The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.

These are the words of Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) in Oliver Stone’s 1987 movie Wall Street.

A couple of weeks ago, the movie’s co-writer, Stanley Weiser, was complaining in an LA Times article that:

thinking back upon writing the screenplay of “Wall Street,” I never could have imagined that this persona and his battle cry would become part of the public consciousness, and that the core message of “Wall Street” — remember, he goes to jail in the end — would be so misunderstood by so many…As the years have gone by, it’s heartening to see how popular the film has remained. But what I find strange and oddly disturbing is that Gordon Gekko has been mythologized and elevated from the role of villain to that of hero.

I remember this feeling. I was only 13 then, but the spirit of the time were Gekko’s, and continued to be. But no more. I’ve just finished watching the movie again. And I must say that those and these words:

The richest one percent of this country owns half our country’s wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It’s bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price per paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it. Now you’re not naive enough to think we’re living in a democracy, are you buddy? It’s the free market. And you’re a part of it. You’ve got that killer instinct. Stick around pal, I’ve still got a lot to teach you.

sound somehow different today. This crisis is changing all. It will change even more. Though we still have to put the real Gekkos in prison. They are wandering around, getting their parachutes, and protected by their political friends, those that accepted their money to fund their political enterprises for years.

In the original review in the New York Times, Vincent Canby said that

”Wall Street” isn’t a movie to make one think. It simply confirms what we all know we should think, while giving us a tantalizing, Sidney Sheldon-like peek into the boardrooms and bedrooms of the rich and powerful.

This judgment may be being corrected right now…