Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Heroes And Villains

In Slate, Jessica Winter seems surprised that Gordon Gekko, the villain of the movie Wall Street, has turned into a folk hero. But that's how the movie is designed.

The Charlie Sheen character, a young go-getter whom we're supposed to identify with, is fairly dull. Even duller is his kindly father, a union leader played by Martin Sheen. Duller still is the Hal Holbrook character, a long-winded Wall Street oldtimer who's supposed to represent how good and honest things use to be.

Amidst all this boredom, Gekko stands out--as Hollywood recognized 20 years ago when it gave Michael Douglas an Oscar for the role. He's exciting, he's charismatic, and he's unashamed. That Gekko is also a crook just shows the lack of imagination in the screenplay, where they can't figure out a story about high finance or big business unless someone is breaking the law.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

That seems a little unfair to the movie. At the time it came out, there had been a series of high profile scandals and crimes committed in high finance. This movie was intentionally examining the phenomenon and how a charismatic character might take in a young, idealistic character. The crime was the raison d'etre of the movie, not a convenient way to conclude it.

10:15 PM, September 27, 2007  

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