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The Rewatchables ·

Wall Street

year 1987decade 80sdirector Oliver Stonegenre Crimegenre Drama
host Bill Simmonshost Brian Koppelman
All 17 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 39:38

Bud's first five-minute meeting with Gecko

Brian Koppelman: Marty Sheen's first scene with Charlie, with the spaghetti and "money is something you only need in case you don't die tomorrow", is flagged as important; real-life father and son add an extra layer.

Brian Koppelman: Gecko's first scene when Bud finally gets in is praised: "you're the kid who called me 59 days in a row", a scene said to run exactly five minutes, the staging, the Terminator coming in and out, and the blood-pressure line; "to me, that's the scene."

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 59:28

"You're smart enough not to buy into the oldest myth running: love"

Nominees include "I don't bet on darts on the board, I bet on sure things", the funeral-parlor line, "every orifice in his body flowing red", "If you're not inside, you're outside" and "Money never sleeps, pal."

The film

Wall Street (1987)

Directed by Oliver Stone · Crime

126 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Michael Douglas Gordon Gekko
Charlie Sheen Bud Fox
Daryl Hannah Darien Taylor
Martin Sheen Carl Fox
Terence Stamp Sir Larry Wildman
Hal Holbrook Lou Mannheim
Sean Young Kate Gekko
James Spader Roger Barnes
Saul Rubinek Harold Salt
James Karen Harry Lynch
Josh Mostel Ollie
Sylvia Miles Dolores the Realtor
Paul Guilfoyle Stone Livingstone

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

39:22

Roger Ebert's review
In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:39:22Read transcript
  • Roger Ebert gave the movie three and a half stars and really liked it; there were no other major Oscar nominations. — Brian Koppelman
  • Asked what Cisco thought, the reply is that only Ebert was checked because he is all over the map. — Brian Koppelman
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1:13:16

Casting What-Ifs

Warren Beatty or Richard Gere as Gecko; Tom Cruise as Bud Fox; Jack Lemmon as Bud's father

Warren Beatty or Richard Gere as Gecko; Tom Cruise as Bud Fox; Jack Lemmon as Bud's father

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:16Read transcript
  • Fox wanted Warren Beatty for Gecko, who wasn't interested; Stone wanted Richard Gear, who passed during a stretch of bad movies. — Brian Koppelman
  • Gear would have been good and looked great, as in Internal Affairs, but he does slow burn rather than the verbal pyrotechnics Douglas studies. — Brian Koppelman
  • Beatty holds months of conversations and then says no, as he did to Goldman on Misery. — Brian Koppelman
  • Gere's "I got nowhere else to go!" is praised, from a movie producer Craig has definitely never seen. — Brian Koppelman
  • An internet claim that Pacino turned down Gecko in a 1992 Barbara Walters interview is called bullshit; the guess is that his agent passed on a script Pacino never really wanted. — Brian Koppelman
  • Tom Cruise wanted Bud Fox and lobbied Stone, who was committed to Charlie; they later made Born on the Fourth of July. — Brian Koppelman
  • Stone gets chippy on the commentary about Bright Lights, Big City shooting at the same time; Michael J. Fox was a miscast there and Downey Jr. would have been a home run. — Brian Koppelman
  • Stone offered Charlie the choice of Jack Lemon or Martin Sheen as his father, and he picked his real father. — Brian Koppelman
  • Per Stone, Hannah was not happy in the role and he should have let her go; Sean Young almost got fired and a Bud affair storyline was cut. — Brian Koppelman
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1:22:24

Recasting Couch

Michelle Pfeiffer or Diane Lane as Darien

Michelle Pfeiffer or Diane Lane as Darien

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:22:24Read transcript
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1:25:18

Half-Assed Internet Research

Greed line origin; Douglas breath training; scrapped affair subplot; real trading floor; predator camera; 53-day shoo...

Greed line origin; Douglas breath training; scrapped affair subplot; real trading floor; predator camera; 53-day shoot; Ken Lipper as consultant

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:25:18Read transcript
  • The greed-is-good line was based on a speech Ivan Boski gave to the 1986 Berkeley business graduating class saying greed is right. — Brian Koppelman
  • Douglas, at 40 cigarettes a day, worked with a speech instructor on breath control; Gecko was modeled after Pat Riley. — Brian Koppelman
  • Stone had Bud Fox having an affair with Gecko's wife but scrapped it because Charlie Sheen and Sean Young hated each other. — Brian Koppelman
  • Sheen spent 45 minutes on the actual trading floor, with real brokers playing themselves. — Brian Koppelman
  • Stone told Premier Magazine the moving camera was meant to become the predator in a movie about sharks. — Brian Koppelman
  • The shoot took 53 days, seven days ahead of schedule and close to $2 million under budget, because of a coming director strike. — Brian Koppelman
  • Consultant Ken Lipper got the actors into Solomon Brothers, the 21 Club and the New York Stock Exchange, and sits next to Douglas at 21 in the movie. — Brian Koppelman
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1:31:38

Picking Nits

Bad overdub in Gecko's speech; Bud at Spader's office during the liquidation meeting; dumping Marv too fast; the Who ...

Bad overdub in Gecko's speech; Bud at Spader's office during the liquidation meeting; dumping Marv too fast; the Who Am I moment; Gecko not suspecting a wire; no Emilio cameo

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:31:38Read transcript
  • Wouldn't Sir Larry notice Sheen tailing him on a motorcycle? The reply is that he does a look when he sees Sheen with Gecko. — Brian Koppelman
  • A shouted line during Gecko's speech is one of the worst dubs ever, and there is a lot of that. — Brian Koppelman
  • Was Bud dumb enough to trust Gecko with Blue Star? The cocaine and parties are offered as an explanation. — Brian Koppelman
  • Bud randomly being at Spader's office during the Blue Star liquidation meeting is a script stretch, and he turns on his best friend Marv too quickly. — Brian Koppelman
  • The Who Am I moment is nitpicked a second time. — Brian Koppelman
  • Sheen crying in handcuffs is questioned as un-Bud-like, but the counter-guess is that Dennis Levine, the real person Bud was based on, probably cried. — Brian Koppelman
  • Gecko was too smart not to worry about a wire, and he didn't say enough in that scene to get arrested. — Brian Koppelman
  • Emilio could have made a cameo as the union rep or Sheen's other son; the Charlie Sheen cameo in the sequel was its best part. — Brian Koppelman
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1:34:22

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Sheen becoming Bud Fox; Gecko's influence on Trump; a Cruise-Sheen swap; Gecko as Bobby Axelrod's spiritual father

Sheen becoming Bud Fox; Gecko's influence on Trump; a Cruise-Sheen swap; Gecko as Bobby Axelrod's spiritual father

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:34:22Read transcript
  • Did Charlie Sheen eventually turn into Bud Fox? Yes. — Brian Koppelman
  • Gecko is estimated at about 10% of the influence behind late-80s Trump, part of a culture celebrating rich idiots. — Brian Koppelman
  • Swapping Cruise and Sheen between Cocktail and Wall Street: Cruise makes anything better and Sheen could not pull off Cocktail, which is likened to the 2007 Cavs. — Brian Koppelman
  • With Cruz, the cast could go up, maybe with Duval as the dad, and it might be one of the greatest movies ever. — Brian Koppelman
  • An answerable question: Bobby Axelrod surely watched Wall Street growing up and would never make Gecko's mistakes. — Brian Koppelman
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