Top 10 Money Movies of All-Time!
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Everyone loves a good movie! However, a movie about getting rich, hitting the big time, and living the good life is not just entertaining but something we all dream about.
So sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, and check out our list of the Top 10 Money Movies of All-Time!
10. Risky Business – 1983
- This 1983 coming of age comedy follows the sexual exploits of a high school senior who is left home alone during his parents’ vacation.
- While the main character, Joel Goodsen, is supposed to be hard at work studying and preparing for a college interview with Princeton University, he is instead coerced by his friend, Miles, to take advantage of his newfound freedom and have some fun.
- The fun starts off with antics such as raiding his parents liquor cabinet, turning up the stereo, and dancing in his underwear, but eventually escalates to meeting a call girl and rolling his dad’s Porsche 928 into Lake Michigan.
- To pay for the damages, he turns his parents’ home into a brothel for the night.
- While he thinks he will be pocketing the excess funds, instead, it is used to buy back all the furniture from his parents’ house which has been stolen by the call girl’s pimp.
- This movie stars Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Curtis Armstrong, Bronson Pinchot and Joe Pantoliano as Guido the Pimp.
9. The Devil’s Advocate – 1997
- Kevin Lomax is a Florida defense attorney who has never lost a case and is invited to New York City to work for a major firm headed by John Milton.
- With his new job and desire to impress his superiors, Kevin is spending most of his time at work leaving his wife, Mary Ann, feeling isolated.
- Soon Mary Ann begins being haunted by visions and after a doctor declares her to be infertile.
- She begs her husband to move back to Gainesville but he refuses.
- As Mary Ann’s mental health deteriorates, Kevin commits her to a mental institution.
- Sadly, Mary Ann eventually commits suicide followed by Kevin’s mother telling him his new boss, Milton, is actually his father.
- Kevin confronts Milton and shoots him, but the bullets do not harm him.
- Milton then reveals himself as Satan and announces he wants Kevin and his half-sister to have a child together in order to conceive the Antichrist.
- Responding to this, Kevin shoots himself in the head and suddenly finds himself back in a Florida courtroom with Mary Ann alive and well, and announces he cannot represent his guilty client even though it will get him disbarred.
- After the trial, Kevin’s friend Larry offers him a high-profile interview promising it will make him rich and famous.
- Alas, Larry transforms himself into Milton, or Satan, and declares “Vanity – definitely my favorite sin!”
- This movie was released in 1997 and stars Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, and Craig T. Nelson.
8. Scarface – 1983
- This ultra-violent movie follows the story of a Cuban nationalist who obtains a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official.
- Once in the United States, Tony Montano works his way up the chain of command in the Miami drug trade.
- Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami.
- However, increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of Tony’s eventual downfall.
- Starring Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, F. Murray Abraham and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Scarface is loosely based on a 1932 novel of the same name and is best remembered for famous line such as “I always tell the truth, even when I lie,” “I bury those cockroaches,” and, of course, “Say hello to my little friend.”
7. Other People’s Money – 1991
- Larry “The Liquidator” Garfield is a successful corporate raider who has become rich buying up companies and selling off their assets.
- Garfield’s next target is New England Wire & Cable Company, which employs the majority of the town’s residents.
- With everyone’s livelihood depending on him, company chairman Andrew “Jorgy” Jorgenson hires his sexy stepdaughter, Kate, a big-city lawyer, to distract the ruthless raider.
- Garfield is instantly smitten with the beautiful Kate, although he is on to her attempts to seduce him.
- Despite their antagonism, Kate finds herself attracted to Garfield’s bold nature.
- The takeover attempt begins to fracture the New England Wire & Cable Company family, and Garfield and Jorgy agree to let the matter be settled at the annual shareholder’s meeting.
- Both men make impassioned pleas but in the end the shareholders agree to give Garfield controlling interest in the company.
- Back at home in Manhattan, Garfield finds himself uncharacteristically despondent after his victory, having realized he has lost his chance for a romance with Kate.
- Just then, Kate calls telling him about a Japanese automaker that wants to partner with New England Wire & Cable, which will make the company profitable again.
- An excited Garfield invites her to dinner to discuss it, but Kate tells him lunch and “strictly business.”
- Garfield blushes and smiles as the movie ends.
- This 1991 movie stars Danny DeVito, Penelope Ann Miller, and Gregory Peck in his final film role.
6. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – 2010
- A sequel to another famous movie about money, this film picks up with Gordon Gekko being released from prison and promoting his new book, “Is Greed Good?”
- While on the promotion trail, Gekko does a television interview which is seen by his estranged daughter, Winnie, who herself is dating a famous trader named Jake Moore.
- Intrigued by this, Jake attends a lecture given by Gekko and introduces himself.
- The two strike up a conversation about Jake’s business dealings as well as Gekko’s desire to reconcile with his daughter.
- As such, the two agree to a “deal” – Jake will try to reconcile Winnie’s relationship with Gekko in exchange for Gekko helping Jake destroy his business rival.
- Jake comes to view Gordon as a father figure, however, learns the hard way that Gekko is still a master manipulator who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
- In an ironic twist, it is actually Gekko who not only saves Jake’s business dealings which have taken a turn for the worse, but also both their relationships with Winnie.
- As the movie ends, everyone is seen at the first birthday party of Louis Moore – Jake and Winnie’s son as well as Gordon’s grandson.
- And all was right with the world in this 2010 Oliver Stone movie starring Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Carrie Mulligan, Eli Wallach, and Susan Sarandon.
5. Blow – 2001
- Based upon the life of George Jung, this movie is a testament to the turbulent 1970’s international drug trade.
- In just a few short years, George Jung went from small time marijuana dealer to the world’s premiere importer of cocaine from Colombia’s Medellin Drug Cartel headed by Pablo Escobar.
- However, George’s drug dealing business partner, Diego Delgado, resents George for keeping the identity of his business contact secret and pressures him to reveal his connection.
- George relents and eventually Diego betrays him by taking his connection and cutting George out of the business.
- Violently removed from the drug trade and inspired by the birth of his daughter as well as a drug-related heart attack, George severs his relationship with the cartel.
- Following an arrest, George becomes a fugitive and has his Panamanian bank account seized by Manuel Noriega, leaving him completely broke.
- Despite his financial problems, George promises his daughter, Kristina, a vacation in California and seeks one last deal to garner enough money for the trip.
- George completes a deal with former accomplices but learns too late the deal has been set up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), resulting in a prison sentence of 60 years.
- Released in 2001, this movie stars Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Ray Liotta and Paul Reubens.
4. The Pursuit of Happyness – 2006
- Based on a true story this movie follows the life of Chris Gardner, a San Francisco salesman struggling to build a future for himself and his five-year-old son, Christopher.
- When his girlfriend leaves him, Chris is left to raise his son on his own.
- While trying to make a living selling bone density scanners, he receives an unpaid internship in an intensely competitive stockbroker training program.
- The program is grueling but offers the top producing intern a job with the company.
- With the scanners not selling and the internship being unpaid, Chris and his son are evicted from their apartment and forced to sleep on the streets, in homeless shelters, and even a metro station bathroom.
- Chris and his son remain homeless for nearly one-year until the unpaid internship becomes a lucrative job offer, serving as the catalyst for Chris Gardner to become a Wall Street legend.
- This movie was released in 2006 and stars Wil Smith, Jaden Smith and Thandiweh Newton.
3. Trading Places – 1983
- This film tells the story of an upper-class commodities broker, Louis Winthorpe III, and a poor street hustler, Billy Ray Valentine, whose lives cross when they are unwittingly made the subjects of a bet by two brothers Randolph and Mortimer Duke, owners of the brokerage firm Duke & Duke.
- The Duke brothers have a long-standing disagreement about the issue of “nature v. environment” and make a $1 bet to see if changing the lives of two people at opposite ends of the social hierarchy will impact the conduct of their subjects.
- To do this, Winthorpe is framed as a thief and drug dealer and, as a result, is fired from Duke & Duke, only to be replaced by Valentine.
- In their new roles, Winthorpe and Valentine become complete opposites from their previous lives, with Valentine using his street smarts to achieve business success in a well-mannered, cultured world while Winthorpe turns to crime to get his old life back.
- As the movie progresses, Winthorpe and Valentine uncover how Randolph and Mortimer are getting ready to use insider information to corner the market on frozen concentrated orange juice.
- Instead of the Duke Brothers getting the information, Winthorpe and Valentine use it to become rich beyond their wildest dreams while putting Duke & Duke in “the poor house.”
- When the Duke Brothers figure what has happened, Winthorpe and Valentine let them know this was all done as part of a bet – ironically for $1.
- This movie was released in 1983 and stars Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche.
- Originally, this movie was set to star Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder.
2. The Wolf of Wall Street – 2013
- Based on a true story, this 2013 movie biopic follows the real-life journey of a Long Island stockbroker who takes an entry-level job at a Wall Street brokerage firm.
- After losing his job following the 1988 Black Monday crash, he is relegated to selling penny stocks.
- While doing this, he is introduced to several co-workers who he eventually hires when forming his own firm, Stratton Oakmont.
- At Stratton Oakmont, Jordan Belfort makes a huge fortune by tricking customers into investing in stocks without showing them the fine print as well as defrauding wealthy investors out of millions.
- However, while Belfort and his cronies partake in a hedonistic brew of sex, drugs and thrills, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) close in on his empire of excess.
- While he initially refuses to cooperate, Jordan eventually serves only two years in prison in helping authorities investigate securities fraud.
- Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie and Rob Reiner, this movie holds the distinction of having the most swear words at 715.
1. Wall Street – 1987
- Encapsulating the era of the 1980’s, this movie centers around a young stockbroker named Bud Fox.
- Bud is full of ambition and willing to do whatever it takes to make it to the top of Wall Street.
- While working for his firm during the day, Bud spends his spare time working on a way to meet Wall Street legend Gordon Gekko.
- Gekko is a ruthless, high-powered, greedy and extremely successful Wall Street broker.
- Fox finally meets with Gekko and entices Gekko into mentoring him by providing insider trade information.
- Gekko takes Bud under his wing and brings him into a world of “yuppies,” shady business deals, fast money, and wild women.
- As Fox becomes embroiled in greed and underhanded schemes, his decisions eventually threaten the livelihood of his hard-working, honest father.
- Faced with this dilemma, Bud has to choose between his scrupulous father and unscrupulous mentor.
- Released in 1987, this movie stars Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Martin Sheen, Daryl Hannah, Sean Young, and James Spade, and is best known for the line “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good!”
Without a doubt, movies are an important part of our culture with many engrained into the fabric of our lives. And remember, some of the best movies out there are about money – making money, loving money, losing money, and, unfortunately, losing it all!
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