Wall Street (1987)
Inspired by his father’s brokerage career, Oliver Stone made Wall Street – which quickly became the definitive film on the subject of financial corruption, thanks to an iconic, Academy Award-winning performance by Michael Douglas.
The story of a young man’s ambition, and the ways in which he and his mentor manipulate each other, resonated with international audiences, as the narrative employed the money-based premise to explore father-son relationships, and the nature of ‘The American Dream.’
Charlie Sheen plays Bud – a junior stockbroker working for a New York City brokerage firm, whose vocation brings him into conflict with his mid-level airline union leading father, Carl (Martin Sheen). Bud idolizes an infamous, successful stockbroker named Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) who works elsewhere, and the young man persists in harassing Gekko’s office for a meeting.
Finally earning an audience with his hero, Bud gradually becomes entangled in Gekko’s ethically loathsome methods – exploiting his father’s connection to the airline for the purposes of insider trading. Bud is then forced to choose between Gekko’s illegal methods, or his father’s future, as Bud’s dealings with Gekko endanger the airline Carl works for.
