TRADING PLACES

'''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.

Contents

Plot

Explanation of climax scene

Cast

Production

Rating

Television broadcasts

Awards

Trivia

External links

Plot

The plot is similar to the Three Stooges 1935 short film ''Hoi Polloi''. The movie's 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 versus nurture argument. The brothers decide that the best way to resolve the argument is to ruin a successful man's life, 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. Randolph insists the well-bred subject will unravel in society while the hustler will take full advantage of his new situation and become a changed man. Both satisfied with the plan, the Duke brothers shake hands to seal a wager for their "usual amount".
Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) is a respected senior employee of the Dukes who manages their Philadelphia commodities brokerage firm, Duke & Duke. His bona fides are impeccable, having attended Exeter and Harvard. Louis has reached the ideal level of detached self-satisfaction, complete with the superficial fiancée, Penelope. However, the Dukes arrange to shatter Louis' reputation by having one of their operatives, Clarence Beeks (Paul Gleason), "expose" him as a petty thief. As Louis is processed in jail, a scene featuring a cameo by Frank Oz, Louis finds that another item has been planted in his clothing — a cellophane bag containing angel dust. Louis does not fare well in jail — by the time Penelope arrives to post bail, he is disheveled and bruised. When he finally appears to convince Penelope he has been falsely accused, a prostitute, Ophelia, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, lustily kisses Louis and begs him for a dime bag, promising to do all the things he likes.
Penelope flees in a state of shock, while Ophelia explains to Louis that someone (Beeks) paid her so Louis would enjoy the "prank." His life continues to deteriorate. His bank accounts have been frozen and he has been locked out of his home by his devoted butler, Coleman (Denholm Elliott), who is unhappily forced to take part in the Dukes' plan since he is technically in their employ. Ophelia takes pity on the broken Winthorpe and takes him back to her apartment.
Meanwhile, street hustler Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) had been arrested when he innocently bumped into Louis, his action perceived as a robbery attempt. When Billy Ray is briefly jailed, he attempts to intimidate his hulking cellmates with his purported karate abilities, such as the Quart of Blood Technique. The Dukes bail him out and invite him into their limousine, and then into their supposed program that assists underprivileged members of society.
Billy Ray is brought to his new house (formerly Louis') and eventually accepts his new luxury, inviting all of the patrons from his favorite bar back to the house for a party. However, Valentine already starts to show signs that he has been changed by wealth, seeing his guests as freeloaders. On his first day at his new job, the Dukes give Billy Ray a brief primer on their business, explaining the concept of commodities in the simplest possible terms. Billy Ray catches on in that the Dukes "make bets" and invest money on behalf of clients on whether stocks will go up or down (Billy Ray compares them to bookies). Eventually, Billy Ray's real-world perspective proves to be an accurate predictor of a commodity's movement.
Both characters' plights come to a head during a Duke & Duke Christmas party. Much to Mortimer's chagrin, Louis shows up dressed as Santa Claus, but attempts to steal food and frame Billy Ray, also brandishing a pistol; he flees in a drunken stupor. The Dukes see that Louis has hit rock bottom, and in a washroom conversation, Mortimer concedes defeat in the bet and pays the "usual amount" of their wagers: One dollar. Billy Ray, concealed in a bathroom stall, overhears the conversation and learns of the Dukes' plan to push him back on the streets while declining to restore Louis' position. The Dukes reveal their true opinion of Valentine, when Mortimer remarks in the washroom: "Do you really believe I would have a nigger run our family business, Randolph?"
Billy Ray, realizing that he's been used, follows Louis back to Ophelia's apartment. Louis attempts suicide with his pistol (comically failing), and again with an overdose of pills (nearly succeeding). He is brought back to his original home and is nursed back to health, at which point Valentine, Coleman, and Ophelia inform him of the true nature of the Dukes' nefarious scheme. The four plan their revenge, with Billy Ray theorizing that "the best way to get back at rich people is to turn them into poor people". Billy Ray and Louis have learned of the Dukes' plan to purchase (through Beeks) an advance copy of the official orange crop report, to help them corner the market in frozen concentrated orange juice. In an elaborate scheme that nearly backfires, the four manage to steal the real crop report from Beeks and deliver a fake version to the Dukes. Pooling as much money as possible, including the life savings of Ophelia (who has by now become romantically attached to Louis) and Coleman, Billy Ray and Louis head to the New York Board of Trade to execute their plan. While in the trading pit, they use their knowledge of the actual crop report, along with the Dukes' misplaced trust in the fake crop report, to bankrupt the Dukes and make themselves fabulously rich. Approached by the incredulous and indignant Duke brothers, Billy Ray explains to them that he and Louis had a bet concerning the outcome of their plan. The wager: One dollar.
The movie ends with Billy Ray, Louis, Ophelia and Coleman enjoying a lavish tropical vacation.

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:

★ Like conventional stock, futures contracts can be sold even when the seller does not yet own any of the commodity. A contract to sell, say, 15,000 pounds of FCOJ at $1.50 per pound in February merely indicates the seller's obligation to provide and the buyer's obligation to purchase the product at the specified price and time. It does not matter how or where the seller gets the product, as long as, one way or another, he is able to deliver it at that price at that time, even if it results in a sale at a loss to him.

★ In this case, Winthorpe and Valentine first "sell" FCOJ futures at $1.42 per pound, a price inflated by the Dukes themselves (the Duke Brothers' buying leads other traders to believe that the Dukes are trying to corner the market, causing a buying frenzy). Then, when the price falls — first as a result of Winthorpe and Valentine's eager selling, then to a much greater degree upon the release of the ''real'' crop report indicating a good harvest — Winthorpe and Valentine ''buy'' futures for prices between $0.46 and $0.29 per pound. Thus, for every futures contract they had previously sold at about $1.42, they buy back for only $0.46 to $0.29, resulting in a profit of $0.96 to $1.13 per pound, or about $14,000 to $17,000 per contract (15,000 lbs. per contract). In the futures market, the value of the contracts you can purchase is limited by the balance of your margin account. With a typical requirement of 4%, you can purchase roughly 25 times the balance of your margin account. Though it is not stated in the movie exactly how much they make, if they invested roughly $500,000 from a combination of Winthorpe/Valentine's investment, the Dukes' money from buying the "fake" report from a fake Clarence Beeks (Paul Gleason), and Coleman's and Ophelia's savings, they would have turned it into over $10 million. It is strongly implied that they purchased additional futures on margin and made dozens (or hundreds) of millions more, since a lesser amount would not bankrupt the Dukes.

★ At the same time, the Duke brothers purchase enormous quantities of FCOJ futures, even at relatively high prices, because they incorrectly expect that the crop report (falsely suggesting a greater need for stockpiled orange juice) will create a demand at even ''higher'' prices, securing them a profit. When it turns out that the leaked report they were given was fraudulent and the true report is revealed, the price begins to plummet before they are able to sell off their contracts. This leaves them with an obligation to buy millions of pounds of FCOJ at a price more than a dollar per pound higher than they can sell them for, bankrupting them. The Dukes are also trading on margin, in order to magnify their profits (or losses, as it turns out). The first words that the exchange representative says to them after their disastrous trading session are "Margin call, gentlemen," requiring them to deposit more money with the exchange to cover their open lossmaking position. Randolph whines, "You know perfectly well that we don't have $394 million in cash!" Since their open position is hundreds of millions of dollars in the red, leaving no further margin to deposit, they are effectively ruined.

★ The $1.13 per pound price change on FCOJ futures that generated Winthorpe and Valentine's huge profit would be unlikely in the real FCOJ futures market. The exchange that houses the FCOJ futures trading imposes a daily limit of 10 cents per pound on the price movement of the near month contract from its previous day's settlement price. Most commodities futures contracts have daily limits. After the FCOJ price is 10 cents away from the prior settlement price, trading is halted and the market is referred to as "limit up" or "limit down". Trading reopens if prices are again within the limit, and the next day the price can change 10 cents again. The price limit can be widened under certain market conditions.

Cast

★ Dan Aykroyd as Louis Winthorpe III

★ Eddie Murphy as Billy Ray Valentine

★ Ralph Bellamy as Randolph Duke

★ Don Ameche as Mortimer Duke

★ Denholm Elliott as Coleman

★ Jamie Lee Curtis as Ophelia

★ Kristin Holby as Penelope Witherspoon

★ Paul Gleason as Clarence Beeks

★ Alfred Drake as President of Exchange

★ Maurice Woods as a Duke & Duke employee

★ Kelly Curtis as Muffy

★ James Belushi as Harvey

★ Al Franken as Baggage handler #1

★ Tom Davis as Baggage handler #2

Production

Most of the movie was filmed on location in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 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.
The final scene was filmed in St. Croix, U.S.V.I.

Rating

The film was rated R by the MPAA, for brief nude scenes when Jamie Lee Curtis takes off her top in front of Dan Aykroyd and when several topless women dance at the party held by Valentine. There was also some strong language used in the movie.

Television broadcasts

Some elements are added or removed from the film for television.

★ The only deleted scene, in which Clarence Beeks drugs a security guard and steals the crop report while ''Sunset Boulevard'' plays on television, was included in television versions.

★ Occasionally broadcasts of the film will edit out either the entire scene of Louis and Billy Ray walking into the WTC or simply edit Louis' statement about the WTC "In this building it's either kill or be killed" out of respect for the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Awards

★ Curtis and Elliott received BAFTA awards for their roles.

Trivia

★ The score for this film is largely from Mozart's ''The Marriage of Figaro'', which features the story of a lower-class person getting the best of his upper-class master.

★ The punch line of the story Bunny (Susan Fallender) tells at the tennis club ("... and she stepped on the ball") is a reference to ''Auntie Mame'' (1958), in which Gloria Upson, a snob, tells a joke with the same punch line (to which no one laughs).

★ The phrase "See You Next Wednesday" appears in all of Landis' films in some fashion. In this film, it appears printed on a poster in Ophelia's apartment.

★ Louis's inmate number, 7474505B, is featured in two other Ackroyd movies: ''The Blues Brothers'' and ''The Couch Trip''.

★ The Duke brothers appear as two homeless men in Murphy's 1988 movie ''Coming to America''. Murphy's character hands a wad of cash to a homeless man, who is revealed to be Mortimer. Randolph observes and says, "Mortimer, we're back," as a snippet of the score from ''Trading Places'' can be heard. Both films were directed by John Landis.

★ In 2000, readers of ''Total Film'' magazine voted ''Trading Places'' the 33rd-greatest comedy film of all time.

★ In the ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' episode "Spy Buddies", Mr. Krabs and Plankton switch lives to see if they could do each other's jobs well or not, and bet one dollar, an obvious reference to ''Trading Places''.

External links

★ ''Trading Places'' at the Internet Movie Database

★ ''Learning the Ropes: The Basics of Futures'' from World Link Futures, Inc.