Wall Street (1987)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A young stockbroker becomes entangled with a wealthy, unscrupulous corporate raider in the high-stakes world of 1980s finance.
The story
In 1985, Bud Fox is a junior stockbroker at Jackson Steinem & Co. in New York City. He is determined to work with his hero, Gordon Gekko, a legendary and ruthless Wall Street player. After persistent attempts to secure an appointment, Bud finally meets Gekko and provides him with insider information regarding Bluestar Airlines. Impressed by Bud's persistence and the potential of the information, Gekko begins to work with him. As Bud's wealth grows through these high-stakes dealings, he finds himself navigating the moral complexities of the financial world while caught between the influence of his ambitious mentor and the grounded values of his father.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1985, Bud Fox, a junior stockbroker in New York, manages to catch the attention of the legendary corporate raider Gordon Gekko by providing insider information on Bluestar Airlines. After a successful trade, Gekko gives Bud capital to manage. Bud eventually becomes wealthy and moves into a penthouse, but he begins to struggle with the morality of his actions, especially as he uses insider information and exploits others. The conflict intensifies when Bud's father, a union leader, is caught in the crossfire of Gekko's ruthless tactics. After Gekko's plan to strip Bluestar of its assets is revealed, Bud feels a sense of guilt and decides to sabotage Gekko's plans by conspiring with a rival investor, Sir Lawrence Wildman. Bud successfully maneuvers to force Gekko into a massive loss, but his actions lead to his own arrest by the SEC for insider trading. The film concludes with a confrontation in Central Park where Gekko berates Bud, only for Bud to reveal he was wearing a wire. Bud is eventually released from prison, having 'done the right thing' by cooperating with the law.
- First release year
- 1987
- Runtime (minutes)
- 126
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Oliver Stone
- Writers
- Oliver Stone · co-writer; Stanley Weiser · writer
- Cast and characters
- Michael Douglas · Gordon Gekko; Charlie Sheen · Bud Fox; Daryl Hannah · Darien Taylor; Martin Sheen · Carl Fox; Hal Holbrook · Lou Mannheim; Terence Stamp · Sir Larry Wildman
- Genres
- crime drama
- Themes
- greed; morality; capitalism; corporate ethics
- Tone and mood
- tense; intense
- Premise and plot tags
- financial thriller; corporate raiding; insider trading
- Franchise connections
- Wall Street
- Reception
- The film was well received among major film critics and is considered an archetypal portrayal of 1980s excess.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 78% · scale: percentage · review count: 64; Metacritic · score: 56 · scale: 100 · review count: 16
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Actor · win
- Production trivia
- The character of Gordon Gekko is a composite of several real-life figures, including Carl Icahn and Michael Milken.; The film is the only movie to win both an Academy Award and a Golden Raspberry Award.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…