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For a dollar. And all of this is against the backdrop of their attempt to make millions off an ill gotten government crop report, due for delivery on New Year’s Eve.

What will surprise you is how successfully Trading Places actually manages to weave an unexpectedly relevant social narrative while surreptitiously offering up ample doses of timely satire. I know that’s high praise for a movie whose writers (Timothy Harris, Herschel Weingrod) would later bring us Space Jam and Kindergarten Cop. But in this case, it resulted in a foundationally solid script. And as director, John Landis is well known for slipping wry sociopolitical commentary into unlikely places. Here, he again manages to stamp what might have been a very average story with his unique brand of observational humor. His scenes are full of life, and stuffed with unspoken dialogue and obscure visual cues, almost making the camera itself a legitimate part of the cast.

Speaking of the cast, the Dukes are almost excessively villainous archetypes, but they’re played with such devilish glee by two of Hollywood’s most respected actors that it’s truly a thing of beauty. Winthorpe starts out a stuffed shirt, but once he’s out from under the Dukes’ shadow his true values appear. And Murphy takes what could have been just another Quirky Black Guy role and breathes real life into it. I don’t know whether Aykroyd and Murphy were just being themselves, or were really that perfect for the roles that were written. Either way, both their character arcs are more convincing than what you’re used to seeing in a comedy. It gives the story a strong core, which raises all the boats.

That’s good, because the remaining cast members are somewhat less well defined, either by necessity or because they’re the only woman in a film written by men. Jamie Lee Curtis probably was not challenged by her role, but that’s a good thing, isn’t it? Gleason plays to type as a grim thug, and Denholm Elliott is under-appreciated as Winthorpe’s butler. They’re small pieces but each fits a larger and very significant aspect of the story - and they all have multiple memorable moments. Trading Places almost flawlessly avoids the mistake that bedevils far too many high profile comedies, which is a top heavy cast. This is truly one of those movies where everything and everyone was in the right place at the right time, and to this day it remains a true classic.

If there’s anything negative to be said I guess I could point out that despite its pretensions, Trading Places isn’t going to teach you anything real or meaningful about class warfare. Of course you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Of course everyone is created equal. Of course racism is wrong. Of couse inside every hooker is a mother figure trying to get out. And success is usually a combination of personal potential and good fortune (in a much less evil and racist way, Randolph and Mortimer were BOTH right). And of course, Hollywood movies are made and financed by people who for the most part are all pretty well off. Watching rich people scold other rich people for being rich feels weird to me.

But of course the difference is, in New York they just make money. In Hollywood they make money telling stories. And in the case of Trading Places, it’s a pretty damn good one.

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