August 5th, 2011
09:43 AM ET
Friday's Top Five: Money moviesThe pursuit of happiness, a clever phrase, actually referred to our founding fathers’ affinity for their bank accounts. As we've seen this week in Congress, our ability to access cash has been woven into the fabric of our Constitution. So this week, we're taking a look at movies about money, the lengths we'll go to acquire it, and the curse it can carry along with it. I think this top five is pretty money, but as always, leave your own list in the comments!
1. "Wall Street" (1987): "The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good." – Gordon Gekko 2. "Brewster’s Millions" (1985): “I'm gonna make you so sick of spending money that the mere sight of it will make you wanna throw up!” – Rupert Horn 3. "Easy Money" (1983): “I was happy being a big fat slob, but for $10 million...I'll give up everything!” – Movie tagline 4. "The Color of Money" (1986): "Do you smell what I smell?" – Fast Eddie Felson (the answer to the question is money, even though Vince’s reply is “smoke.") 5. "The Money Pit" (1986): “Two weeks!” – Walter Fielding (This also includes the best laughing scene ever.) Honorable Mention: "There Will Be Blood" (2007): “I’m finished.” – Daniel Plainview "Let it Ride" (1989): “The 4 horse!” – Tony Cheesburger "Casino" (1995): There aren’t any quotes with language suitable enough to be posted on this family friendly blog, but suffice it to say there’s a lot of money won, lost, and stolen in this picture.
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Money Pit was kinda funny, Shelly Long was a bit boring and I think is miscast in the film but I liked Tom Hanks and the crazy things that happened in the house, roof falling in, sparks from outlets, the bathtub falling thru the floors, etc.
Remake anyone ? With Joel McHale and Jenny McCarthy ? (LOL)
My vote for the funniest moive about winning the big money is Rat Race.
What do you get when you get Whoopy Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr, Mr Bean, Formal Monty Python member, The guy who does the voice of Chris Griffit on Family guy and Neumen on Seinfeld on the same screen together?
Trading Places tops the list of them all....Eddie Murphy, Dan Ackroyd and uber-hottie Jamie Lee Curtis – her, breaking out of the horror genre.
Not sure about "The Money Pit", what about "Mr. Blandings builds his Dream House" w/ Cary Grant and Myrna Loy ?
ummm how about a little "Blank Check" anyone????
The Sting? Awesome movie.
Dog Day Afternoon – " Sal, Wyoming is not a country!"
Slum Dog Millionaire???
How could "Other People's Money" not make it to this list with possibly the best business speech ever made – this movie should be a "must see" for every business school in the country –and who doesn't want to see Danny Devito playing the violin?
What about New Jack City. All Nino Brown did wanted to do was make $ at all costs.
I expected Boiler Room to make this list, though I don't recall how quotable that movie was. The only one I remember: Anybody who tells you money is the root of all evil doesn't f***ing have any.
How about this one – "Go buy yourself a new car....go buy youself a house...go into debt: you are going to make a million dollars inside of six months!"
Indecent Proposal
"Mad money"
RISKY BUSINESS (says it all) was all the money: " My name is Joel Goodson. I deal in human fulfillment. I grossed over eight thousand dollars in one night. Time of your life, huh kid?"
Sorry...Trading Places
Trading Spaces???
Quicksilver with Kevin Bacon
Enter the Void. Its not so much a money movie as it is more a *what the hell did i just watch* type movie. Seriously check it out people..
Love Wall Street but the BEST money movie of all time is "the Treasure of the Sierra Madre" with Bogart, directed John Huston. The "money" in this case is gold, but the insidious effects of greed have never been portrayed better. everyone knows this movie from the dumb "Stinking Badges" line, but it is a masterpiece deserving of viewing by all movie buffs.
"T R A D I N G P L A C E S" ! ! ! ! Starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd was 'the' best!!
"A Simple Plan" with Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda. A look at what happens to ordinary people when they "find" a life changing amount of money.
I just read this list of movies and realized these are all my favoriate moveis. So what does this say about me... that and I often walk around saying $10 million, $10 million, $10 million dollars.... (brewsters millons)?
In Vegas, everybody's gotta watch everybody else. Since the players are looking to beat the casino, the dealers are watching the players. The box men are watching the dealers. The floor men are watching the box men. The pit bosses are watching the floor men. The shift bosses are watching the pit bosses. The casino manager is watching the shift bosses. I'm watching the casino manager. And the eye-in-the-sky is watching us all.
Rober DeNiro quote in Casino, I love that movie and I have to agree w/ the rest about Trading Places, just a wonderful 80's Movie classic; makes me laugh everytime I watch it...
my favorites, Oceans Eleven (the new one), Blow and Trading Places.. oh and Vegas Vacation hahaha
That would be Oceans Thrirteen, right?
no, I mean Oceans Eleven that came out in 2002. It was a remake of a old film, but I never seen that one
YES!!! Blow is the greatest movie of all time, GENIUS!!!
All of these movies are about how money has caused problems, conflict, and suffering.
Not sure if it counts, but "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" has strong ties to money and greed.
'Money!!So they say, is the root of all of all evil today'. I wonder if the CEOs and Politicians should take a lesson from Pink Floyd!!!
boiler room and glenngarry glen ross
What about Blow?
Duh......ROGUE TRADER! who came up with this list?
One of the best movies about a guy trying to attain wealth...Scarface.
How could you leave out "Boiler Room" ? Great movie , acting, Giovanni Ribisi, story, Vin Diesel. I lived the exact same story back in the 1980s working at a 'boiler room-type' place selling mutual funds (the hot investment of the day) to little old ladies and any unsuspecting gullible fool out of a very similar suburban office building with same cast of characters. "Boile Room" is very real.
No Trading Places?? Def woulda picked that top 5
YES !!! "Looking good Louis !! " "Feeling good Winthorp !! "
Notice that the majority of the movies mentioned are from the 80's? That was a great decade!!!
YES !
The 80s sucked. Get over it.
Before I read it I thought about brewsters millions and the money pit....but what about scarface??
I"d have picked "The Money Train" or "Cliffhanger" over "Brewster's Millions".
"Barbarians at the Gate" should be on there. It's about the RJR/Nabisco takeover in the 80s. (Larry Gelbart wrote it.)
What? Good movies about money made outside of the mid-80's are good enough for the top 5? Treasure of the Sierra Madre, anyone? Or would you rather just keep on repeating "We don't need no stinkin' badges" and not really know what movie it was from?
Interesting that almost all those movies are from the 80's. Speaks to how the Reagan era laid the foundation for the rampant greed that now engulfs this society.
Actually it illustrates how CNN, and now you, works to create that depiction.
Greed, rampant consumerism, and no sympathy for the downtrodden. He should go down in history as the man who had ketchup legally declared a vegetable so they could cut back on school lunches while wasting billions on the so-called 'Star Wars' defence system which even the creators of the initial technology said could never work.
just what we need. more focusing on money. money, money, money
You totally missed to great ones: The original "The Producers" and "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."
Great picks!
how about 'blow' ...rooms full of cash.
Best one All About the Benjamins .. Everyone just wants to get paid..
I can't believe Barbarians at the Gate didn't make the list. Great money movie with James Garner.
how about "trading places" with eddie murphy and dan aykroyd? "You know, it occurs to me that the best way you hurt rich people is by turning them into poor people."
Great pick! So obvious and yet they missed it.
You forgot Glen Gary Glen Ross and Boiler Room!
Wall Street deserves to be in the # 1 slot, because it depicts exactly how corporate raiders operated in the 80's, in a way that non financial types could understand and be outraged by. Casino was a superb film, so well-acted by all the principal players, especially Sharon Stone. Not sure it fits the financial film category any more than The Godfather does. But it is superb.
What about Inside Job...?
Set it off??? c mon son!
GlenGarry, GlenRoss should definitely be on this list.
BOILER ROOM!!!! HELLO? Jim: "You Want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet, What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all kids, I am liquid."
"Anyone who says that money can't buy happiness is LYING to you. Look at the smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby."
Yeah, Boiler Room should definitely be on the list. Great movie.
Big Booty Carwash 9
"Friends with money" with Jennifer Aniston
Barbarians at the Gate – made for HBO movie about leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco..awesome movie.
That one is good...I ended up buying it. James Garner did a great job. You might like "Rougue Trader" too. It is also a movie based on a true story.
BLANK CHECK!!!!! NO BLANK CHECK???? C'MON LET'S HEAR IT FOR SOME BLANK CHECK!!!!
Boilers room topped these movies by the miles!!! how about " either you close them or they close you for the reason they cant buy !! thats it i am done!!!"
Other People's Money...... Danny Devito
"maybe it would be so bad if this country goes comunist... the first thing they do is KILL ALL THE LAWYERS".
What, no Trading Places? C'mon now!
Secret of my Success?
Where is Boiler Room????
Where it belongs, in the basement.
God boiler room is awful – not just as a movie – but as a story – it's unbelievable claptrap with mediocre actors.
Trading Places???
Where's the love for me and my partner, Billy Ray Valentine?
I know exactly what I was thinking.
Looking good, Billy Ray!
Feeling good, Louis!
YOU LEFT OFF GUYS AND DOLLS! I got the horse right here, his name is paul revere.......
"Two for the Money" starring Pacino, McConaughey, Russo.
Gotta love "richie rich"
Richie rich was probably the coolest rich kid of all time, considering the fact that the kid would do anything to have a good time!
Not sure about some of these. Boiler room easily should have been on this list!
agreed...
That's what I was thinking while reading this list.
Boiler room should have been 5, but Glenn Gary Glenn Ross should have benn number 2
Yes! that was my first thought! 🙂
Great list. The song–Money, Money, Money by Abba as seen in MamaMia keeps going through my head–thanks for the start of a rich day.
Whats wrong with this quote from Casino?
Nicky Santoro: **** my mother? That's what you ******* tell me? You mother******you!
Well said!
Asterisk my mother? That's what you asterisk to tell me? You mother asterisk you ! this is family friendly!
Firsty!!!!!
I don't know if this is the reason why Two for the Money didn't make it on to this list, but it seems each of these movies are touching on different themes, and Two for the Money has basically the same plot as The Color of Money. A mentor finds his "Ace in the Hole", and teaches him to hone his talent to use it to make money. These points alone might not make the movies too similar, but the fact they both revolve around sports betting is a reason they might have decided to leave the first and, in all honesty, better movie on the list.
Boiler Room would have been a solid pick behind Wall Street and maybe Brewster's Millions for the #2 or #3 spot.
Surprised not to see the movie Greed on this list with Kirk Douglas and Michael J. Fox. That movie was all about family greed and taking advantage of a wealthy man not able to help himself.
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