Trading Places (1983)

[Spartan Girl]

What the hell, since everyone likes bringing up old classics in light of having a lack of new stuff because this fucking pandemic, I'm starting one of for one of Eddie Murphy's best movies, Trading Places!

There's so much to love: Eddie and Dan in their prime, Jamie Lee Curtis breaks free of being a scream queen, Denholm Elliot, Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche, and some of the funniest movie moments ever:

• Dan in the hobo Santa outfit eating salmon through that disgusting beard
• "I can see! I can see! I have legs!!"
• "Motherfucker? Moi?"
• The New Years party with everyone's hairbrained disguises
• All ending with one of the best movie comeuppances ever!

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

5 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

•  
• "I can see! I can see! I have legs!!"
• "Motherfucker? Moi?"
• The New Years party with everyone's hairbrained disguises

“It was the Dukes...it was the Dukes!”

”A Dollah.”

Gorilla ❤️-😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

 

[VCRTracking]

I love Frank Oz as the cop booking Louis and sarcastically repeating "It's an opera."  Also it sounds like Fozzie Bear is talking about PCP!

[Snow Apple]

I love the ending with the excitement on the stock exchange floor, even though I didn't understand stocks. Everybody quieting down to listen to the orange results and then exploding back to business.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Trading Places has been one of my favorites, but the Dan Ackroyd in blackface bitjust is painful in 2020.

[CletusMusashi]

It's probably my favorite Christmas film.

[VCRTracking]

Interesting tidbit from Wikipedia:

And a few years later:

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by VCRTracking

[Spartan Girl]

I must admit it was jarring when I realized Ameche was the voice of my beloved Shadow in Homeward Bound. For the first time or so I watched Trading Places I kept thinking, "That voice was so familiar..."

[QueerGirrl]

On 7/18/2020 at 7:04 PM, Snow Apple said:

I love the ending with the excitement on the stock exchange floor, even though I didn't understand stocks. Everybody quieting down to listen to the orange results and then exploding back to business.

This movie is the reason I'm an accountant today!  No joke!  I was 10 in '83 and after I saw this I knew I wanted to be a Stockbroker.  So that was the plan throughout my education until I took my first Accounting class in college and fell in love with it.  I tell people all the time!

[CletusMusashi]

Shit, pretty much everything I know about finances comes from that movie.

Which is why I am not an accountant.

Edited July 22, 2020 by CletusMusashi

[Spartan Girl]

I still don't understand all the details of the big stock exchange climax. I just know that Louis and Billy Ray got rich and screwed the the Dukes.

"Ohhh...well, you see Louis and I made a bet that we could get rich and put you in the poorhouse at the same time."

"I lost! Here: one dollar."

"Thank you, Louis."

"After you!"

"Certainly!" *Eddie Murphy 80s laugh*

😂😂😂👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[VCRTracking]

Dan Aykroyd explains the ending of Trading Places.

 

[Spartan Girl]

I'm watching an episode of Law & Order with the guy who played Todd, a rich mama's boy who killed his cheating wife and the whole family covered for him. Kind of funny he'd wind up in that role.

One of the things I like about this movie is that Louis is a good example of an unlikable protagonist done right. He starts the movie out as a complete prick, though doesn't deserve what the Dukes did to him. And while I don't know if he completely changes, there is enough growth that he winds up friends with Billy Ray and Coleman -- having a common enemy in the Dukes unites. Honestly the Dukes might have unintentionally done him a favor because Penelope and his "friends" were jerks. Penelope sure didn't wait long to rebound with Todd...

And I love how Ophelia subverts the "hooker with a heart of gold" trope. I mean, yeah, she's a good person and all, but she made it her charity wasn't free.

[xaxat]

NPR did a deep dive into the trades in the movie. They interviewed a couple of commodities traders including one who traded real life FCOJ! In the movie, the Dukes owe $400 million on the trade and the real life traders estimate that most of that went to Billy Ray and Louis. Almost a billion in today's dollars. They got way richer than I imagined back then.

The podcast also mention that later on the events in the movie resulted in the creation of the "Eddie Murphy Rule" (poor Dan) in the Dodd Frank financial reform bill.

 

 

 

[Spartan Girl]

Rewatched it tonight and the climax has a somber note now because of the World Trade Center....

Edited July 23, 2020 by Spartan Girl

[Rose Quartz]

3 hours ago, xaxat said:

NPR did a deep dive into the trades in the movie. They interviewed a couple of commodities traders including one who traded real life FCOJ! In the movie, the Dukes owe $400 million on the trade and the real life traders estimate that most of that went to Billy Ray and Louis. Almost a billion in today's dollars. They got way richer than I imagined back then.

The podcast also mention that later on the events in the movie resulted in the creation of the "Eddie Murphy Rule" (poor Dan) in the Dodd Frank financial reform bill.

 

 

 

The NPR article had a link to this oral history of Trading Places which was a long but fascinating read, including the fact that initially the studio heads weren't happy with the casting for all three lead roles.

[DeeDee79]

On 7/18/2020 at 6:03 PM, Spartan Girl said:

What the hell, since everyone likes bringing up old classics in light of having a lack of new stuff because this fucking pandemic, I'm starting one of for one of Eddie Murphy's best movies, Trading Places!

There's so much to love: Eddie and Dan in their prime, Jamie Lee Curtis breaks free of being a scream queen, Denholm Elliot, Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche, and some of the funniest movie moments ever:

• Dan in the hobo Santa outfit eating salmon through that disgusting beard
• "I can see! I can see! I have legs!!"
• "Motherfucker? Moi?"
• The New Years party with everyone's hairbrained disguises
• All ending with one of the best movie comeuppances ever!

 

I'm so glad to see a thread for this movie! I have a lot of love for Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America but I've always thought that this movie doesn't get as much appreciation as it should. I remember reading an interview with Dan Ackroyd from years ago where he stated that he's used to Ghostbusters fans coming up to him but it's a real treat when fans of Trading Places approach him because he loved making the movie which I thought was pretty interesting.

[DeeDee79]

On 7/19/2020 at 9:19 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Trading Places has been one of my favorites, but the Dan Ackroyd in blackface bitjust is painful in 2020.

Personally speaking it doesn't bother me ( I'm black btw ) because it was a split second bit in the midst of all of the characters donning disguises. Also Louis needed the most help because Beeks knew who he was. I can understand how it wouldn't sit right with everyone years later though.

Edited July 27, 2020 by DeeDee79

[Spartan Girl]

Another moment I love is when Louis and Billy Ray figure out what the Dukes are up to when they see Beeks on TV with the crop report:

Louis: My God...the Dukes are going to corner the whole frozen orange juice market.

Ophelia (standing up): Unless someone stops them.

Coleman: Or beats them to it! (Everyone stares at him) Egg nog?

Denholm Elliot's delivery of that bit is perfect. A squad is born!

[Spartan Girl]

Heard this got a new Blu Ray release!

I’d love it if ever Eddie hosts SNL again, they could get Dan to cameo to so we’d get a Trading Places reunion. Make it happen, Lorne!

[GHScorpiosRule]

38 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Heard this got a new Blu Ray release!

I’d love it if ever Eddie hosts SNL again, they could get Dan to cameo to so we’d get a Trading Places reunion. Make it happen, Lorne!

SQUEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Spartan Girl]

The infamous Christmas party scene at Duke & Duke makes me miss all the holiday parties we would have had at work offices around this time. That spread looked amazing.

[VCRTracking]

This is about the recent Gamestop/Hedge fund story but it might also help explain the movie ending with the commodity shares:

 

 

[Ohiopirate02]

14 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

This is about the recent Gamestop/Hedge fund story but it might also help explain the movie ending with the commodity shares:

 

 

When I started to read about the whole Gamestop Situation, I immediately thought this is Trading Places done in a legal fashion.  

[xaxat]

The London Metal Exchange, the last exchange in the world where trades are shouted over an open floor like in the movie, might permanently switch to a computer system because of the pandemic.

(You can see trading floors on financial news networks, but those are primarily props. Trades are done electronically.)

Here's another podcast from financial writers about the movie. Slate Money Goes to the Movies: Trading Places.

Edited January 28, 2021 by xaxat

[Blergh]

One thing that  somehow got overlooked that they never bothered to explain was the fate of the Dukes Brothers' great-niece Penelope(Kristin Holby- who?). Yeah, sure she threw over  fiance Winthrop REALLY fast when her great-uncles framed him via Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis) and, perhaps their relationship had been far more superficial than Winthrop ultimately deserved (having opened his mind and expanding his horizons by the movie's close).

However, not only were there never any scenes or dialogue about any possible reactions she may have had to her great-uncles' having framed her ex-fiance and the family losing their fortune thanks to the great-uncles underestimating Louis and Valentine, but there wasn't any kind of postscript about what became of her. Did she have enough monies on her own to avoid having to join her great-uncles as a panhandler or did she herself grow enough on her own to somehow land on her feet regardless of the family fortunes and make a new life for herself away from her great-uncles or anyone else in their circles? The movie never clarified that- just considered her to be an unwitting foil to help spur Winthrop's downward spiral and with her disappearing without a trace thereafter. 

[Spartan Girl]

Feh. IDGAF about Penelope. She and those other snotty club members were fair weather friends, and there was definitely something going on between her and Todd before Louis got framed. The Dukes might of unintentionally  done Louis a favor on that front.

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Feh. IDGAF about Penelope. She and those other snotty club members were fair weather friends, and there was definitely something going on between her and Todd before Louis got framed. The Dukes might of unintentionally  done Louis a favor on that front.

To each one's own re Penelope. Not marry Winthrop? Probably best for both of them. However,  her possibly becoming destitute, too, JUST because she believed her great-uncles' spin? I can't cosign to the latter. 

[Browncoat]

7 hours ago, Blergh said:

To each one's own re Penelope. Not marry Winthrop? Probably best for both of them. However,  her possibly becoming destitute, too, JUST because she believed her great-uncles' spin? I can't cosign to the latter. 

Penelope will be fine.  Todd will take care of her.

[MissAlmond]

On 1/28/2021 at 1:23 PM, Ohiopirate02 said:

When I started to read about the whole Gamestop Situation, I immediately thought this is Trading Places done in a legal fashion.  

So did I!  LOL.

Quote

 

I am so confused by this Game Stop stuff can someone point me to where it’s explained (as if to a small child)?

Phillip Iscove

@pmiscove

 

Damn!  Never thought I would ever again see Nicole Beharie and Phillip Iscove's names mentioned in the same week, but here I am.  😉

17 hours ago, Blergh said:

However,  her possibly becoming destitute, too, JUST because she believed her great-uncles' spin? I can't cosign to the latter. 

Prince Akeem dropped the Duke's a wad of cash so I'm sure the snobbish, snotty Penelope is fine.  

Edited January 29, 2021 by MissAlmond

[reggiejax]

On 1/28/2021 at 4:27 PM, Blergh said:

One thing that  somehow got overlooked that they never bothered to explain was the fate of the Dukes Brothers' great-niece Penelope(Kristin Holby- who?). Yeah, sure she threw over  fiance Winthrop REALLY fast when her great-uncles framed him via Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis) and, perhaps their relationship had been far more superficial than Winthrop ultimately deserved (having opened his mind and expanding his horizons by the movie's close).

However, not only were there never any scenes or dialogue about any possible reactions she may have had to her great-uncles' having framed her ex-fiance and the family losing their fortune thanks to the great-uncles underestimating Louis and Valentine, but there wasn't any kind of postscript about what became of her. Did she have enough monies on her own to avoid having to join her great-uncles as a panhandler or did she herself grow enough on her own to somehow land on her feet regardless of the family fortunes and make a new life for herself away from her great-uncles or anyone else in their circles? The movie never clarified that- just considered her to be an unwitting foil to help spur Winthrop's downward spiral and with her disappearing without a trace thereafter. 

I have to admit, this is the first time I have ever heard anyone concerned about Penolope's fate. But I wouldn't call the lack of specific information as something "overlooked". We were shown Penelope immediately moving on to Todd. I don't think we needed any extra scenes to show that she went on to live the life she always would, just with Todd instead of Winthorp. 

And it is certainly possible she was directly effected by her uncles financial ruin, but I get the feeling that just spurred her on to make things permanent with Todd that much sooner. 

And if we are going the route of worrying about the collateral damage of Louis and Billy Ray's scheme, Penelope would be at the bottom of the list of people to worry about. I think the countless employees of Duke and Duke would be of greater concern, to say nothing of those personally employed by the Dukes (ie their staff at their homes). 

In short, forget about Penelope. Truth be told, I'd be more interested, if not necessarily concerned, in clarence beeks ultimate fate. I mean at what point did someone finally notice that the second gorilla was a guy in a costume?