Wall Street

Wall Street (1987) is an American drama directed by Oliver Stone and written by Stone and Stanley Weiser. The film follows Bud Fox, a young and ambitious stockbroker in New York who wants to rise above his modest background and enter the world of serious money and power. Charlie Sheen plays Bud, while Michael Douglas gives one of his most famous performances as Gordon Gekko, a ruthless corporate raider whose belief in greed and financial conquest becomes the film’s defining force. Martin Sheen plays Bud’s father Carl, an airline mechanic whose working-class values stand in sharp contrast to Gekko’s world of insider trading, manipulation and corporate takeover. Released during the height of 1980s financial excess, Wall Street became one of the key films about ambition, capitalism and moral compromise in the Reagan-era business culture.

Wall Street was filmed mainly in New York City, using Manhattan’s real financial, corporate and luxury environments to ground the story in the world it criticises. The New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street appears in the film, giving the trading scenes a direct connection to the actual centre of American finance. Bud Fox’s brokerage office and Gordon Gekko’s business world are linked to downtown office buildings such as 222 Broadway, while restaurants and private clubs such as 21 Club and Le Cirque represent the exclusive social spaces Bud is desperate to enter. The Roosevelt Hotel’s Grand Ballroom is used for Gordon Gekko’s famous Teldar Paper stockholders’ meeting, where his “greed is good” speech turns a corporate gathering into one of the film’s central scenes. Other New York locations include the Standard Oil Building at 26 Broadway, Tavern on the Green in Central Park, South Street Seaport, Central Park’s Sheep Meadow and the New York County Supreme Court at 60 Centre Street. The film also moves beyond Manhattan to Long Island, where Gordon Gekko’s beach house places his wealth in a more private and detached setting. Together, these locations create a precise map of 1980s power: trading floors, boardrooms, hotel ballrooms, exclusive restaurants, luxury apartments, court buildings and waterfront property all become part of Bud Fox’s rise and fall.

Locations

Tavern on the Green

New York • USA • Restaurant

Tavern on the Green has appeared in An Unmarried Woman, It’s My Turn, Arthur, Only When I Laugh, Ghostbusters, Heartburn, Wall Street, Beaches, and many more.