Wall Street, The Movie

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by ess1096, Jan 14, 2007.

  1. ess1096

    ess1096

    I was watching this for the umpteenth time the other night, it was actually on The Fox Movie Channel so my DVD got a break, and as usual I noticed something new again.
    I can't believe I didn't notice this before. The movie was filmed in 1987 but the story takes place in 1985. However, when Budd Foxx is making his daily phone call to Gordon Gekko, trying to bag the elephant, Marv says to Budd, "30 seconds after the Challenger exploded, Gekko was on the phone selling NASA shares short".

    The Challenger exploded in 1986.

    I thought I was so smart....then I found this..... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/goofs
     
  2. Maverick74

    Maverick74

    Did you also notice there is no NASA stock? LOL.
     
  3. mxjones

    mxjones

    No NASA stock? I am long 5000 shares right now?

    WTF???

    :eek:
     
  4. ess1096

    ess1096

    Actually yes. That one I noticed the first time I saw the movie. But I just considered it one of those hollywood things, like 555 phone numbers and tiny , cold pizza slices.
     
  5. The most unrealistic thing about this movie is how much money Bud made off one large client. This simply doesn't happen. Also Bud was working retail accounts, he never would have been allowed to cold call an institutional account.
     
  6. Boesky, whom Gekko was based on, could easily throw a million to a source. As to your second point, once one bags the elephant one can always walk to another employer. Gekko would have followed 'cause Bud had the goods. To hell w/ 'allowed.' (You've clearly never worked on the street.)

    So no, you are wrong on both counts.
     
  7. RedDuke

    RedDuke

    I read "Den of thieves", then watched the movie again, and saw it under a different light.

    Highly recommend this book (mostly for entertainment purposes).
     
  8. All true. Plus remember we're talking about a.) mid 1980's commission structures and even more importantly b.) a customer smart enough to know that there's no price too high to pay for bona fide market moving inside information.
     
  9. Oh please, institutional accounts only pay a tiny fraction of the full commission, it has been this way forever. It takes several large accounts to make a good living, not just one. This was pure Hollywood.

    In real life, Gekko would have taken Bud's initial stock tip, checked it out and never talked to him again.
     
  10. Back in the 80's and 90's, brokers were charging as high as 5% per trade. You probably still can, but only a moron would pay that much nowadays with discount brokers around. So if you opened a $10 million account, you were able to make 250k in commissions, assuming a 50% commission split.
     
    #10     Jan 17, 2007