The 1980s brought about some of the most well-known working comedians today, including Eddie Murphy, who rose to fame when he was cast on Saturday Night Live. His sketch comedy was well-loved on the show, and allowed the actor to transition to movie roles. Some of his most notable early roles include 48 Hrs., Best Defense, and Beverly Hills Cop. The latter тιтle spawned sequels and became a franchise whose most recent entry, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, came to Netflix just last year.

Another key 1980s comedic actor was Dan Aykroyd. Like Murphy, Aykroyd got his start through SNL, but in his case, he was one of the original cast members. Aykroyd was on Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1979, leaving right before Murphy made his debut. Aykroyd would go on to play the iconic role of Dr. Raymond Stantz in the Ghostbusters movies. Murphy and Aykroyd were also in a 1980s comedy together, that one expert breaks down in a video.

Trading Places Is Now A Wall Street Classic

One Expert Breaks Down Why

A former Wall Street trader evaluates Trading Places decades later. Released in 1983, Trading Places tells the story of an investor and a con artist who find their position in life switched after a bet by two millionaires. Murphy plays Billy Ray Valentine, the con artist in the movie, and Aykroyd plays the stuffy Louis Winthorpe III. Trading Places was directed by John Landis and was an important movie moment for both its main stars. The movie was well-received, scoring at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In an interview with Insider, former Wall Street trader Jared Dillian provides his evaluation of Trading Places. Dillian explains that Trading Places depicts an “open outcry” trading situation, which is now antiquated, as it has been taken over by electronic trading. The depiction of open outcry trading is part of what makes Trading Places “one of the classic Wall Street movies“ in Dillian’s eyes. The expert admires the depiction of trading chaos, though has accuracy issues with some of the specifics. Ultimately, he rates it an 8 out of 10. Check out the full explanation below:

Open outcry trading floors were the best thing in the world. I absolutely loved it. I worked on an open outcry trading floor. This is the NYBOT, this is the New York Board of Trade, where they trade most of the soft commodities. And the first time I set foot on the trading floor was the NYBOT in 1999. And from the moment I set foot on that floor I knew I wanted to be a trader. It was the most, it was incredible.

Is that trading floor as chaotic as its depicted in the movie? I wasn’t on a trading floor in the ’80s, I started in the late ’90s. But even in the 2000s trading floors were pretty chaotic. There were paper tickets, there was yelling out of orders. Open outcry trading floors are gone. They’re all gone. It’s all been changed to electronic trading. And if you made this movie today, it would be a bunch of guys around the country like clicking their mouse on their computer.

That’s not really what open outcry trading looks like, but it’s good enough. Trading Places is one of the classic Wall Street movies. When Dan Aykroyd says ‘time to sell,’ and everybody converges on him, and they start buying from him, like it doesn’t really happen that way. It’s a little more disorganized and chaotic. It helps to be physically large and intimidating, I mean there’s a lot of aggression involved.

I mean in the financial world, you have economic data. In the agricultural world, you have crop reports. And the one for most agricultural commodities is called WASDE. It’s called World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates. And yes, when that comes out, and its not open outcry, everyone is at their computers, but they’re sitting waiting to trade when the WASDE numbers come out.

With Randolph and Mortimer getting all their ᴀssets seized at the end, you know, that’s not gonna happen, but that is how the futures margining system works. A future is an agreement to buy or sell something at some specified date in the future. Like everything is marked to market at the end of the day. And you have a credit or a debit at the end of the day. And if you can’t meet the margin call, then the exchange will liquidate your positions. Here, he’s talking about going after their personal ᴀssets and stuff like that. I don’t know about that. But the clearing firm will probably take legal action to satisfy the margin calls.

Even though it is not super realistic, I gotta give Trading Places some love. It’s one of the classics, and it’s open outcry, so I’ll give it an 8.

Our Take On Trading Places’ Professional Evaluation

Trading Places Depicts An Out-Of-Date Practice

It seems like part of why Trading Places has become such an iconic Wall Street movie is because it acts as somewhat of a time capsule. Stocking trading is still depicted on screen today, but as Dillian analyzes, modern-day stock trading will look very different on screen. There is a cinematic exciting aspect to the chaos of open outcry trading that electronic trading, done behind the comfort of a computer screen, can simply not accomplish. This makes Trading Places unique, and an important entry into both Murphy and Aykroyd’s body of work.

Source: Insider