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Q: Scarface/Wall Street Comparison ( Answered,   2 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Scarface/Wall Street Comparison
Category: Arts and Entertainment > Movies and Film
Asked by: daveinthebox-ga
List Price: $5.00
Posted: 18 May 2004 18:02 PDT
Expires: 17 Jun 2004 18:02 PDT
Question ID: 348512
There are a number of similarities between the movies "Scarface" and
"Wall Street" with respect to dialogue, scenes, etc.  Is there a
comprehensive list available that describes all of these similarties?

Request for Question Clarification by voila-ga on 09 Jun 2004 08:34 PDT
Hello daveinthebox,

Since we're coming down to wire on your question, I suppose you could
conclude two things:  Either no researcher could find such a list or
you're not offering enough reward.  Most film questions do get
answered for extraordinarily low bids so I really think it's the
former.  That was my preconceived notion also but I admit to not
looking all that long.  I did locate the scripts for you in case this
is a project you'd like to pursue this further.

http://www.allmoviescripts.com/scripts/3912668673f572de51d4e4.PDF
http://www.allmoviescripts.com/scripts/7622567143f65e0111fbe9.html

Just from memory (and I haven't seen Wall Street in ages), I can give
you a few examples that I noticed besides those mentioned by
hollywoodoz-ga.

...both depicted a mentor/protégé relationship

...both Bud Fox and Tony Montana were outsiders (Bud from the wrong
side of the tracks, blue collar family/Tony from the wrong island
mixing in the big leagues of a shadow world)

...both men turned the tables on their mentors

...both films detailed secret backroom conversation scenes how each
would destroy an opponent -- either physically or financially
(Gutierrez at the Sosa's 'Columbian Conference'; Blue Star Airlines
employees (Fox's father) and peripherally Sir Larry Wildman in Gekko's
boardroom and cocktail party.

...both films depicted scenes of the main character's interpretation
of the American dream (Bud in his Darien-decorated Manhattan
penthouse, dressing in three-piece Brooks Bros. suits; Tony in his
gold-trimmed-everything Miami mansion and Pierre Cardin threads).

...both films could be classified as flip sides of the 'gangster' genre.

...both main characters shared their mentor's mistresses (Elvira and
Darien) and the only bit of identical dialogue that stayed with me
about both films had to do with these women.  It sounded like they
were delivering groceries instead of human beings.

Gordon to Bud:  "I gave you Darien. I gave you your manhood I gave you everything."

Frank to Tony:  "You want Elvira?  She's yours, okay!  (p. 113)

That's all I can do on a memory rerun.  If you decide this constitutes
an 'answer,' let me know and I'll post it.
V

Clarification of Question by daveinthebox-ga on 10 Jun 2004 06:40 PDT
The links to the websites will be very helpful.  I appreciate your
insights as well.  You may post your answer.  Thanks.
Answer  
Subject: Re: Scarface/Wall Street Comparison
Answered By: voila-ga on 12 Jun 2004 10:10 PDT
 
Hello Dave,

Here's the final wrap and I hope you'll check me on a couple of these
since my memory is fuzzy.  Those scripts are in a difficult to read
format so I hope you've had better luck as I'm currently printerless. 
Also these are my personal interpretations of the films.  I'm sure a
film student would take me to task about a few of them.

==========================
FACTS/OPINIONS/THEMES
==========================

...both written by Oliver Stone

...both films were panned by major critics and embraced as somewhat
cult classics by moviegoers

...both movies pictoralized decades of excess (Scarface:  The
blow-blow 1970s with cocaine v. Wall Street:  The go-go 1980s and
cash)

...both depicted a mentor/protégé relationship

...both Bud Fox and Tony Montana were outsiders (Bud from the wrong
side of the tracks, blue collar family/Tony from the wrong island,
criminal mixing in the big leagues of a shadow world)

...both men turned the tables on their mentors

...both main characters broke the law as an entrée to power (Tony
killing Emilio Rebenga v. Bud trading insider information to Gekko)

...both films could be classified as flip sides of the 'gangster' genre

...both had previous works with the same title (Scarface 1932 v. Wall Street 1929)

...both were morality (some say heavy-handed) tales

...both films were highly stylized

...both films had ethnic groups seeking to gain a foothold in the US
economy (Scarface:  Columbians v. Wall Street:  Japanese)

...both main characters shared their mentor's mistresses/girlfriends
(Elvira and Darien)

...both contained high caliber performances (Al Pacino v. Michael Douglas)

...both films foreshadowed end events (Scarface:  Heroin epidemic in
the 1980/90s v. Wall Street:  Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Martha Stewart,
et al.

...both films had a strong family tie focus (Tony and Gina v. Bud and Carl)

...both scripts were based on previous material (Scarface, loosely
based on a 1932 movie of the same name by Howard Hawks v. Wall Street 
?? <- I ran across this book title and now it escapes me but I'll post
you back if I find it)

...both films had short evolutionary spirit/come and get it tag lines
(The World is Yours v. Greed is Good)

...both films were dedicated to individuals (Scarface:  Howard
Hawks/Peckinpah (?) v. Wall Street:  Stone's father (a former Wall
Street broker)

...both film titles contain only two syllables (really reached for
that one, didn't I?)

==========================
SIMILAR SCENES
==========================

...both films depicted scenes of the main character's interpretation
of the American dream (Bud in his Darien-decorated Manhattan
penthouse, dressing in three-piece Armani suits; Tony in his
gold-trimmed-everything Miami mansion and Pierre Cardin threads).

...both films detailed secret backroom conversation scenes how each
would destroy an opponent -- either physically or financially
(Gutierrez at the Sosa's 'Columbian Conference'; Blue Star Airlines
employees (Fox's father) and peripherally Sir Larry Wildman in Gekko's
boardroom and cocktail party.

...both movies contained confrontation scenes with their mentor (Tony
and Frank in the palm-tree lined room v. Bud and Gordon in the park)

...both also had additional confrontation scenes with a parent (Tony
and his mother; Bud and his father)

...Elvira/Darien (both blondes and both had bathing suit scenes)

...both had the "far away look/world at my feet" character scene (Tony
on the balcony as the flashing blimp goes by v. Bud Fox surveying the
twinkling lights of Manhattan from his penthouse)

...shopping scenes for status symbols (Tony/Elvira in the sportcar
showroom v. Gordon/Darien discussing which hot artist's painting to
buy; scene with Darien/Bud furnishing his apartment in 'early
demolition' decor)

=========================
NEAR IDENTICAL DIALOGUE
=========================

Gordon to Bud:  "I gave you Darien. I gave you your manhood I gave you everything."

Frank to Tony:  "You want Elvira?  She's yours, okay!  (p. 113)

***************

Bud to Carl Fox:  "Don't worry about the loans.  I'm doing good Dad
and it's gonna stay that way now... least buy yourself a new suit."

Frank Lopez to Tony Montana:  "Yeah, get you some new clothes, some
$500 suits, you'll look real sharp."  (p. 42)

=========================
ADDITIONAL TRIVIA
=========================

Wall Street
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00003CXDB/102-7514533-3204140?v=glance&vi=quotes-trivia
http://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/000276.html
http://www.lehigh.edu/~ineng/stone/wallstreetscholarlyarticles.htm

Director Oliver Stone makes a short cameo appearance on the phone
during the montage where deals are being made.
www.fast-rewind.com/wallstreet.htm 

Gekko's character was supposedly patterned after Ivan Boesky:
"In 1986 Berkeley seniors voted to invite Ivan Boesky to speak at
their commencement. Boesky, who had never been to college, looked up
from his text and said, "Greed is all right, by the way.  I want you
to know that.  I think that greed is healthy.  You can be greedy and
still feel good about yourself."  The students broke into spontaneous
applause."
http://www.namebase.org/books60.html

Scarface
http://www.briandepalma.net/scarface/scar2.htm

==========================
BONUS FUN
==========================

Forbes Fictional 15 (Gekko at #14 with $650 million)
http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/13/400fictional_print.html

I guess I could go on and try to turn this into an Oliver Stone
Lincoln/Kennedy assassination similarities project, but I think I'm
done here.  Hopefully, I've given you enough ideas to run with and
I'll post you if I think of anything else significant.

Best cinematic wishes,
V

Clarification of Answer by voila-ga on 12 Jun 2004 14:23 PDT
Correction:  The dedicatee was Ben Hecht, not Peckinpah.



Comparison of Platoon and Wall Street
http://articles.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0412/is_2_28/ai_64688899

Background info on Stone
http://www.wga.org/WrittenBy/1000/stone.html

Online Auteur Theory
http://mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11090/3670/3670Extras/3670OnlineAuteurTheory.htm

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
Comments  
Subject: Re: Scarface/Wall Street Comparison
From: hollywoodoz-ga on 01 Jun 2004 14:20 PDT
 
None that I'd been able to find. The only similarity I can see is that
they were both written by Oliver Stone and deal with the downside of
insatiable greed.
Subject: Re: Scarface/Wall Street Comparison
From: voila-ga on 10 Jun 2004 08:00 PDT
 
Hi DIB,

Thanks for accepting my answer.  These were just a few of my thoughts
on a quick run-through of my moviola noggin.  Since we have a few more
days before your question expires, I'll try to give it some more
thought and fine tune my Wall Street memories and hopefully post a few
more additions to you late Sunday.  I'm glad to be able to provide you
with script links in case you want to have a go at it yourself.  This
was an interesting question, so thanks for asking it.

Best,
V

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