[2], Trading Places was developed with the intent to cast comedy duo Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder as Billy Ray Valentine and Louis Winthorpe III respectively. A successful film was expected to earn between $5 million and $10 million on the home video market. The heroes' reward is escaping to a tropical island, completely divorced from the poverty-stricken neighborhoods that had previously been their home. On the commodities trading floor, the Dukes commit their holdings to buying frozen concentrated orange juice futures contracts, legally committing themselves to buying the commodity at a later date. After sharing a kiss with Ophelia, Winthorpe travels to New York City with Valentine, carrying with them Coleman's and Ophelia's life savings to carry out their plan. Conversely, there is rarely a complimentary scene for those subjected to downward mobility. "Trading Places: A 1983 Christmas Comedy That's Still Surprisingly Relevant", "It's The 30-Year Anniversary Of The Greatest Wall Street Movie Ever Made: Here's The Story Behind It", "Mr. Beaks Says Goodbye to Clarence Beeks", "Players; J.T. They plot to return Valentine to the streets, but have no intention of taking back Winthorpe. [74] Trading Places was released on VHS in May 1984, priced at $39.95. An orange farmer expects his … [25][26], The script underwent minor changes throughout filming; some improvisation was also encouraged. He commended the focus on developing each character so that they were funny because of their individual quirks and personalities. [3][89], The main theme of Trading Places is the consequences of wealth or the lack thereof. The lack of windows gave the appearance the floor was situated below ground, but it was actually on a high floor. Valentine, Ophelia, and Winthorpe's butler, Coleman, nurse him back to health and inform him of the experiment. Frozen OJ sales soared 27%. [54] Vincent Canby said that the screwball style had been updated for the "existential hipness" of the 1980s, but the film lacked the same morality tale the genre often espoused that money is not important. This was considered a top-tier salary reserved for the most popular movie stars. [59], The 37th British Academy Film Awards named Elliott and Curtis the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. Landis said, "he could easily play [Winthorpe] ... you tell him what you want, and he delivers. [53] Canby said the pair had well-written roles that were supported by their comic performances. [36] He and Landis had collaborated previously on several films including The Blues Brothers and the horror-comedy An American Werewolf in London (1981). A contract to sell, say, 1000 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. Both types of orange juice may be enhanced with oils extracted from peels, and both are tested for Brix (sweetness) and acidity and … [2] Economic inequality is demonstrated by the wealthy who live in luxury. [1] It can be seen as an example of supply-side economics, alongside films like the comedies Arthur (1981) and Risky Business (1983). [4], In the early 1980s, the VCR home video market was gaining popularity rapidly. In the movie Trading Places, starring Eddie Murphy, the Duke brothers intended to profit from trades in frozen concentrated orange juice futures contracts using an illicitly obtained and not yet public Department of Agriculture orange crop report. (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/32O3oTc I use mine for Milkshakes, Gravy, and Crock-Pot sauces too. [52] Kehr criticized Landis for often turning his heroines into "busty bunnies", and said that he had treated Curtis the same way. I can enter into that agreement with you even if I have no FCOJ. Bellamy and Ameche reprised their Duke characters for Murphy's 1988 film Coming to America. [87] The film has also been compared to Twain's 1893 short story The Million Pound Bank Note, in which two brothers bet on the outcome of giving an impoverished person an unusable million-pound bank-note. We wanted to zero in on what is arguably the most arcane, real-life climax in cinematic history: the Trading Places orange juice futures scam. [1][97] In 2008, The Washington Post called it one of the most underrated Christmas films. No other African-American actor had achieved a comparable level of success before him. [122], Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 87%, based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 7.45/10. Murphy portrays the affluent Prince Akeem who hands the now-homeless brothers … Even so, he changed many of his own lines because he said that a white writer writing for a black person would use stereotypical dialogue like "jive turkey" and "sucker", and he could write his lines to sound authentic. The disclaimer read, "This film has outdated attitudes, language, and cultural depictions which may cause offence today. Hey, we’re losing all our damn money, and Christmas is around the corner, and I ain’t gonna have … [90], Vincent Canby said that although the film is an homage to social satire screwball comedies of the early 20th century, Trading Places is a symbol of its time. [3], Other minor roles include Ron Taylor as "Big Black Guy", American football player J. T. Turner as "Even Bigger Black Guy" who only says "Yeah! [2][29], The Duke & Duke upstairs offices were filmed inside the upstairs of the Seventh Regiment Armory in New York. [2] Ameche had not featured in a film for over a decade; when asked why, he said that no one had offered him film work. Landis said the traders in the film were less physically rough with each other than they were during normal trading. [53][86][87] The novel follows the lives of a prince and a beggar who use their uncanny resemblance to each other to switch places temporarily; the prince takes on a life of poverty and misery while the pauper enjoys the lavish luxuries of royal life. While seemingly supporting left-leaning political concepts by arguing that given an equal platform a street-hustler like Valentine can perform Winthrope's job equally well, the film promotes right-leaning concepts like Reagan-era policies where the accumulation of wealth is important. Harris shared the idea with his writing partner Herschel Weingrod, who liked the concept. She wanted to move away from horror films as she was conscious that the association would limit her future career prospects. His first choice was Ray Milland, but the actor was unable to pass a physical test to qualify for insurance while filming. Beeks uncovers their scheme, and attempts to kill them, but is knocked unconscious by a gorilla being transported on the train. Here goes 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. Bart believed its success triggered a negative trend that resulted in him receiving numerous film pitches—often a mix of the high-concept nature of Trading Places with a Flashdance-inspired breakdancing or gym setting. [74] Paramount signed an exclusive deal to show its movies, including Trading Places, on the Showtime TV network for approximately $500 million; this was seen as an attempt by Paramount to damage the network monopoly held by HBO that the studio saw as financially unfavorable. The FCOJ-A futures contract is the world benchmark contract for the global frozen concentrated orange juice market. Studios had to strategize their releases to avoid damaging their own films' performances by pitting them against better-performing competition. [75] Paramount distributed its own cassettes and priced them significantly lower than the standard $80 price to promote home user VCR adoption. [2][98][99][100][101] In a 1988 interview, Aykroyd said that he considered it among his "A-tier" films, along with Ghostbusters, Dragnet, The Blues Brothers, and Spies Like Us. I bought a few "paper cans" of Minute Maid frozen concentrated orange juice early last year, tossed em in my chest freezer and just unearthed them today. ", "The 55 Best Christmas Movies Of All Time", "The 100 best comedy movies: the funniest films of all time", "Holiday 5: The Most Underrated Christmas Flicks", "These are the top 20 Christmas movies ever", "The 50 Best Christmas Movies of All Time", "Here are the 75 best Christmas movies of all time for the holidays", "70 Best Christmas Movies to Binge-Watch This Holiday Season", "The 25 best Christmas movies, from Love Actually to The Muppets Christmas Carol", "Perché a ogni vigilia di Natale c'è "Una poltrona per due" su Italia 1", "Using a Racial Epithet To Combat Racism", "Dan Aykroyd's Trading Places watch is worth much more than $50", "Sky Adds 'Outdated Attitudes' Disclaimer for 'Jungle Book,' 'Breakfast at Tiffany's, "Christmas Conventions of American Films in the 1980s", "8: White Out: Racial Masquerade by Whites in American Film I", "Come into My Life" (Laura Branigan and Joe Esposito song), "That's the Way It Is" (Mel and Kim song), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trading_Places&oldid=992877835, Fictional portrayals of the Philadelphia Police Department, Films shot in the United States Virgin Islands, Films with screenplays by Timothy Harris (writer), Films with screenplays by Herschel Weingrod, Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 7 December 2020, at 16:10. The pair determined that the commodities market would make for an interesting setting for a film, as long as it was not about the financial market itself. of Ag. . [18][65] Murphy was among several young stars who emerged that year, including Matthew Broderick, Tom Cruise, and Michael Keaton, who were all in their 20s. [21][22] Landis claimed that the studio reduced the film's budget, frustrated at Ameche's casting after a long absence from film work. [44] The film retained the number three position in its second weekend with a further gross of $7 million, behind Return of the Jedi ($11.2 million), and the debuting Superman III ($13.3 million). During the firm's Christmas party, Winthorpe plants drugs in Valentine's desk, attempting to frame him, and brandishes a gun to escape. [2] When asked if she had researched her role as a prostitute, Curtis jokingly remarked: "I'd love to say I went out and turned a couple of tricks on 42nd Street, but I didn't. [2][13] The pair were in high demand following the success of their comedy film Stir Crazy (1980). Harris conceived the outline for Trading Places in the early 1980s after encountering two wealthy brothers who were engaged in an ongoing rivalry with each other. As long as I *do* have the OJ when the time comes. [52][54] People said that if audiences had given up on Aykroyd following the failures of Neighbors (1981) and Doctor Detroit (1983), his career was revitalized by Trading Places. As well as the main cast, Trading Places features Robert Curtis-Brown as Todd, Winthorpe's romantic rival for Penelope; Alfred Drake as the Securities Exchange manager;[6] and Jim Belushi as Harvey, a party-goer on New Year's Eve. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! [43] It finished as the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1983, behind Paramount Studio's surprise hit, the romantic drama Flashdance ($90.46 million), the comedy-drama Terms of Endearment ($108.4 million), and Return of the Jedi ($309.2 million). He and his writing partner Weingrod developed the idea as a project to star Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. [1][94][125][126] The film's use of the word "nigger", said during Mortimer's statement that he will never allow Valentine to run his family business, is sometimes censored in TV broadcasts. "The rise in the futures price is certainly indicative of the higher cost to supply the sudden spike in demand.". Valentine becomes well versed in the business, using his street smarts to achieve success, and begins to act in a well-mannered way. [4], The summer of 1983 (June–September) was predicted to surpass the previous year's record-breaking $1.4 billion in theater tickets sold. [81] A limited-edition release of Bernstein's score was made available in 2011. (Yes, you're thinking of the comedy Trading Places.) Their only reward for the bet is personal pride. This is demonstrated by the Dukes' bet, showing their own sense of superiority over, and disregard for, the lives of those beneath them, even Winthorpe. [99], Although the film's story takes place over several weeks leading up to and after Christmas, Trading Places is regarded as a Christmas film. [18], Shortly after Trading Places' release, Paramount Pictures signed Murphy to a $25 million five-film exclusive contract—one of the biggest deals ever with an actor at the time. [3], The first fifteen days of filming were spent in Philadelphia. [2][15] Paramount Pictures suggested Eddie Murphy. Winthorpe is fired from Duke & Duke, his bank accounts are frozen, he is denied entry to his Duke-owned home, and he is vilified by Penelope and his friends. Landis accepted this as evidence that Ameche was deceased. However, after viewing Trading Places recently, Roman Mars wondered what happened on the trading floor at the end of the movie and went to Planet Money for answers. [57][56] Canby said that in her first major non-horror role, Curtis performed with "marvelous good humor". [54], At the 41st Golden Globe Awards in 1984, the film received two nominations: Best Musical or Comedy (losing to romantic drama Yentl) and Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for Murphy who lost to Michael Caine's performance in the comedy drama Educating Rita. [2][4] In late January, two holding cells on the 12th-floor of the New York Supreme Court building at 100 Centre Street were taken over for filming. Valentine and Winthorpe buy at the lower price from everyone except the Dukes, fulfilling the contracts they had short-sold earlier and turning an immense profit. [46], While the film never claimed the number one box office ranking, it spent seventeen straight weeks among the top ten-highest-grossing films. He considered it dangerous to pretend a word never existed as in turn other negative events could also be ignored. [1][96], Along with the impact their respective roles on had on its stars' careers,[2] Trading Places is considered one of the best comedy films ever made and part of the canon of American comedies. Empty lockups in police administration buildings would normally be in use but because of the financial investment the production had made filming in the city, the mayor's office agreed to accommodate Landis' request; the studio paid for any expenses incurred. The scene was scripted to take place at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, but the filmmakers were unable to secure permission to film there. There are a couple of bad guys in the movie, Randolph and Mortimer Duke. Landis wanted his film to reflect these concepts in the 1980s;[2][13][14] he said the main updates were the addition of swearing and nudity. The season featured expected hits such as the third installment in the Star Wars series, Return of the Jedi, Superman III, and the latest James Bond film Octopussy. [58] At the 56th Academy Awards, Bernstein was nominated for Best Original Score; he lost to Yentl's score by Michel Legrand and Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Describing the filming of the scene, Landis recalled a jovial discussion between Ameche, Bellamy, and Murphy: Bellamy said that Trading Places was his 99th film; Ameche said it was his 100th. Mortimer tells Randolph that it is enough to give them a new start. [4][35] Principal photography concluded on March 1, 1983, after 78 days. Trading Places was considered a box-office success on its release, earning over $90.4 million to become the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1983 in North America. 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