Eight Movies About Capitalism And Its Seedy, Pin-Striped Underbelly

Ah, capitalism. Ain’t it grand? Maker of moguls and tycoons, destroyer of lives and the working poor. Martin Scorsese’s latest epic The Wolf Of Wall Street isn’t the first film to take a look at the seedy underworld of pin-striped suits and “Buy low, sell high!” barkers; let’s look at some other great movies about the world’s most popular economic system… before it destroys us all!

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American Psycho (2000)

Investment banker Patrick Bateman’s review of Huey Lewis and the News says it all: the guy loves commerce and catchy tunes. “Their early work was a little too New Wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in ’83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically.” Christian Bale starred as the homicidal ’80s guy, who took on Wall Street in a less financial and more psychopathic kinda way. The GFC had nothing on this guy.

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Rogue Trader (1999)

Before the world was blessed with the Rogue Traders and their wonderful riffs, there was a movie starring Ewan “flash me pecker” McGregor based on the life of fraudulent British broker, Nick Leeson. With some zany investments and his knack for speculative trading, Leeson managed to bring down Barings Bank, the oldest investment bank in the UK, and its stereotypical poshos. The film itself feels like it was made for TV, but the story is pretty darn interesting.

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Wall Street (1987) and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)

Michael Douglas might’ve turned down a role in Basic Instinct 2 because he didn’t wanna show the world his butt, but he did decide to reprise his iconic Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s sequel to Wall Street. Wall Street 2 may be better than Basic Instinct 2, but not by much. You should watch both films back-to-back just to see how far the mighty can fall… Almost as far as the Euro.

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Other People’s Money (1991)

Imagine if Wall Street was a comedy and Gordon Gekko was played by Danny DeVito… Now imagine no more! It’s an actual movie that exists, directed by regular Oscar nominee Norman Jewison, and it boasts some pretty big laughs. DeVito’s in full-on angry crazy person mode, so the whole movie can basically be seen as a prequel to his character in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, which is obviously a pretty good reason to watch it.

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Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room (2005)

Documentary maker Alex Gibney made this film following the 2001 collapse of the Enron Corporation, one of the world’s biggest companies. Watching the doco in a post-GFC world might make you angry, but sometimes it’s good to be a little angry. You’ll see the effects of deregulation on people who wanna make as much money as they can in the shortest amount of time, social responsibility getting thrown out the window, and Wall Street traders laughing at grandmas.

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The Godfather (1972)

Francis Ford Coppola famously made his Mafia epic as an allegory for capitalism, and when you watch the film with that in mind, it makes a lot of sense. You can almost imagine Gordon Gekko saying “It was only business…” in the final moments of his own life.

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Trading Places (1983)

You know that old workplace prank where you swap the rich white guy for the poor black guy? What a gag! Well, here it is in all its glory, in one of the best comedies ever made. Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Lee Curtis and John Landis, all together, reciting lines like, “When I was growing up, if we wanted a jacuzzi, we had to fart in the tub.” It’s a classic rags-to-riches story that only the real-life zany world of the stock exchange could inspire.

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Matt Banham is master and servant at mattbanham.com. He was awarded most improved player in his primary school footy team four years in a row.