Wall Street

"Greed is Good." This is the credo of the aptly-named Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), the antihero of Oliver Stone's "Wall Street." Gekko, a high-rolling corporate raider, is idolized by young-and-hungry broker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen). Inveigling himself into Gekko's inner circle, Fox quickly learns to rape, murder. and bury his sense of ethics. Only when Gekko's wheeling and dealing causes a near-tragedy on a personal level does Fox "reform," though his means of destroying Gekko are every bit as underhanded as his previous activities on the trading floor. Director Stone, who co-wrote "Wall Street" with Stanley Weiser, has claimed that the film was prompted by the callous treatment afforded his stockbroker father after 50 years in the business; this could be why the film's most compelling scenes are those between Bud Fox and his airline-mechanic father, who is played by Charlie Sheen's real-life father Martin.