"Greed is good, greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts right through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed will save the U.S.A."" This is a line that will never die. Watching Wall Street, you get the impression that greed may be good, but in fact, it is deadly if you're not careful. Michael Douglass, who plays Gekko, proves that greed is like a game that can never be won because there's no finish line. .
Once Gekko became the richest man in America, he had no limits to his greed or willingness to bend ethical principles and the law to advance his goal of accumulating more money. Gekko redefines the businessman fazade during that time. Gekko has it all but it's never enough. In hopes of making it to the big time, Martin sheen playing Bud works his way into Gekko's private s circle even though he was only a low level trader. As desired, money began flowing freely so much so that he made himself comfortable in a fancy penthouse along with a beautiful interior designer. Still, Gekko is only acquiring his wealth through illegal trading and insider tactics. Bud realizes what he got himself into and remains confident that it will work out in the end. Therefore, with his newly acclaimed wealth, he decided to turn around his fathers company, Blue Star Airlines, with the help of Gekko. However, Bud's father warned him that Gekko is just in it for the money and not in it to serve the company. With the endless possibilities and his individual success, Bud is too jaded to see the big picture. In the end, it was a shock to him and the father was right.
This movie shows the reality of business dealings and how greed only works in selfish ways. This movie exposes the ugly side of greed; the evil, the corrupt and the egotism in everybody. It may satisfy your needs of that moment, but in the long run it will not.