Clarification of Answer by
voila-ga
on
13 Jun 2004 08:02 PDT
==========
UPDATE
==========
I must've gotten caught up in The Lipper Myth. Wall Street's
novelization by Ken Lipper, published in 1988, was actually based on
the Stone/Weiser screenplay, not the other way around, so I need to
redact that 'previous source' entry.
Title: Wall Street
Author: Kenneth Lipper
Paperback - 256 pages (March 10, 1988)
HarperCollins; ISBN: 0586203966
"The ruddy-complexioned, fuzzy-haired Lipper may be best known to some
as an adviser on Oliver Stone's 1987 movie "Wall Street."
(...)
Toward the end of his "City Hall" stint, Lipper got wind that Oliver
Stone was looking for a Masters of the Universe type to advise him on
a movie to be called "Greed." Initially, he balked. But once he
persuaded Stone to be somewhat more sympathetic to the Street, he
joined in with gusto, penning some of the punchy dialogue for what
became "Wall Street." He coached Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen in
their roles. He even got to appear briefly toward the end of the film
as a dealmaker in a boardroom scene. Later, he wrote the novelization
of the screenplay. (A myth has somehow been perpetuated that he wrote
the book on which the film was based.)"
http://www.griequity.com/backup/InvestmentIndustry/WhistleExamples/lipper.html
*****************
Also a page number correction on that Scarface 'suit' dialogue; it was
p. 52, not 42.
More similar dialogue:
At the Babylon Club discussing Ronnie Echeverria, Gaspar Gomez, and
Nacho Contreras (El Gordo) -- Frank to Tony:
"...there's too many 'hazas' ... If they can f*ck you outta an extra
dime, they'll rip you and flip you and then f*ck you with a stick for
the pure pleasure of it. See it all comes down to one thing, Tony
boy, never forget it! Lesson number one -- don't underestimate the
other guy's greed." (p. 49)
At the elevator of Bud's apartment speaking of Duncan Wilmore, ALPA
Leader -- Carl to Bud Fox:
"I know what this guy is about--greed--he's in and out for the buck
and he don't take prisoners. He don't give a damn about Northstar
{sic} or us ...."
And a bit of similar party dialogue -- Wildman to Gekko:
"I could break you, mate, in two pieces over my knees, you know it, I
know it, I could buy you six times over, I could dump the stock just
to burn your ass but I happen to want the company and I want your
block of shares."
Gekko to Bud in the limo in more nuanced language:
"...when it comes to money, sport, everybody's of the same religion.
Or should be...."
************************
Possible inspirations for Wall Street:
"The activities depicted in Wall Street were based upon financial news
stories from the early to mid 1980s. The well publicized financial
shenanigans of Ivan Boesky and David Levine were important source
materials, as were the activities of Drexel, Burnham, Lambert and
their wunderkind Michael Milken. The rivalry between Sir James
Goldsmith (whose takeover of the paper company, Crown Zellerbach, may
have been inspiration for Teldar Paper) and Carl Icahn (who won the
battle for Trans World Airlines, which may have been inspiration for
Bluestar Airlines) was an important inspiration for the rivalry
between Gordon Gekko and Sir Larry Wildman in Wall Street."
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/sgabriel/filmcourse/oliver_stone.html
**************************
Douglas may have based his Gekko character on Henry Kravis according
to this article:
"This firm was Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts (KKR) which had been founded
in 1976 by a partner and some former employees of the Bear Sterns
brokerage of lower Manhattan, and which by late 1990 had bought a
total of 36 companies using some $58 billion lent to KKR by insurance
companies, commercial banks, state pension funds, and junk bond king
Michael Milken. The dominant personality of KKR was Henry Kravis, the
man who inspired actor Michael Douglas (Kravis's former prep school
classmate at the Loomis School) when Douglas played the role of
corporate raider Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's movie "Wall Street."
Henry Kravis was in particular the motor force behind the KKR
leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, which, with a price tag of $25
billion, was the largest transaction of recorded history."
http://www.tarpley.net/bush19.htm
I got in the swept-away zone on this project as usual. Hope you're
doing something with this information, Dave. If you're not, maybe I
should. Okay, *now* I'm done. ;-)
Best regards,
V
