Rewatchables Reference

• Bud Fox's first meeting with Gekko – the 5-minute office scene, 'you're the kid who called me 59 days in a row' (Koppelman's pick).
• Martin Sheen/Gekko meeting with union reps + the elevator fight – 'he came into Egypt, a pharaoh who did not know' (Bill's initial pick).
• Gekko's limo pep talk – 'you could be a player or nothing'.
• The 'Greed is Good' Teldar speech.
• Bud buys the apartment / Talking Heads montage – wine, pasta, sushi, smoking jacket.
• The final Bud/Gekko confrontation with the wire – 'I gave you your manhood, I gave you everything'.

• Terence Stamp as Sir Larry Wildman – so modern and classic (Koppelman's pick).
• Real-life family members playing family (Martin & Charlie Sheen) (Bill's pick).
• James Spader playing the same role he'd play 27 more times.
• Sushi used as an exotic foreign device – now its own economy.
• Various quotable lines – 'man looks in the abyss,' 'money never sleeps, pal'.
• One of the first private jet scenes in a movie.
• Cigarette smoking everywhere.

• Daryl Hannah's performance and character – miscast, bad writing for the part; Stone's quote about making her cry on set wouldn't fly in 2020.
• Gekko's gigantic cell phone and handheld TV with two-inch screen.
• Blue Star's lead union rep – bad actor, 'out of a Laverne and Shirley episode'.
• The 'Wall Street' sequel (Money Never Sleeps).
• Darian's plan to 'do for furniture what Laura Ashley did for interior fabrics'.

• Michael Douglas was the fourth choice – after Warren Beatty, Richard Gere, and Al Pacino.
• Tom Cruise wanted Bud Fox but Stone was committed to Charlie Sheen.
• Jack Lemmon was offered as an alternative to Martin Sheen for the father; Charlie picked his real father.

• Charlie Sheen in the Bud/Darian breakup scene – 'he's on Def Con 11' (co-winner).
• Sylvia Miles as the real estate broker – 'Of course, I'm taken, honey' (co-winner).

Franklin Cover (from The Jeffersons) (winner).

• Terence Stamp – only two scenes (Gekko's office and the yacht), completely steals them (winner). 'Eight minutes, four threes'.
• Sean Young – two scenes, 'throwing 140 miles an hour'.
• John C. McGinley – nothing part but stands out.
• James Karen – Sheen's boss, the confused 'no, no, you're welcome' moment.

• Michelle Pfeiffer for Darian (Bill's pick).
• Melanie Griffith for Darian – 'Working Girl' era (Koppelman's pick).
• Diane Lane for Darian – both agreed she would have been great.
• Robert Duvall as the father if Tom Cruise had been cast as Bud Fox.

• Michael Douglas: Yes – this plus 'Fatal Attraction' makes him the biggest male star in the world.
• Oliver Stone: This era – Platoon then 'Wall Street' back-to-back.
• Charlie Sheen: As an actor, this or Platoon; as a celebrity, Two and a Half Men.
• Squash: Koppelman picks this as an apex.
• Steak tartare: Koppelman says this is the high point.
• The Hamptons: Early/stealth Hamptons, before it became widely known.

• Was Bud really dumb enough to think Gekko wasn't going to destroy Blue Star?
• Gekko wouldn't have worried about Bud wearing a wire – he was too smart not to check.
• Gekko didn't say enough in the wire scene to actually get arrested.
• One of the worst dubs ever during Gekko's speech – 'This is an outrage, you're out of line, Gekko'.
• Bud becoming a dick to his best friend Marv way too quickly.
• No Emilio Estevez cameo (could have played a union rep or another Fox son).

• The giant cell phone from the Hamptons sunrise scene (Bill's #1 pick).
• Sir Larry's walking stick/cane (Koppelman's pick).
• The automatic sushi machine (Koppelman's friend actually bought one off eBay for $300).
• The blue skeleton-head painting in Bud's apartment (a Julian Schnabel, now worth ~$70 million).

• Did Charlie Sheen eventually just turn into Bud Fox? (Answer: Yes).
• How much did Gordon Gekko lead to Trump's late-80s billionaire persona? (Bill says about 10%).
• If you switch Cruise and Sheen between 'Cocktail' and 'Wall Street', are both movies worse, better, or what?

Already essentially happened with Billions on Showtime.

• Michael Douglas – the movie plus 'Fatal Attraction' made him the biggest star in the world; he forever owns one of the most important characters in cinema history.
• Bill also makes a strong case for Oliver Stone (Platoon + 'Wall Street' back-to-back) but ultimately goes with Douglas.