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Wall Street

Here we are with the role that not only has defined Michael Douglas’ career, but has defined generations. The quote “Greed is good” is one of the most memorable in this slick piece of studio entertainment from Oliver Stone, who’s come back to direct the sequel. Just as the financial markets were on the brink in 1987, so it goes now. Back in 1987, Gordon Gekko, the slimeball who knows how to best navigate the treacherous world of Wall Street, was an antihero but the most classic kind. On the one hand, of course you hate Gordon Gekko. Look at the guy. He’s the picture of American greed, of sleaze, of excess. On the other hand, look at the guy. He’s so slick, he’s so rich, he’s so loved, he’s a stock market version of James Bond. Why not be the guy?

As with all great antihero performances, the film dies or lives on the lead actor. There have been plenty of antiheroes in movies and in television, and the character only works if you buy the actor playing him or her. If Gordon Gekko never goes beyond being one of the most loathsome American film characters, then Wall Street won’t work. The movie doesn’t just work, of course - as mentioned earlier, it got Douglas an Oscar - but it’s helped make Douglas a star. In fact, it’s made Douglas Gordon Gekko. No, he’s not a greedy SOB, but when the Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps trailers roll, the audience is automatically interested, because we all know what we’re going to get. Nothing is more fun than watching a guy at the top of his game be forced to fall to the lowest of the low. No one’s better at it, in Wall Street or otherwise, than Douglas.

Falling Down

If the typical Michael Douglas role can be visualized by what he does in Wall Street, the complete antithesis is his role in the 1993 drama Falling Down. The movie’s about a day in the life of yet another cubicle drone, but someone who’s been pushed too far. With a crew cut, spectacles, tight pants and a pocket protector, Douglas plays William Foster, known as D-Fens thanks to his license plate. He gets stuck in traffic one morning in the middle of Los Angeles, and can’t take it anymore. He’s lost his wife due to his behavioral problems and just wants to see his daughter on her birthday. Unfortunately, doing that after abandoning his car in rush hour means he has to walk. One thing leads to another and pretty soon, D-Fens is being hunted by the LAPD.

Falling Down is by no means a subtle movie, and some of the dialogue Douglas has to spout against the intense rebellion going on in parts of the Los Angeles area in the early 1990s is just wee bit painful. Having said that, Douglas is paired with Robert Duvall here. Duvall plays the lead cop looking for Douglas, the prototypical older cop who’s this close to retiring. Duvall’s character is similarly disillusioned with his life and job, but he’s not going nearly as far off the rails as D-Fens is. Still, their intersecting paths make the film interesting, and I do have a particular penchant for “day in the life” kind of movies. Falling Down is not Douglas’ best film, but it is one of the most compelling (and directed by Joel Schumacher, of all people), and the Douglas-Duvall combination makes for riveting cinema.

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