"Greed is Good." This is the credo of the aptly named Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), the antihero of Oliver Stone's Wall Street. Gekko, a high-rolling corporate raider, is idolized by young-and-hungry broker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen). Inveigling himself into Gekko's inner circle, Fox quickly learns to rape, murder and bury his sense of ethics. Only when Gekko's wheeling and dealing causes a near-tragedy on a personal level does Fox "reform"-though his means of destroying Gekko are every bit as underhanded as his previous activities on the trading floor. Director Stone, who cowrote Wall Street with Stanley Weiser, has claimed that the film was prompted by the callous treatment afforded his stockbroker father after 50 years in the business; this may be why the film's most compelling scenes are those between Bud Fox and his airline mechanic father (played by Charlie Sheen's real-life dad Martin). Ironically, Wall Street was released just before the October, 1987 stock market crash. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
is neutral about it.
More a criticism of the Reagan years than an homage (consistent with
Oliver Stone's politics), Wall Street will nonetheless be remembered as synonymous with the 1980s and their skewed priorities. The film introduced a mass audience to the underhanded dealings and pressure cooker environment of the financial world, netting
Michael Douglas an Oscar for his portrayal of the larger-than-life Gordon Gekko, a character who entered the zeitgeist as a symbol of sheer amoral greed, even to those who hadn't seen the film. It's also one of Stone's least fussy films, and by focusing on the plot more than his usual cinematic gimmickry, Stone makes it easy for the layman to navigate stock market lingo and follow the esoteric dramas that unfold in the daily lives of brokers. With almost every character tainted by the lust for wealth,
Martin Sheen emerges as the only antidote to the contagious disease of corruption, in the role of a blue-collar machinist and father to the story's central character,
Charlie Sheen's Bud Fox. It may be a rather obvious animal metaphor, but if Fox is, indeed, sly, he's at least a prouder, more redeemable creature than Gekko, a slithering lizard who will do anything to prosper.
Daryl Hannah, who has made a career of playing oddball misfits, is miscast as a snobbish gold digger, but the rest of the cast effectively personalizes a world full of false loyalty, nervous trust, and merciless usury. A satisfying morality play, Wall Street is one of Stone's most popular films. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide