Every Oliver Stone Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Now we come to the films Oliver Stone is best known for. Wall Street is the tale of rich New York bankers running amok with risk and competition. They spy on their rivals, engage in illicit trade and put their wealth on the line in a recreation of the real-life stock broker trade.

Stone made the film based on his father's role as a stock broker during the Great Depression. This also carries through to Wall Street's main characters Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) and Gordon Gecko (Michael Douglas). The former is a young trader who aspires to be like the latter; but the deeper Fox dives into the business, the more tense things become.

What makes Wall Street so memorable is its commitment to authenticity alongside its ability to take a complicated topic and explain it to a wider audience. It was also a very timely release; the 1980s were a time of the "Yuppie Culture" and the motto of "greed is good" was widespread following the interventions of President Ronald Reagan.

In the years since its release, Wall Street has become an archetype for that era. Thanks to great direction by Stone and solid performances, it ranks close to the top of his filmography.