Great Characters: Gordon Gekko (“Wall Street”)
This character is one of the faces of the 80s: Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street (written by Stanley Weiser and Oliver Stone). A plot summary from IMDB:
Bud Fox is a Wall Street stockbroker in early 1980’s New York with a strong desire to get to the top. Working for his firm during the day, he spends his spare time working an on angle with the high-powered, extremely successful (but ruthless and greedy) broker Gordon Gekko. Fox finally meets with Gekko, who takes the youth under his wing and explains his philosophy that “Greed is Good”. Taking the advice and working closely with Gekko, Fox soon finds himself swept into a world of “yuppies”, shady business deals, the “good life”, fast money, and fast women; something which is at odds with his family including his estranged father and the blue-collared way Fox was brought up.
Gekko is played by Michael Douglas, an Academy Award winning role for him.
Here are some choice quotes from this character:
Lunch is for wimps.
What’s worth doing is worth doing for money.
If you need a friend, get a dog.
If you’re not inside, you’re outside!
It’s all about bucks, kid. The rest is conversation.
And then there is this:
http://movieclips.com/e/i4ajc/
The best Bad Guys are those who have a coherent, compelling world view, one to which they are fully committed, one that if we cock our heads just a bit this way could actually make sense to us. Because then instead of keeping the Bad Guy at an arm’s distance, we’re actually forced to realize that part of us identifies with him or her. And that is a much more interesting psychological experience as a movie viewer than watching a movie with a straw man for a Bad Guy.
What are your favorite Gordon Gekko quotes?
Thanks to question.authority for suggesting Gekko for this series. If you have a great character in mind, please post in comments.
UPDATE: In comments, Leeman sent me this:
WALL STREET bankers release music video “Greed Is Good” which blames consumer behavior for the financial crisis.
An excerpt from a NY Magazine:
Leeman Brothaz, who identify themselves on Twitter as “a group of Wall Street bankers that rap about financial issues,” but are in reality a pair of 29-year-olds named Theo Pappadopolous and Matt Sausmer, have released what is perhaps the first rap single to ever drop the term “quantitative easing.” Called “Greed Is Good,” the song provides an overview of the financial crisis from the point of view of Wall Street lenders who blame “corporate drones” who took bad “NegArm loans” for the crash. “You say Wall Street’s greedy, that ain’t right/Greed’s not the problem it’s your lack of foresight,” goes one verse, which continues:
We bankers ain’t liars/Wall street was lending for you fat consumer buyers/A subprime mortgage meant a no-doubt loan/We helped Main street buy some sick-ass homes.