Money matters. Financial ambitions and pecuniary disappointment is common fuel for Hollywood and beyond. In an industry so reliant on the box office takings, vast riches are lost and won every opening weekend, thus it’s no surprise that the world of finance plays a consistent role in the drama on the big screen.
The common currency here is hope, and much is staked on the good fortune of our cinematic protagonists. Through the decades it has always been so. Money, and the necessity of it, is an abundant source of tension. As we’re close to Christmas many will turn to the mighty glow of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life to warm their spirits, to witness the great returns when human kindness is in rude supply.
The moment the film when James Stewart discover the loss of $8000 from the Bailey Buildings, and the run on the bank is heart-breaking. It provides a turning point in the film, when good tidings turn to the gloomiest Christmas on record, and for George Bailey to ponder what life would have been like without him. His mirror in the film, the vulgar Mr Potter, whose avarice is at the absent heart of the film, sees only gain at the unfortunate turn of events. Yet, by journey’s end, the townsfolk of Bedford Falls rally to George, and inspire one of the most celebrated movie endings ever. It is an iconic scene, one sure to bring a tear to the eye. Attaboy Clarence!
When it comes to more modern movie money matters, the often complicated world of trading provides the most fertile ground. Sites such as https://proptradingfirms.net/ can help to simplify things greatly, but on the other side of the dramatic line we find movies such as 2011’s Margin Call and Too Big to Fail, also from that year.
Both film delves into the struggle to contain livelihoods and corporate interests when crises occur. Margin Call’s stellar cast (Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Paul Bettany, Stanley Tucci and Demi Moore among them) make the most of the mounting tension as a financial firm finds itself about to collapse. The drama is fierce, and the boardroom ambitions at play make for compelling viewing.
Likewise, Too Big to Fail fictionalises the 2008 financial crash and flits from one boardroom to the next in search of answers and lifeboats, all the while reeling from the grim reality that is unfolding. The panicked search for the golden parachute of the corporations gives an indication of how important money is to these people, while a cursory glimpse is sometimes given, by way of contrast, to the millions of working people also affected.
So, these films exist to show us what went wrong. Sometimes they too can help us as we struggle to learn from our history in order to not repeat it. Adam McKay’s The Big Short from 2015 threw a starry cast into the roles of those responsible for, and affected by the 2008 crisis and offered something of an explanation. Likewise 1999’s Rogue Trader placed (then a new Jedi) Ewan McGregor into the screenshoes of Nick Leeson, whose misguided trading practises bankrupted Barings Bank in the ’90s.
These films showcased the people behind the real life financial turbulence that we lived through, but it is often the George Baileys of the movie world that can show us the human cost in a less visceral way. Consider the tale of Billy Ray Valentine and Louis Winthorpe III (played with glee by Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd) from 1983’s Trading Places. John Landis set the rags to riches morality play against the world of commodity trading, with the keen twist that the commodity that was being traded here were people’s identity and lives.
Like the Richard Pryor-led ’80s update of Brewster’s Millions, Trading Places was a comedy with a concept of sudden reversal of fortunes. Ultimately, both films used the extremes of ’80s wealth generation to end up both in the same place – goodness and truth are the most valuable riches of all.
