Review: Wall Street (the movie - 1987)

Usually I don’t watch any movie during the weekdays or in this case weeknights, but when I was pressed hard by my office buddy with whom I share the same passion for business I could not say no to him. My friend loaned me the DVD copy of `Wall Street` and he told me it is a must watch and I had to watch it last night as that copy belongs to the library and had to be returned the following day.

So what was my initial reaction after watching this classic master piece by Oliver Stone? Well in first place I cursed myself that I am watching Wall Street after almost 24 years of its release. That is correct Wall Street was released in 1987 and till date it is a must watch for business enthusiasts. So what makes Wall Street a must watch? One for sure is the pretty tough dialogue delivery, rock solid script, fantastic direction and some extraordinary acting skills portrayed by most of the actors.

No doubt the movie belongs to Michael Douglas who played Gordon Gekko, the chain smoking, shrewd, cunning and audacious investor for whom happiness, sadness, family, relationships and life revolve around just one and only one thing and that is money. I believe this is one of the best movies of Michael Douglas and his acting in Wall Street have made him won the best Oscar for the actor in a leading role in 1988. Charlie Sheen played Bud Fox who wants to climb the success ladder and is looking for a short cut and someone like Gordon Gekko to help him achieve his dreams. Gordon keeps Bud under his wings and with that started the act of corporate espionage, deception and greed.

In the form of dialogues there are some very powerful quotes from the famous military strategy book The Art of War by Sun Tzu. The Art of War is a must read for an MBA aspirant a matter of fact and I am pretty sure you won’t regret reading it. Moreover after watching Wall Street I came to know that insider trading is as old as the street. From Gordon Gekko to Raj Rajaratnam insider trading has many disciples and it lures the money hungry investors forever.

If you haven’t watch the Wall Street, watch it as it is a must watch. Viewers discretion is advised as when someone is trying to depict the inside world of the Wall Street there had to be drugs and nudity and of course greed, tons and tons of it.

Here is the small speech (promoting greed) that Gordon Gekko gives at the Teldar Paper stockholder's meeting in the movie:
The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated. In the last seven deals that I've been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pretax profit of 12 billion dollars. Thank you. I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.

Look all around and we all will find many who got inspired by this speech. This is how the street works and this is how it will keep working. As Gordon Gekko says and I feel it has somehow become the motto of the Wall Street `Greed is Good`. Taking present times into consideration I somehow distorted it to `Greed is God`. Now thats better and you know what, the street is nodding.