WALL STREET
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1987 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Oliver Stone's film about his father's profession. It does the difficult task of making the world of finance interesting. In the final analysis it is just a reworking of Rod Serling's teleplay and film PATTERNS. The coming attraction was put together with more skill than the film was. Rating: 0.
There's an old television ad for a business magazine that shows a sword fight in a board room. The idea was to show that business is exciting stuff, that companies fight it out like Robin Hood and the Sheriff. Some ad agency just came to the realization that while a lot that is exciting happens, it is tough to show that on film. Most of the excitement comes from numbers on a board. That is what killed ROLLOVER a few years back. At least initially you had to get interested enough in numbers. The last half-hour made ROLLOVER a lot better if not downright worth seeing. It is tough to get people really into a movie about finance. Oliver Stone actually manages to keep the audience interested. He also tells a pretty good story, or at least retells a pretty good story. The original--assuming it was original even then--is Rod Serling's PATTERNS.
Charlie Sheen plays Bud Fox, an ambitious young stockbroker who really wants to make it to the top. The top is Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas). Gekko deals in billions of dollars every year. He buys and sells companies but he needs information and promises to make Fox rich along the way if Fox will get him information. Fox knows a lot of what he is being asked to do illegal but necessary to get to the top. You can pretty much figure out the film from that.
On hand as Fox's father Carl is Martin Sheen of all people. Carl is not like Bud. He is a hard-working union man who does not understand his son's career. This part is not borrowed from the Serling, but enough working class fathers not understanding non-working-class sons is a well- worn cliche.
Like Oliver Stone's PLATOON, WALL STREET was inspired by Stone's personal history. Stone's father was a stockbroker so Stone grew up knowing about the tensions and pressures of stock trading, perhaps the swashbuckling aspect of it. It is a pity his father didn't tell him a more interesting and original story he could adapt into a film. Rate it a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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