THE MOVIE “WALL STREET, 1987”

THE MOVIE “WALL STREET, 1987”

Introduction

The movie “Wall Street” released in 1987 was an American drama film launched by 20th Century Fox production house. This film was directed by Oliver Stone and produced by Edward R. Pressman. Michael Douglas, Martin Sheen, Daryl Hannah and Charlie Sheen were the main stars of the film. The screen play of the film was written by Oliver Stone and Stanley Weiser. This movie is an upscale morality tale that entertains achievers who do not want to lose touch with their moral centers, but they still have it all. The story of this film is based on Charlie Sheen (Bud Fox), who is a young stockbroker desperately looking for success by all ways (ethical and unethical). He gets linked with his ideal person, Michael Douglas (Gordon Gekko) who is an unscrupulous corporate raider most wealthy person (Oliver Stone, 1987).

The film received great distinction among major film critics of the era. Douglas won best actor Academy Award and the film became an archetypal portrayal of 1980's. One of the major themes of this movie is the issue of being a moral individual in an amoral organization (Stock Exchange) (Welles, 1987). The movie displays the ethical dilemmas that are not good for the society. The ethical dilemmas, which are depicted in this film, can be Family vs. Professional Allegiance, Being Good or Being Greedy, Corporate Governance and Breaking the Law. “Wall Street movie has highlighted that the greed for money, deceiving others with false information and creation of illegal network is against the business ethics and integrity.”

Discussion

This film has portrayed business world, specifically the companies like brokerage houses in a negative way. Bud Fox and some other characters in this film are portrayed as arrogant and greedy individuals who can go to any length for maximizing their wealth. Money has been shown as a major motive to success (Cowan, 1987). These characters have shown negative impact on overall society, whatever they were earning through unfair means or cheat they were not sharing it with those who needed help or to help the mankind but they were spending that money only on themselves by having luxurious homes, drugs, prostitutes and private jets.

Bud has found harming the integrity of the overall Blue Star Airlines as he shared the inside information with the outsider Gekko the most wealthy person shown in the movie. Against the inside information Gekko was providing millions of dollars to Bud and he was also sending prostitutes to Bud's apartment as a sign of gratitude for giving him the illegal stocking tip. He made Bud his illegal business management partner and engaged him in future business planning (Riordan, 1996). This was mainly to fulfill his craze to become the richest man of the entire world. Corporate espionage was also shown in this movie by the corporate raider Gekko. The greed for money is elevated by the time in Bud as he wants to take over the position of ...