Essentials: Trading Places

How come you never see black cats in top hats?

Year: 1983 (USA)
Genre: Comedy/Satire/Screwball Comedy
Directed: John Landis
Stars: Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott
Production: Paramount Pictures

The original title for the Eddie Murphy helmed comedy masterpiece Trading Places (1983) was Black and White. Those who have never seen Trading Places could get pretty good idea of what the source of conflict is; well kinda. For while Trading Places does focus a lot of time and humor on race, the large satirical jabs are focused on the subject of class. Of course in 1983 class was intrinsically tied to race where as today it’s a modicum less so.

Let us start at the beginning; Louis Winthorpe (Dan Aykroyd) is a pompous Wall Street commodities investor working diligently for Duke and Duke Investing Co. The Duke brothers (Ralph Bellamy & Don Ameche) are wealthy but bored, argumentative curmudgeons who decide they want to weight in on the nature versus nurture debate. They devise a plan to elevate a shifty conman Billy Ray (Eddie Murphy) to a position of power while simultaneously knocking down Winthorpe to the level of a commoner just to see how things turn out.

Not ready for primetime indeed

It’s a fascinating if grotesque experiment with some pretty hilarious results. The whole thing is made all the more believable by the acting chops of Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis, all three of which were considered largely un-bankable. Eddie Murphy was considered too green, Curtis too “scream,” and Aykroyd funny, but not ready for primetime. Director John Landis however had faith in his actors who each bring something new and exciting to the table. We should all be so thankful for his uncompromising vision.

The script is as sharp as it was 30 years ago, in fact much more cutting given the current revulsion towards bankers and Wall Street. After Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy explaining to Eddie Murphy the nuts and bolts of what they do, he remarks “It sounds like you all are a bunch of bookies.” To which one Duke looks to the other and says “he’s ready.”

A true riches to rags story

The movie climaxes at the New York World Trade Center where our two heroes face off against our villains in arguably one of the most unique ways in cinematic history. While it is true that seeing people screwed over and left paupers isn’t necessarily uncommon via movies, seeing it on the trading floor over the course of what seems like ten minutes is a stroke of genius. It highlights the ludicrous nature of commodities brokering and trading in general, and yet you can’t help but being in awe of the chaos.

It’s more interesting still when you consider that despite some superficial artistic license, the whole ending is actually quite realistic. Or at least it was back in the 80’s. Today commodities futures have “circuit breakers” which prevent brokers from selling short and selling exponentially during down markets. Additionally, as of 2010, the misappropriation of government information for financial gain has been made illegal thanks to the Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act. Section 136 of said act is informally known as “The Eddie Murphy Rule” in reference to Trading Places.

It became harder to be an asshole only after this happened...

All timeliness aside, Trading Places is still a fascinating and funny film which glides across controversial issues like race and class to create something truly new and exciting. All players had something to prove with this film, and they all succeed gloriously. Speaking of glorious, those who have seen Trading Places on TV don’t know what they’re missing. AMC has gone a long way in quality but it still censors the good stuff.

Final Grade: A