Wall Street is an American film produced in 1987, directed by Oliver Stone as a tribute to his father, Lou Stone. It is a drama that tells the story of a young, ambitious stockbroker who involves himself with a rich but deceitful corporate raider. The movie stars Michael Douglas (Gordon Gekko), Charlie Sheen (Bud Fox), Daryl Hannah (Darien Taylor), and Martin Sheen (Carl Fox).
It is a sensational and entertaining melodrama about corruption and greed on Wall Street. In the 1980s New York finance scene, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) is an ambitious stockbroker willing to do anything to take himself to the top. He admires the power of corporate raider Gordon Gekko and entices him to mentor him through insider trading. Fox becomes involved in underhanded schemes and greed—a decision that threatens his livelihood and that of his father, Martin Sheen.
Gekko directs Bud to spy on Sir Lawrence Wildman, a wealthy British investor, and detect his next move. By doing so, Wildman is forced to purchase Gekko’s shares to finish his takeover. Gekko becomes wealthier, and through promised perks, makes Bud a wealthy man, too, who buys a penthouse in Manhattan and starts dating a sassy interior designer, Darien Taylor. Gekko later promotes Bud because of the large commissions he brings to the business. Bud continues to leverage insider trading and uses his friends as straw buyers. However, unknown to him, his activities get the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Both Bud and Gekko don’t stop their activities and only focus on making more money no matter what it takes.
Using savings derived from overfunded pensions and union concessions, Bud approaches Gekko and pitches an idea to him to expand the company by purchasing Bluestar Airlines. Bud, however, discovers that Gekko intends to secretly dissolve the company and offload Bluestar’s assets to make money. Although the deal would make both of them richer, it would leave the entire team and Carl jobless. Bud is infuriated by Gekko’s deceit and starts feeling guilty for being an accessory to the destruction of Bluestar. He resolves to interrupt Gekko’s plans and separates with Darien after she declines to go against Gekko, who was her previous lover.
Bud orchestrates a plan to increase Bluestar’s stock before he manipulates it back down. In the company of other union presidents, Bud secretly meets Wildman and convinces him to purchase Bluestar stock at a discount. When Gekko realizes his stock is plunging, he dumps the remaining stock on Bud’s advice. Gekko later discovers Wildman’s plan to buy Bluestar’s stock and realizes that Bud was the engineer of the entire scheme.
Bud later confronts Gekko who punches and berates him for his ingratitude. During the confrontation, Bud wears a wire that records their encounter. He submits the tapes to authorities to receive a lighter sentence. Wildman promises to offer Bud a job at Bluestar after he serves his prison sentence.
Fun Fact: Wall Street Inspired the Creation of a Poker Variation
As evident by the large game selection on leading sites, there are many variations and types of poker, and the film is believed to have heavily influenced the creation of the "Wall Street Poker" variation. Wall Street is a type of stud poker that features community cards and involves aggressive bidding—similar to what happens on Wall Street, as showcased by the movie.
Initially, players start with three cards. Two cards are face down and one faces up as all players pay an ante. There are four community cards with varying values that are dealt face up. This is what is known as ‘Wall Street.’
Every round begins with the player with the strongest hand showing. Instead of a betting round, a bidding round takes place where players can choose to purchase a community card. The card located on the left side of the dealer costs one betting unit, the other one two betting units, the next one three betting units, and the one on the right four betting units. The card’s fee goes into a pot.
When a player decides to buy one of the cards, its replacement is dealt from the top of the deck. If the player decides not to buy a card, they are dealt one face up for free. The entire process repeats until all players have four cards that face up. Each player is then dealt a face-down card after which the last betting round occurs.
Wall Street poker has other variations like the wild card version. In this version, the most expensive card is a wild card with any value that a player decides. For instance, if a King is needed to make a straight, it costs four betting units. However, a player can buy the wild card to count as the King.
