Director
Oliver Stone
Leading Actors/Actresses
Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Martin Sheen, Daryl Hannah
Genre
Drama
Language
English
Awards
Academy Award Best Actor: Michael Douglas. Golden Globe Best Actor in a Motion Picture: Michael Douglas
Date of Release
1987
Producer
Edward R. Pressman
Setting and Context
Wall Street, New York, late 1980s
Narrator and Point of View
The movie is mostly presented from the point of view of Bud Fox, there is no narrator.
Tone and Mood
Dramatic, tense
Protagonist and Antagonist
Bud Fox is the protagonist, Gordon Gekko the antagonist
Major Conflict
The conflict throughout much of the film is Bud's internal conflict, the tension between his desire to ascend the corporate ranks by being a shark like Gekko, and his desire to remain loyal to his union advocate father. When Bud realizes that Gekko isn't looking out for his father's business, the conflict becomes more directly the conflict between Bud and Gekko.
Climax
The climax of the film is the deal that Bud strikes with the FBI that starts the ball rolling towards Gordon's demise.
Foreshadowing
When Gordon tells Bud that if he wants a friend he should get a dog, this foreshadows his lack of loyalty and the fact that however close they appear to be on the surface, Bud should not mistake a strong alliance for a friendship.
Understatement
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
Allusions
Donald Trump is referred to in the movie as one of the financiers who has made it big without breaking the law.
Paradox
Bud spends his entire adult life trying to be everything that his father is not, and his father watches in frustration as his son turns into everything he abhors, but in the end, Bud decides that his father was right all along, in spite of differentiating himself from him so thoroughly throughout.
Parallelism
Gordon and Carl are parallel paternal figures for Bud.
