"Trading Places" has got to be one of the funniest movies of all time

[LynneSin]

And honestly, they could never get away with making a movie like that today because of all the stereotyping.

Your thoughts

EDIT NOTE: I forgot, it included a young Al Franken as one of the stoner baggage handlers.

[annabanana]

1. It was a very satisfying movie.

I love when the bad guys really get it good at the end. I found it poetic.

[freshwest]

2. If people had taken it seriously, we could have avoided TARP I & II. See link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4Uv4ftekaI

It explains everything! Why didn't people listen?

[hifiguy]

3. Classic comedy of its era

and I fell in love with Jamie Lee Curtis thanks to that movie. :loveya:

[edbermac]

4. A favorite comedy, back when Eddie Murphy used to be funny.

[kentauros]

5. I remember Al Franken in that movie,

and all during the time he was running for office. And no one ever wanted to bring that part up :evilgrin:

I usually watch it every Christmas, but didn't this past year; just got too busy, and then too worn out to remember. Still, I'd like to see it shown during the season like all the other classic standby movies :D

[NewJeffCT]

8. I remember that part

when I saw it a few years ago, I remember thinking "Holy Shit - That's Al Franken!!"

Similarly, when I recently watched Raiders of the Lost Ark again, the guy in the beginning who goes, "Throw me the idol, I'll throw you the whip" and then leaves Indy to his doom... only to immediately get speared by a trap was none other than Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2 and a bunch of other movies)

[kentauros]

12. Wow, I didn't know (or notice) that!

I probably know him more from other movies, even if I can't remember any right now. I think I saw that Spiderman movie once, and on a station with commercials, so I can't remember him in the Doc Oc role.

I wonder if Al Franken ever watches any of his bits from SNL? :)

[Ohio Joe]

6. One of Richard Hunt's few on screen appearances

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Richard_Hunt

He plays the lackey that gets thrown back into the trading pit at the end. You are still missed Richard. RIP.

[pokerfan]

7. I'm dressed as a baggage handler.

Sometimes, they look so human, it gives you the creeps.

Boy, that other one's getting kinda horny, ain't he?

Think we ought to hit him up with the tranquillizer gun?

It's New Year's. Let 'em have their fun.

[freshwest]

16. Is that Franken as the handler? Looks like him.

[kentauros]

21. Very much so.

He even did some sketches on the old SNL in the late 70s. He was one of the show's writers :D

[freshwest]

25. Yes, he was great. Of course I loved him more when he got into political writings.

One of the best for calling out the on air emperors with no clothes...

[hifiguy]

37. Who couold forget

"The Al Franken Decade"?

"And I know you're all wondering how this is going to affect me, Al Franken..."

[NewJeffCT]

9. Loved the movie

I am a karate man, and a karate man bruises on the inside...

plus, since I was a teenager when the movie came out, I do remember a rather memorable scene with Jamie Lee Curtis in the movie....

[fishwax]

10. yeah, that's a classic

I still find it funny. I think it could still be successful today, too, in the right hands.

[krispos42]

14. DON'T GIVE THEM ANY IDEAS!!!

:scared:

[fishwax]

15. lol

:D

[LynneSin]

17. I don't think it could be a remake

The movie was borderline racist with the stereotype of 'black people are lazy'.

What made it work was the amazing talent and chemistry between Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy. Two lesser actors would have tanked the movie and played more racist than funny.

[fishwax]

19. it could still be made to interrogate such stereotypes

certainly the original intended to -- it may not be perfect in that regard, but, as you say, the talent in the main characters makes it work.

Blazing Saddles is the same way -- it presents stereotypes, but for the purpose of ridiculing them. People often say that that movie couldn't be made today (because we're too politically correct now, or whatever), but I think it could be made today. It wouldn't make much sense, since current issues involving racism and race relations are simply different then they were in 1974, but it could be done. In fact, there's been noise for a year or two now about how Mel Brooks is trying to adapt it as a stage musical (not that I necessarily think that's a great idea).

Akroyd and Murphy--they really were great in that movie. Their recent history is pretty rough, but watching them in their prime makes up for it :)

[av8rdave]

11. I liked that it did a nice job of pointing out that people are a product of their environment

A lesson that needs to be repeated to a certain half of the political spectrum.

[siligut]

36. The old nature vs nurture

I liked it, in part, for that reason too.

[Generic Brad]

13. The TV version is not funny at all

Or am I talking about "Trading Spaces"? I can never remember.

[chollybocker]

18. "Pork bellies, which is used in bacon,

...which you might find in a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich."

And Eddie Murphy is forced to break the fourth wall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emvySA1-3t8

Great movie. Watched it at least 30 times. :)

[kentauros]

23. I love that scene!

He breaks the fourth wall perfectly :rofl:

[A HERETIC I AM]

20. Sooooo....without looking it up on Wikipedia (!), what did they do in the last scene ....

to make the killing they made?

You know.....the trading floor scene.

Bonus question;

Is what they pulled off really possible?

[kentauros]

22. "Selling FCOJ at 142!!!"

Or very near to that :D

Now, at what level did it bottom out? ;)

As for whether it's really possible? Most likely. Consider how deeply corporations have their fingers into our government these days. I would think insider trading goes on far more often than ever makes the news...

[A HERETIC I AM]

24. No, not entirely. What did they actually DO? (edited)

They did something that took serious balls. But since they knew what they knew, it was a cake walk. But what was it?

Edited to say yes, they DID have "insider information" so to speak. They had the true crop report (That the winter had not adversely affected the orange harvest) and the Beaks didn't. So what is it exactly they did in order to profit from this information?

[kentauros]

26. They sold high, and bought low

(with insider information on the crop forecasts.) They gave false crop forecasts to the Dukes while keeping the real info to themselves, and traded on that, waiting for the Dukes' man to shoot the price up. At which point, they sold what they didn't yet own, and bought it all back at, I think, 42. I don't really understand the stocks stuff, so I have no idea what that translates to in dollars reaped ;)

[A HERETIC I AM]

27. Very close.

They sold short. That is the term you are looking for.

They sold short. As you said, "they sold what they didn't yet own".

The Dukes told their pit trader to buy all the contracts he could, as they thought the price would skyrocket after the announcement because they thought the news was BAD - that the winter DID affect the harvest and FCOJ would be in short supply. So he did, and that started a buying frenzy, driving the price up. Winthorpe said "Wait for it" as he was waiting for the BEaks trader and the others to drive the price as high as possible. THAT is when he said "now" and yelled out "SELLING (whatever month it was) AT 142!!" At that point they were selling short, which is perfectly legal and common on a commodities trading floor. You merely have to settle at the end of the day. They KNEW the price would plummet when the real news was released so they were selling at a high price with the knowledge that after the announcement, the price would fall. Selling brings cash INTO their account so with the money they had from Coleman and Ophelia, plus the cash they took from the Beaks, they were able to pad their account dramatically. IF they used margin (which you WOULD do if you knew what they knew) they could have expanded this even further. Then after the announcement all the other traders are in a panic because they realized they had bought at inflated prices. They ALL needed to unload their contracts because the price they paid for them was too high. A selling frenzy ensues. Winthorpe and Valentine wait until the price falls to 14 and they yell "Buying!" and begin to buy contracts at 14 when they had previously sold them at 142. They specifically buy from everyone BUT the Beaks's trader.

They essentially cornered the market in Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice by using the money in the account gathered from their short sales to buy long and reap the profit in the difference. The Beaks were ruined because they were caught in a "Margin Call" where they held way too many contracts at the higher price that they could not unload and had no way to pay for them at the close of business.

AS far as my question of whether or not it could actually be done, the answer is no, not really. Several things come into play.

1) Valentine would need to have been licensed. No where in the movie does it discuss or indicate Valentine had passed any SEC exam to floor trade. He would need to have a license to be allowed to trade in the pit.

2) Trading limits. Under current rules and even those in place when the movie was made, there is no way a swing from 142 to 14 in a single session would have ever happened. They would have stopped trading when the price dropped below a specific limit of the original price, ten percent, for example.

It is a fun movie and that scene is one of my favorites in all of film, but it is after all, a movie.

[kentauros]

29. Thanks for the explanation

:)
It was very concise.

I guess they were accurate enough in their portrayal to make it a favorite scene for you, so there's that ;)

I don't really understand how anyone can communicate at all in all that yelling and chaos. When two people are trying to talk to me at the same time, I have to stop them both and have them speak in turn. I really don't see how any trading can get done in that mess.

[A HERETIC I AM]

31. Eye contact and hand signals.

That's how those kind of traders communicate. They look at each other and use hand signals when they are too far away from each other to hear.

Palm out - means "I'm selling the number or multiple of the number of contracts of fingers I have up"
Palm in - means "I'm buying"

[JVS]

32. They used illicit knowledge of the federal orange crop report that they had stolen from...

Clarence Beaks to short FCOJ in the face of the Duke brothers trying to buy as much as possible (in the erroneous belief that the harsh winter hand damaged the crop)

[chollybocker]

28. Another hilarious scene

...is when a drunken Dan Aykroyd boards a bus and tries to eat his stolen cold salmon through his Santa beard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJUoKcPb5JU&feature=related

The look on the other passengers' faces is priceless. Now I have to watch the whole movie again.

[pinniped]

30. Margin call, gentlemen.

.

[Deep13]

33. Good illustration of the sense of entitlement the rich have.

Also a good illustration of Jamie Lee Curtis' boobs.

[LeftinOH]

34. I saw it when it came out- and was hypnotized by Jamie Lee Curtis' spectacular tatas;

the rest of the movie was OK.

[RandomThoughts]

35. Yea, that fits in also.

I avoided posting from that from the part about it being a bet.

Although that is in superman song also.

Note in that movie, Eddie starts with no legs, the symbol for someone without support. Actually he feigned no legs :)

And Jamie is pretty :)

And the commodity they discus, is 'juice' Oranges.


And the One Dollar, has Washington on it :) Tada


Should add the note, the symbol of her working role, and the use of 'working girl' and the use in Hollywood confidentiality all use that same symbol. It does not have that meaning, it is usually a judgmental smear, as was done when someone of history was called that, when they were not. It shows a mix of being able to withstand smear, and still prosper under any label someone tries to attach, not that actual role. It is really interesting how that pops up in many stories but not accurate by character of so many wrongly labeled like that. There is a mix in there about withstanding while still in a bad situation, like working from within the system.