance as Bud, a character that you know is doing wrong things but you hope that he’ll realize the error of his ways and come back to the light. Unsurprisingly, he has great chemistry with his real-life father Martin who plays his father here.

The father, named Carl, is a blue-collar mechanic working for a small airliner who just wants Bud to do right and be proud of himself instead of seeking the approval of others. Then, of course, there is the other, darker father figure in Bud’s life.

Gordon Gekko is the role that got Douglas an Academy Award for Best Actor and for good reason. Douglas knows when to throw on the charm. A charm that shows us that Gordon could have been, and probably was at one point, a good and honest broker. However, the love for money and how to get more of it overrides anything good that may be within Gordon.

Charlie Sheen's real-life father Martin Sheen plays his blue-collar dad in 'Wall Street'!

Douglas shines when he’s the “charming” Gordon, but he truly excels at being the downright sinister and ultimately corrupt Gordon. When a deal goes bad, the monster comes out as Gordon yells at his people to destroy whoever crosses them. He is also a great manipulator.

Bud’s way into Gordon’s business was by giving Gordon privileged information he received from his father at the airline. When Gordon calls Bud out for this, he simply tells bud what he wants and that is to get coveted insider information. At one point, he tells Bud, “You were able to get into my office. Now, you have to prove you have what it takes to stay.” This manipulation pushes Bud over to the dark side and Douglas’ performance is perfect all around.

Sadly, the story of a corrupt Wall Street and capitalism run amok is still relevant today. I would like to say that this movie was simply a product of its time in 1987, but sadly this movie could probably be made today and you wouldn’t have to switch too many things around to make it just as effective as it was 37 years ago.

My opinion of Stone has cooled over the years as I don’t always agree with the views and messages that he has in several of his films. However, “Wall Street” is a movie where I feel that Stone hit the bullseye and the movie, for better or worse, is still as effective today as it was when it was originally released.