Trading Places
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| Trading Places | |
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| Directed by | John Landis |
| Written by | Timothy Harris Herschel Weingrod |
| Starring | Dan Aykroyd Eddie Murphy Jamie Lee Curtis |
| Produced by | George Folsey Jr. Aaron Russo Irwin Russo Sam Williams |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date | 1983 (USA) |
| Runtime | 118 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28,000,000 (estimate) |
| IMDb page | |
Trading Places is a 1983 comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. It was directed by John Landis and written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod.
Contents |
Plot
As an "experiment into heredity versus environment" and for a bet, two immensely wealthy and patrician brothers, Mortimer and Randolph Duke (played by Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy), arrange for two other men to "trade places":
- Louis Winthorpe III (played by Dan Aykroyd), is a respectable senior employee of the Dukes, and manages their company. He attended Exeter and Harvard. He is greatly humiliated through the machinations of the Dukes. He is falsely accused of theft and drug dealing, and thrown in jail. He is fired from his job, and in short order he loses his home, his possessions, and his money. As a result of this, his friends and his fiancee (Penelope Witherspoon) turn their backs on him. The speed with which this happens drives Winthorpe to crime, culminating in his rampaging through the Duke & Duke Christmas party (dressed as Santa Claus) with a loaded gun. However, he is supported by a prostitute named Ophelia (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) who takes pity on him.
- Beggar and hustler Billy Ray Valentine (played by Eddie Murphy) is given Winthorpe's job, his house, his butler Coleman (played by Denholm Elliott), his car and other possessions - but he is not made aware that these belonged to someone else. Finding himself in a much improved situation, and no longer having any need to break the law, Billy Ray starts to behave like a responsible and honest citizen. His unique background brings a new thinking to Wall Street, and he begins to integrate his skills with the business world. Soon, Valentine's financial advice is sought by everyone.
When Billy Ray finds out about the Dukes' bet and their intention to put him back on the streets, he seeks out the destitute Winthorpe and explains the situation. Along with Ophelia and Coleman, they devise a plan to take revenge. The Dukes' arrangement of using inside information to earn money on the commodities market is made to backfire when Winthorpe and Billy Ray intentionally and surreptitiously feed the Dukes false information regarding the crop report. This causes the Dukes to misplay the market and bankrupt themselves in the process in a highly fictionalized, Hollywood-style moment (which completely misrepresents the activities in the commodities markets) but which is still thoroughly entertaining. Simultaneously, Valentine and Winthorpe use the correct information themselves to get rich.
Explanation of climax scene
Many people have wondered how Winthorpe and Valentine were able to sell at high prices frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) commodities they did not yet own or able to make any money off of purchasing back the commodities at a low price (i.e. it is unclear to some how they would realize an actual cash profit from them.) The explanation lies in the nature of the futures market.
- Unlike traditional buying and selling of shares of stock in a company, futures contracts can be sold even when the seller doesn't yet possess any. A futures contract to sell, say, 1000 gallons of FCOJ at $150 in the month of February merely indicates the seller's obligation to provide and the buyer's obligation to buy the product at that price in that month. It doesn't matter how or where the seller gets the product as long as, one way or another, he is able to provide it at that price at that time.
- In this case, Winthorpe and Valentine sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of FCOJ futures at roughly $145 per unit, obligating their contractees (largely, the Duke Brothers) to buy FCOJ at that high price. Then, when the price fell, they bought futures at, roughly, $12 per unit, allowing them to buy FCOJ at the cheaper price. Thus, for every future unit they previously sold (agreed to furnish later) at $145, they were able to buy for only $12, profiting them over $130 per unit, or a margin of over 1080%. Though it's not stated in the movie, if we assume they invested roughly $500,000 from a combination of Winthorpe/Valentine's bank account and Coleman's and Ophelia's savings, they would have turned it into over $5.4 million dollars. Of course, they could have purchased additional futures on margin and earned considerably more.
Cast
- Dan Aykroyd as Louis Winthorpe III
- Eddie Murphy as Billy Ray Valentine
- Ralph Bellamy as Randolph Duke
- Don Ameche as Mortimer Duke
- Denholm Elliott as Coleman
- Jamie Lee Curtis as Ophelia
- Kristin Holby as Penelope Witherspoon
- Paul Gleason as Clarence Beeks
- Alfred Drake as President of Exchange
- Bo Diddley as Pawnbroker
- Frank Oz as Corrupt cop
- James Belushi as Harvey
- Al Franken as Baggage handler #1
- Tom Davis as Baggage handler #2
- Maurice Woods as a Duke & Duke employee
Awards
- Curtis and Elliott received BAFTA awards for their roles, and the film was also noted for returning veteran Hollywood actors Ameche and Bellamy to the screen.
Trivia
- The Duke brothers' attempt to corner the orange juice market is very similar to the real-life case of the Hunt brothers of Texas, who attempted to corner the silver market with the help of Arab investors. Eventually, the "Silver Thursday" market crash of March 27, 1980 devalued their silver holdings enough to make them fail to meet their $100 million margin call and forcing them to declare bankruptcy.
- The outside shots of the Duke & Duke building are reused in Andy Richter Controls the Universe.
- The Duke brothers later appear as two homeless men in Eddie Murphy's 1988 movie Coming to America. Murphy's characther hands a wad of cash to 'Mortimer', who observes, "Randolph, we're back."
- Mark Twain's The Million-Pound Banknote also revolves around a bet between two immensely wealthy businessmen who then toy with the life of a penniless man, but in this case with a far more benevolent intent.
- In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Trading Places the 33rd greatest comedy film of all time.
External links
- Trading Places at the Internet Movie Database
- Learning the Ropes: The Basics of Futures from World Link Futures, Inc.
