Learning Liberty & Finance Through Hollywood?? -- A Decent Top 10 Overview & List of Finance Sector Movies to Watch Since We are in the CryptoCurrency Space Together.
Let's learn from recent mistakes
- in the world and use those crashes to PREPARE to not fail ourselves again, even if we can take a small lesson or 2 from a couple movies in Hollywood who has their own corrupt narrative with government and other issues, shall we??
We can learn from patterns and reminders and history...... look for the nuggets of truth in the corrupt places, even Hollywood scripts and movies.
A list and overview/reminder of some of the movies we have all seen along with some of my political commentary, again, on things related to the politics of the space.
I thought this might even entertain / educate people if they are learning about all the markets and trading info we are dealing with every day.
-- 10. Glengarry Glen Ross
A well known film adaptation of the David Mamet play, this movie is filled with classic one liners! It focuses on a team of beaten down real estate salesmen whose morals have decayed after years of working for their morally dubious company.
It highlites the greed / underhanded things that sales people in these positions may have to deal with, as well as the pressure heaped upon them by their managers. The whole cast is stellar, but Alec Baldwin’s now legendary “motivational speech” is an epic rant for the ages, most people now know about.
-- 9. Barbarians at the Gates
A 1993 TV movie, and largely forgotten -- centers on the leveraged buyout (LBO) of RJR Nabisco. This movie does take some creative license in portraying this real-life event, audiences will be both amused & shocked at the stupidity and greed of Nabisco’s CEO, F. Ross Johnson and the behind-the-scenes bargaining and skullduggery around this famous LBO.
-- 8. American Psycho
A thriller set in the back drop of finance, Christian Bale plays a wealthy investment banker with a dark, violent secret. There actually is not a ton about finance in this movie, but this movie gives insight into the surreal world inhabited by the sociopaths in political and finance’s elite class, and the clinical and complete disconnect they have among themselves and with reality.
-- 7. The Big Short
Nonfiction book based, (The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine) by Michael Lewis, this movie follows a few Big Banking insiders as they become aware before anyone else, of the housing bubble that triggered the 2008 financial meltdown.
-- 6. Rogue Trader
Nick Leeson is a trader who caused the insolvency of Barings Bank, basically on his own.
It was the world’s second oldest merchant bank. Nick was a phenom on the rise in the Singapore trading scene and Leeson imploded as quickly as he rose. He hid massive losses from his bosses in hidden accounts, which in the end, led to the grand daddy of all failed moves on a short position on the Nikkei. It ends up in a large sigma move.
The movie on its own, is entertaining, but the story of Leeson really equates to big lessons in managing risk and the oversight in the financial sector.
-- 5. Trading Places
This movie is a current day version of The Prince and Pauper with Eddie Murphy as a streetwise con artist who gets bamboozled into becoming the manager of an exchange/trading firm, and unknowingly replaces his successor, played by Dan Aykroyd.
The trading action takes a backseat to the characters moving into their new roles, but the last ~20 minutes of the movie fairly accurately shows the frenzy of a trading window in the orange juice futures markets. Without spoiling things, this scene by itself is legendary however the whole cast, with the the 80s nostalgia gives this a top notch in the must watch category.
-- 4. The Wolf of Wall Street
This now epic Scorsese biopic shows the rise and of course, fall of famous stock trader (scammer), Jordan Belfort.
Most have seen this movie. If not, boy, are you are missing out on some great performances by the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill’s. Just like Barbarians' pump and dump named above, The Wolf of Wall Street is based on real life activities, (though again with creative license), around the infamous but legendary Stratton Oakmont, an OTC brokerage firm, and a pump and dump scam that helped many large public companies go to IPO stage, during the late 80s and 90s.
-- 3. Boiler Room
Boiler Room is set in the absolute lowest depths of the financial sector -- the pump and dump.
While this movie is a work of fiction, pump and dump firms exitst, as are the suffering and losses they cause to their victims. Boiler Room serves to warn those starting to invest, to stick to real, proven and solid companies with sound fundamentals, and to always follow the classic: “If it sounds too good to be true, it likely is.”
-- 2. Margin Call
Likely most financially realistic and accurate movie on this list, Margin Call takes place over the span of a day in the life of a Wall Street firm on the brink of collapse and is modeled after some of the large companies in that sector.
The movie doesn't hide its loathing for the sector and the ignorance, and risk-taking by some of the largest banks in the run up to the 2008 meltdown and bailout.
-- 1. Wall Street
Every professional likely has, or now must see this Oliver Stone classic.
Originally, it was made to show the excess and sociopathy connected with finance. This movie still holds great power as a recruiting tool for brokers, analysts and bankers / traders, about 30 years after its release. It serves as a warning as to the dangers of insider trading. The legendary line in the movie as Gekko stated: “Greed is good.” -- is now part of every day dialogue.
In Conclusion:
These movies are a good watch for any person, or prospective financial pro, and they can provide some insight into the crazy, and sometimes ridiculous world of finance.
Truth can be stranger than fiction as the saying goes, and as the constant market red flags and events like the 2008 meltdown, recession, and related bailouts show us, of the "Too Big to Fail" politically owned businesses and decisions, it really is true and Hollywood cannot craft a better story.
And the taxpayers keep paying and paying, not just at the box office either.
I wrote this up late 2017 or so, so I am resharing this resource today as a refresher for some, or for others -- the first time!
Thanks for reading, have a nice day.
