Fox is so hungry to make a killing, he will do anything.
Gekko promises him perks - big perks - and it arrives on schedule. One of.
them is a tall, blond interior designer (Daryl Hannah), who decorates Fox's.
expensive new high-rise apartment. The movie's stylistic approach is rigorous:.
We are never allowed to luxuriate in the splendor of these new surroundings.
The apartment is never quite seen, never relaxed in. When the girl comes to.
share Fox's bed, they are seen momentarily, in silhouette. Sex and possessions.
are secondary to trading, to the action. Ask any gambler.
Stone's "Wall Street" is a radical critique of the capitalist trading mentality, and.
it obviously comes at a time when the financial community is especially.
vulnerable. The movie argues that most small investors are dupes, and that the.
big market killings are made by men such as Gekko, who swoop in and snap.
whole companies out from under the noses of their stockholders. What the.
Gekkos do is immoral and illegal, but they use a little litany to excuse.
themselves: "Nobody gets hurt." "Everybody's doing it." "There's something in.
this deal for everybody." "Who knows except us?".
The movie has a traditional plot structure: The hungry kid is impressed by the.
successful older man, seduced by him, betrayed by him, and then tries to turn.
the tables. The actual details of the plot are not so important as the changes.
we see in the characters. Few men in recent movies have been colder and.
more ruthless than Gekko, or more convincing. Fox is, by comparison, a babe.
in the woods. .
Stone's most impressive achievement in this film is to allow all the financial.
wheeling and dealing to seem complicated and convincing, and yet always.
have it make sense. The movie can be followed by anybody, because the.
details of stock manipulation are all filtered through transparent layers of.
greed. Most of the time we know what's going on. All of the time, we know.
why.
Although Gekko's law-breaking would of course be opposed by most people.
