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Trading Places

Trading Places
Trading Places:TradingPlacesPoster
Trading Places DVD cover
Directed by John Landis
Produced by George Folsey Jr.
Aaron Russo
Irwin Russo
Sam Williams
Written by Timothy Harris
Herschel Weingrod
Starring Dan Aykroyd
Eddie Murphy
Jamie Lee Curtis
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) 1983 (USA)
Running time 118 minutes
Language English
Budget $28,000,000 (estimate)
IMDb profile

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. It was produced by Aaron Russo.

This film is number 74 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".


Contents

Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The basic plot is very similar to the Three Stooges 1935 short film Hoi Polloi. Like the Stooges' film, Trading Places was one of many adaptations of Mark Twain's 1882 story of "The Prince and the Pauper," a tale of two 16th century boys who share a striking resemblance but inhabit very different stations in society. Trading Places' premise features two immensely wealthy and patrician brothers, Mortimer and Randolph Duke (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy), who find themselves on opposite sides of the nature vs. nurture argument. The brothers decide that the best way to resolve the argument is simply to select one impeccably pedigreed member of high society, and one member of the lowest echelon of society. From there, the test is easy--simply ruin the life of the successful one, dramatically improve the fortunes of the street hustler, and see how they respond. Mortimer believes that regardless of their shifting fortunes, the well-bred subject will rise to the challenge and the riff-raff will fail no matter what opportunities are presented to him. Both satisfied with their plan, the Duke brothers shake hands to seal a wager for "the usual amount."

Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) is a respected senior employee of the Dukes, and manages their Philadelphia commodities brokerage firm, Duke & Duke. His bona fides are impeccable, having attended Exeter and Harvard. Winthorpe has reached the ideal level of detached self-satisfaction, complete with the perfectly superficial fiancee, Penelope Witherspoon. However, the Dukes arrange to shatter Winthorpe's reputation by planting marked bills in his coat and then "exposing" him as a petty thief in a prestigious private club. As Winthorpe is processed in jail, he finds that another item has been planted in his clothing--angel dust, a.k.a PCP. Winthorpe, as expected, does not fare well in jail--by the time Penelope arrives to post bail, Winthorpe is dramatically disheveled and bruised as a reult of fending off other inmates' advances, and has been forced to give up his old clothes and don an atrociously ugly suit. On the stone steps outside the jail, Winthorpe makes a heartfelt appeal and finally appears to convince Penelope that he has been falsely accused. The conciliatory moment is immediately cut short as a prostitute, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, lustily kisses Winthorpe and begs him for a dime bag, promising to do all the things he likes. After Penelope flees in a state of shock, Curtis explains to the incredulous Winthorpe that a man paid her $100 and told her that Winthorpe would enjoy the "prank." It was shown earlier that it was the same man who planted money and drugs on Winthorpe, but the man exits the scene before Winthorpe can spot him. From this point on, Winthorpe's life deteriorates rapidly. In a span of a few hours, he finds that his bank accounts have been frozen, he has been fired, and his home has been repossessed. With no one else to turn to, Winthorpe pleads with Curtis's character to let him stay at her apartment for the time being. While she has reservations at first, Curtis's hooker with a heart of gold takes pity on Winthorpe, who reacts to his sudden poverty in a telling fashion, crawling towards Curtis on his hands and knees, nof even aware of it until Curtis exasperatedly yells at him to stand up. Once in her apartment, he learns that her name is Ophelia, a name both Shakespearian and befitting a prostitute. Returning to his home, the plot thickens, as Winthorpe's butler Coleman pretends not to recognize him (although betraying a guilty glance while shutting the door). Winthorpe is similarly shunned by his friends and his fiancée, who has wasted no time in sidling up to Winthorpe's most obnoxious friend.

At the same time that Winthorpe's life is being systematically demolished, the Dukes arrange the opposite trajectory for someone they consider to be at society's lowest level: beggar and hustler Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy). First, Valentine is arrested when his innocent bumping in to Winthorpe is perceived as a robbery attempt. Valentine attempts to intimidate his hulking cellmates with his purported karate abilities, but gets the unexpected news that he has been bailed out just as his luck was about to run out. Walking down the same steps where Winthorpe is being waylaid by Ophelia, Valentine is approached by the Dukes, inviting him to join them in their chauffeured limousine. Initially suspicious and fearing that the Dukes may have ulterior motives, Valentine eventually hops in. The Dukes tell Valentine that he has been selected as part of the Dukes' program of assisting underprivileged members of society. While in the car, the Dukes give Valentine a brief primer on their business, as the car contains a computer monitor that updates stock prices in real time. After the Dukes explain that their role is to invest money on behalf of clients, and profit whether the stock goes up or down, Valentine shows that he understands, saying that "you're all a bunch of bookies, huh?" After being assured by the chauffeur that the Dukes have no sexual designs towards him, Valentine accompanies the Dukes to their office, where the Dukes explain the concept of commodities in the simplest possible terms--including pointing out that bacon might be found in a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.

Valentine is then brought to his "nre" house (Winthorpe's old house), and begins to have suspicions about being given so much, including his own butler. While being shown around the living room, Valentine, clearly not convinced that the good fortune will last, hedges his bets by trying to hide expensive items in his coat. Eventually, the Dukes convince Valentine that the house and everything in it is in fact Valentine's. Accepting his impossibly good luck, Valentine makes a beeline to his old watering hole, dressed in luxury and throwing money around with abandon. Suddenly popular, Valentine runs into his former cellmates, but impresses them by showing off his limousine. Valentine invites all of the bar's patrons to his house for a party. However, Valentine starts to show signs that he has been changed by wealth just as Winthorpe has been changed by poverty. While his guests are clearly enjoying themselves, Valentine sees them only as freeloaders. He shows his new status by yelling at guests for not using coasters, and demanding to know "Who has been putting out their coals on my floor?"--coals being an extremely aristocratic way to refer to cigarettes. Billy Ray also proves his mettle at Duke & Duke, as his untrained, real-world perspective proves an accurate predictor of a stock's movement.

Both characters' plights come to a head during a Duke & Duke Christmas party. Much to Mortimer's chagrin, Valentine has shown himself to be a market phenom--when Valentine starts talking about stocks, everybody listens. Unbeknownst to Valentine, his rise to success has coincided with Winthorpe's collapse. Winthorpe shows up at the Christmas party dressed as Santa Clause and maximally intoxicated. After stuffing salmon into his robe, Winthorpe enters Valentine's office and attempts to plant drugs in his desk. Caught in the act by Valentine and the Dukes, the brothers see that Winthorpe has hit bottom. After Winthorpe is escorted out by security guards, Valentine pockets a joint from Winthorpe's bag and goes to a stall in the men's room. When he hears other people coming in, Valentine crouches on top of the stall toilet so as not to be noticed. Believing themselves to be alone, the Dukes discuss their entire plan, with Mortimer conceding defeat. Valentine hears two especially important things--one, that as the bet has ended, the Dukes plan to return Valentine to the street, agreeing that they would never consider allowing a "n-----" to run their company. Second, it is revealed that the amount of the wager--the Dukes' "usual mount"--is one dollar.

When Billy Ray finds out about the Dukes' bet and their intention to put him back on the street, he realizes that he must find Winthorpe. After leaving the Christmas party, the defeated Winthorpe puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger, but the gun does not fire until Winthorpe throws it to the ground. Unable even to kill himself properly, a dejected Winthorpe boards a city bus despite Valentine's attempts to flag him down. The bus ride features the memorable image of Winthorpe reaching into his Santa Clause robe, producing a large hunk of raw fish, and drunkenly tearing it apart as the hairs from his beard become enmeshed in it. Valentine manages to follow Winthorpe back to Ophelia's apartment, where Winthorpe has passed out in the bathroom due to a combination of alcohol and fever. Winthorpe awakes the next morning well-rested and in his own bed, believing that he has dreamed the entire affair. However, upon seeing the supposed-usurper Valentine, Winthorpe leaps out of bed and tries to strangle Valentine, who is only able to choke out "It-was-the-Dukes, It-was-the-Dukes." Ophelia separates the two men and Valentine explains how they were both victimized by the Dukes, and should work together to get revenge.

After learning that the wager was made for a dollar, Winthorpe's first reaction is to start cleaning his rifles. However, Valentine points out that "the best way to get back at rich people is to turn them into poor people." Along with Ophelia and Coleman, who insists on participating in a plan to ruin the Dukes, Winthorpe and Valentine combine their knowledge of the Dukes' shady dealings and realize that the Dukes have paid Clarence Beeks--the same man who framed Winthorpe earlier--to provide them an advance copy of the official orange crop report and use that knowledge to corner the Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice (FCOJ) market. Valentine and Winthorpe decide that they must exchange a false crop report with the real one, and board Beeks's New York-bound train, where they plan to surreptitiously swap Beeks's briefcase with a ringer. This would cause the Dukes to misplay the market and bankrupt themselves in the process. Simultaneously, Valentine and Winthorpe use the correct information to make themselves rich.

Explanation of climax scene

With the authentic orange crop report indicating a good harvest of fresh oranges, frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) would be less important to food producers and so would be likely to drop in price once traders heard the news. However, by way of a fraudulent report, the Duke brothers are led to believe that the orange harvest would be less successful, necessitating greater demand for stockpiled FCOJ in orange products in the coming year, thereby driving the price up. By capitalizing on this knowledge (and the Duke brothers' missteps), the protagonists are able to profit by manipulating the futures market as follows:

See How Winthorpe and Valentine Pulled It Off for a more detailed explanation.

Cast

Awards

Production

Most of the movie was filmed on location in Philadelphia, PA. Portions were set in New York, at the World Trade Center and the New York Board of Trade exchange floor at 4 World Trade Center.

Trivia

Categories


Cult films | 1983 films | Comedy films | Films directed by John Landis | American films | Business films | Fish out of water films | Paramount films | Philadelphia in film and television

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