Editor’s note: This article was first published in May 2010, before the sequel came out, so the US release of 24 September 2010 and the Spanish release of 1 October 2010 are given as upcoming. Its reference to a recent rumour that briefly knocked down the Madrid stock exchange alludes to market events in spring 2010.
In 1985, Wall Street hit cinemas. It was a film that inspired many entrepreneurs to go out and conquer the world, just as its main character, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), did. That year, working as a broker started to become fashionable in much of the world. There was a notable rise in the number of stock market investors, and small and large companies alike threw themselves into this world.
Naturally, some people made a lot of money and some lost it. Even so, those were good years to invest in the stock market.
The new instalment of the film, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, opens on the eve of the financial crisis that is about to hit the whole world. After 20 years in prison, I’m sure Gordon Gekko will show us how to make a fortune all over again, starting from scratch.
It opens in the US on 24 September 2010.
It opens in Spain on 1 October 2010.
Even though it’s purely a work of fiction, it isn’t far from reality. We recently saw on the Madrid stock exchange how a simple rumour caused a drop just before prices climbed back to where they had started. There’s no doubt that, during those hours of falling and rising prices, some people made millions of euros.
If you haven’t had the chance to see the first film, I strongly recommend that you do, because it shows the world of finance as it really is. And it reflects many of the values we talk about on this blog.
Featured image: Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
