Film

Wall Street

Name: Wall Street
Genre: Crime, Drama
Released: 1987
Cast: Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, Daryl Hannah, John C. McGinley

Oliver Stone's glossy morality tale about the 1980s greed boom follows a young broker seduced by a corporate raider's philosophy that 'greed is good.' It's fast, quotable, and gorgeous in its excess — pinstripes, car phones, skyline views — while quietly damning everything it glamorises. For anyone curious how ambition curdles into corruption.

TMDb rating

7.2

If you liked this

The Wolf of Wall Street2013

Scorsese takes the same seduction-by-money arc and cranks it to operatic excess — more drugs, more yachts, more moral rot, narrated by a man who never once regrets it.

But Three hours of hedonism can feel numbing rather than damning, depending on your tolerance for excess played as comedy.

Glengarry Glen Ross1992

Strip away the yachts and you get this: a single dingy office where salesmen claw at each other for leads, proving greed doesn't need a skyline to be vicious.

But It's stagey and dialogue-heavy — basically a filmed play — with almost no visual glamour to soften the cruelty.

Boiler Room2000

A younger, scrappier cousin to Gekko's world — college dropouts hawking worthless stock, quoting Wall Street's own lines back at each other like scripture.

But It's derivative by design and lacks the polish or star power of the film it's openly imitating.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

There Will Be Blood2007

Swap stock tickers for oil derricks and you get the same engine as Wall Street: ambition curdling into something that consumes everyone nearby, including a surrogate son taken under a ruthless man's wing.

Daniel Plainview's rise mirrors Gekko's — a magnetic, ruthless mentor figure whose ambition becomes total moral corrosion, filmed as a towering American epic rather than a slick thriller.

But It's slow, brutal, and unglamorous where Wall Street is quick and stylish — patience required, and no redemption arc waiting.

American Psycho2000

Same decade, same suits, same obsession with status — but here the emptiness of finance-bro ambition curdles into something genuinely monstrous, played as pitch-black satire.

But The violence and tone shift hard into horror-comedy, which won't suit anyone wanting a straighter drama.

Margin Call2011

A quieter, more procedural take on the same world — one long night inside a bank realising it's about to collapse, full of men rationalising catastrophe.

But It's talky and deliberately unglamorous — no Gekko swagger here, just spreadsheets and dread.

The Big Short2015

Takes the same insider-knowledge advantage Gekko exploits and shows what it looks like when the whole system is the con, told with jokes and direct-to-camera explainers.

But The fourth-wall-breaking, cutaway-heavy style is an acquired taste and can feel gimmicky.

Trading Places1983

Same era, same Wall Street cynicism, but flipped into comedy — two men used as pawns in a bet about nature versus nurture, with the market as punchline.

But It's broader and sillier than anything in Stone's film — pure 80s comedy rather than morality tale.

Barbarians at the Gate1993no page yet

A true-story leveraged buyout fight told with the same appetite for excess and ego, following the men who nearly bought out RJR Nabisco.

But It's a TV movie in scale and look, and the corporate jargon can get thick.

Rogue Trader1999no page yet

Ewan McGregor plays a real trader whose unchecked risk-taking sank a 233-year-old bank — a smaller, sadder cousin to Gekko's confident swagger.

But It's a minor, largely forgotten film with less visual style than its subject deserves.

Inside Job2010

This is the real-world version of everything Gekko preaches — an Oscar-winning documentary showing how the 2008 crash was built by actual men following his exact logic, with no dramatic irony to soften it.

Matt Damon narrates a clear, furious breakdown of how deregulation and greed actually collapsed the global economy — the true story behind every fictional Gekko.

But It's dense with financial mechanics and righteous anger rather than character drama — informative, not entertaining in the same way.

Executive Suite1954no page yet

Decades before Gekko, this boardroom drama already asked whether a corporation should be run by the man who wants it most or the man who's best for it — same power struggle, no stock market required.

A tense, talky black-and-white ensemble piece about a company's future decided in one long day, proving corporate ruthlessness didn't need the 80s to be gripping.

But It's stagey, dated in pace, and entirely without the visual seduction Stone brings to money and ambition.