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After Hours

The 80s finance comedy you should watch instead of ‘Trading Places’

Swap an outdated movie with open outcry pits and blackface for film history’s greatest advisory satire

American actors Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford on the set of Working girl directed by German-born American Mike Nichols. (Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
American actors Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford on the set of Working girl directed by German-born American Mike Nichols. (Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images) Photo: Corbis/Getty Images

Every era has its unshakeable beliefs. Nobody in finance could imagine the end of the gold standard, or of Lehman Brothers, yet here we are. It is now time to put one more sacred cow to rest: the idea that Trading Places is the ultimate 1980s finance comedy.

It’s OK, boomer. Breathe. I see you clutching your pearls, declaring that 80s Eddie Murphy has no mortal peer. But Trading Places has aged badly – the open outcry pit around which the conclusion revolves is long gone, Dan Aykroyd does a scene in blackface and nobody cares about orange juice futures.

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