Trading Places

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Trading Places

Theatrical release poster.
Directed by John Landis
Produced by George Folsey Jr.
Aaron Russo
Irwin Russo
Sam Williams
Written by Timothy Harris
Herschel Weingrod
Starring Dan Aykroyd
Eddie Murphy
Jamie Lee Curtis
Music by Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography Robert Paynter
Editing by Malcolm Campbell
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) June 8, 1983 (USA)
Running time 118 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $28,000,000 (estimate)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile
Portal:Philadelphia
 Philadelphia Portal

This is an article on the 1983 movie. For the Timeshare company, Click Trading Places International

Trading Places is a 1983 comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. It was directed by John Landis and written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod. It was produced by Aaron Russo.

This film is number 74 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The plot is similar to the Three Stooges 1935 short film Hoi Polloi. Trading Places' premise features two immensely wealthy and patrician brothers, Mortimer and Randolph Duke (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy), who find themselves on opposite sides of the nature versus nurture argument. The brothers decide that the best way to resolve the argument is to select one impeccably pedigreed member of high society, and one member of the lowest echelon of society -- and ruin the life of the successful one, dramatically improve the fortunes of the street hustler, and see how they respond. Mortimer believes that regardless of their shifting fortunes, the well-bred subject will rise to the challenge and the riff-raff will fail no matter what opportunities are presented to him. Randolph insists the well-bred subject, and his weak backbone, will unravel in society while the hustler will take full advantage of his new situation and become a changed man. Both satisfied with the plan, the Duke brothers shake hands to seal a wager for their "usual amount."

Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) is a respected senior employee of the Dukes who manages their Philadelphia commodities brokerage firm, Duke & Duke. His bona fides are impeccable, having attended Exeter and Harvard. Louis has reached the ideal level of detached self-satisfaction, complete with the superficial fiancee, Penelope. However, the Dukes arrange to shatter Louis' reputation by having one of their operatives, Clarence Beeks (Paul Gleason), to "expose" him as a petty thief (coincidentally, Louis had already questioned the Dukes about a $50,000 payment to Beeks). As Louis is processed in jail, a scene featuring a cameo by Frank Oz, who often has small roles in Landis' comedies, Louis finds that another item has been planted in his clothing — a cellophane bag containing angel dust. Louis does not fare well in jail — by the time Penelope arrives to post bail, he is disheveled and bruised. When he finally appears to convince Penelope he has been falsely accused, a prostitute, Ophelia, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, lustily kisses Louis and begs him for a dime bag, promising to do all the things he likes.

Penelope flees in a state of shock, while Ophelia explains to Louis that someone (Beeks) paid her so Louis would enjoy the "prank." Louis' life continues to deteriorate. His bank accounts have been frozen and he has been locked out of his home by his devoted butler, Coleman (Denholm Elliott). Despondent, and crouched on the ground in despair, he has the look of a man who has lost the will to live, while Ophelia looks on, compassion obviously beginning to blossom in her heart (hooker with a heart of gold) and takes Louis back to her apartment.

Beggar and hustler Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) had been arrested when he innocently bumped into Louis, his action perceived as a robbery attempt. When Billy Ray is briefly jailed, he attempts to intimidate his hulking cellmates with his purported karate abilities. The Dukes bail him out and invite him into their limousine, and then into their supposed program that assists underprivileged members of society.

Billy Ray is brought to his new house (Louis' house) and eventually accepts his new luxury, inviting all of the patrons from his favorite bar back to the house for a party. However, Valentine already starts to show signs that he has been changed by wealth, seeing his guests as freeloaders. On his first day at his new job, the Dukes give Billy Ray a brief primer on their business, explaining the concept of commodities in the simplest possible terms. Billy Ray catches on in that the Dukes "make bets" and invest money on behalf of clients on whether stocks will go up or down (Billy Ray compares them to bookies). Eventually, Billy Ray's real-world perspective proves to be an accurate predictor of a commodity's movement.

Both characters' plights come to a head during a Duke & Duke Christmas party. Much to Mortimer's chagrin, Louis shows up dressed as Santa Claus, but attempts to steal food and frame Billy Ray, also brandishing a pistol. The Dukes see that Louis has hit bottom, and in a washroom conversation, Mortimer concedes defeat in the bet and pays off that usual amount, one dollar. Billy Ray, however, hears the conversation, which also reveals the Dukes' plan to push Billy Ray back on the streets while declining to restore Louis' positon.

Billy Ray finds Louis, who could not even kill himself properly (though his suicide attempt is played for comedy), and brings Louis back to his real home. As the two plan their revenge, when Billy Ray theorizes "the best way to get back at rich people is to turn them into poor people," they discover the Dukes plan to purchase (through Beeks) an advance copy of the official orange crop report, to help them corner the market in frozen concentrated orange juice. In the end, Louis and Billy Ray obtain the real report, the Dukes read one with opposite information, causing the the Dukes to bankrupt themselves, while Louis, Billy Ray, Coleman and Ophelia become rich.

[edit] Explanation of climax scene

With the authentic orange crop report indicating a good harvest of fresh oranges, frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) would be less important to food producers and so would be likely to drop in price once traders heard the news. However, by way of a fraudulent report, the Duke brothers are led to believe that the orange harvest would be less successful, necessitating greater demand for stockpiled FCOJ in orange products in the coming year, thereby driving the price up. By capitalizing on this knowledge (and the Duke brothers' missteps), the protagonists are able to profit by manipulating the futures market as follows:

  • Like conventional stock, futures contracts can be sold even when the seller does not yet own any of the commodity. A contract to sell, say, 15,000 pounds of FCOJ at $1.50 per pound in February merely indicates the seller's obligation to provide and the buyer's obligation to purchase the product at the specified price and time. It does not matter how or where the seller gets the product, as long as, one way or another, he is able to provide it at that price at that time, even if it results in a sale at a loss to him.
  • In this case, Winthorpe and Valentine first "sell" FCOJ futures at roughly $1.45 per unit, a price inflated by the Dukes themselves (the Duke Brothers' buying leads other traders to believe that the Dukes are trying to corner the market, causing a buying frenzy). Then, when the price falls first as a result Winthorpe and Valentine's eager selling, then to a much greater degree upon the release of the real crop report indicating a good harvest, Winthorpe and Valentine buy futures at roughly $0.22 per unit. Thus, for every future unit they had previously sold at $1.45, they purchase a matching amount for only $0.22, resulting in a profit of over $1.20 per unit (over 545%). Though it is not stated in the movie exactly how much they make, if they invested roughly $500,000 from a combination of Winthorpe/Valentine's investment, the Duke's money from buying the "fake" report from a fake Clarence Beeks (Paul Gleason) and Coleman's and Ophelia's savings, they would have turned it into over $2.7 million. It is strongly implied that they purchased additional futures on margin and made dozens (or hundreds) of millions more, since a lesser amount would not bankrupt the Dukes.
  • At the same time, the Duke brothers purchase enormous quantities of FCOJ futures, even at relatively high prices, because they incorrectly expect that the crop report (falsely suggesting a greater need for stockpiled orange juice) will create a demand at even higher prices, securing them a profit. When it turns out that the leaked report they were given was fraudulent and the true report is revealed, the price begins to plummet before they are able to sell off their contracts. So, they are left with an obligation to buy millions of units of FCOJ at a price more than a dollar per unit higher than they can sell them for, bankrupting them. The Dukes too, are trading on margin, in order to magnify their profits (or losses, as it turns out). The first words that the exchange representative says to them after their disastrous trading session are "Margin call, gentlemen," requiring them to deposit more money with the exchange to cover their open lossmaking position. Randolph whines, "You know very well that we don't have $394 million in cash!" Since their open position is hundreds of millions of dollars in the red, they have no further margin to deposit, they are effectively ruined, Mortimer's screams of "turn those machines back on!" notwithstanding.
  • The $1.20 per pound price change on FCOJ futures that generated Winthorpe and Valentine's huge profit would be unlikely in the real FCOJ market. The exchange that houses the FCOJ futures trading imposes a daily limit of 10 cents per pound on the price movement of the near month contract from its previous day's settlement price. Most commodities futures contracts have daily limits. After the FCOJ price is 10 cents away from the prior settlement price, trading is halted and the market is referred to as "limit up" or "limit down". Trading reopens if prices are again within the limit, and the next day the price can change 10 cents again. The price limit can be widened under certain market conditions.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Awards

  • Curtis and Elliott received BAFTA awards for their roles.

[edit] Production

Most of the movie was filmed on location in Philadelphia, PA. Portions were set in New York, at the World Trade Center and the New York Board of Trade exchange floor at 4 World Trade Center which is no longer standing today following the events of September 11, 2001.

[edit] Trivia

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
  • The punch line of the story Bunny (Susan Fallender) tells at the tennis club ("... and she stepped on the ball") is a reference to Auntie Mame (1958), in which Gloria Upson, a snob, tells a joke with the same punch line (to which no one laughs).
  • Mark Twain's "The Million-Pound Banknote" also revolves around a bet between two immensely wealthy businessmen who then toy with the life of a penniless man, but in this case with a far more benevolent intent.
  • The phrase "See You Next Wednesday" appears in all of Landis' films in some fashion. In this film, it appears printed on a poster in Ophelia's apartment.
  • FCOJ commodities really are traded through the New York Board of Trade [1].
  • A statue of fictional pugilist Rocky Balboa is briefly seen during the opening montage and was built for the film Rocky III.
  • The Duke brothers' attempt to corner the orange juice market is similar to the real-life case of the Hunt brothers (sons of H. L. Hunt) of Texas, who attempted to corner the silver market with the help of Arab investors. Eventually, the "Silver Thursday" market crash of March 27, 1980 devalued their silver holdings enough to make them fail to meet their $100 million margin call and forcing them to declare bankruptcy.
  • The Duke brothers appear as two homeless men in Eddie Murphy's 1988 movie Coming to America. Murphy's character hands a wad of cash to a homeless man, who is revealed to be Mortimer. Randolph observes and says, "Mortimer, we're back," as a snippet of the score from Trading Places can be heard. Both films were directed by John Landis.
  • Giancarlo Esposito makes a cameo appearance in the jail scene.
  • In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Trading Places the 33rd greatest comedy film of all time.
  • Another Muppet performer, Richard Hunt, makes an appearance in this film as Wilson, the man whom the Dukes are shown telling to buy orange juice just before the trading begins, and then collapses in the crowd shortly after the actual crop report is released.
  • During auditions for Season 5 of American Idol, a contestant attempted to sing the "Zeta Chi/Constance Fry" song. However, when questioned by the judges, the contestant admitted he didn't know where the song is from.
  • In Italy, Trading Places (translated as Una poltrona per due, "A Chair for Two") has become a traditional Christmas movie: reruns of the film have been broadcast regularly on commercial networks like Mediaset, every year since 1986.
  • James Belushi, brother of the late John Belushi, close friend of Dan Aykroyd, makes an appearance in the train scene dressed in a gorilla suit. He eventually finishes the party in his underwear.

[edit] External links

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