Wall Street (20th Anniversary Edition) (DVD)

I have always loved Wall Street and consider it to be Oliver Stone's best film. Stone has a very specific style to his filmmaking and in most of his film's there is that moment that makes it an "Oliver Stone film." In World Trade Center I refer to the "Jesus Scene" and in Alexander the "Psychedelic Death Scene". Wall Street doesn't have any of this, Stone doesn't try any trickery, he simply allows Michael Douglas to play puppet master Gordon Gekko and guide the film along.

Released in 1987, Wall Street earned Michael Douglas his first and only Oscar award and established Gordon Gekko as one of the best movie villains ever. Co-starring Charlie Sheen as young stockbroker Bud Fox whose goal has always been to net the big fish, in this case it is corporate giant Gordon Gekko. After pursuing him on a day-by-day basis Fox finally gets his chance to impress the big dog and Gekko soon takes Bud under his wing. Eventually Bud finds himself in over his head as he learns the secret to Gekko's success is greed, not friendship. "If you need a friend, get a dog," Gordon tells Bud but it doesn't sink in until it is too late.

My love for the film aside, this 20th Anniversary DVD doesn't feel all that special. The video hasn't been improved, neither has the audio and the commentary by Stone isn't even new. Stone does provide a new introduction to the film, only it is on the second disc and just a minute long to tell us how great the new DVD is. Really? It's great? Is that because nothing has really changed and only a little has been added?

One thing that is new is an hour long documentary that is about as exciting as watching paint dry and even though Stone has a horribly monotone and dull speaking voice his audio commentary gives you everything and much more than this doc ever offers. Old it may be, but Stone's commentary is very frank and to the point from talking about the studio, to calling out Sean Young for her un-professional treatment of Daryl Hannah on set. Stone even talks about Hannah not really being keen on the role of Darien Taylor. Stone clears this up by saying if she didn't like it then she shouldn't have accepted the part. Sounds about right to me. He also reveals that Richard Gere was originally offered the role of Gekko and turned it down as did Warren Beatty, and Tom Cruise called and said he wanted to play Bud Fox, but Stone had to turn him down since he already offered the role to Sheen who Stone also calls out saying he didn't take the role seriously enough and "partied too hard." He might not have the best speaking voice but what he has to say is interesting. Unfortunately if you already own this DVD then you have the commentary, which means you don't need to shell out more money for it a second time.

However, if you do want to hear more from Stone that you haven't heard yet you can get it on the 22 minutes of deleted scenes. Stone's commentary is interesting as are these deleted scenes in the way that if some of them had been in the movie they would have actually changed it slightly. These aren't all just throwaway scenes and they include an alternate ending that actually feels like it was made in case the suits at Fox demanded a more optimistic and "happier" ending. The final feature is a vintage making-of featurette that you needn't even pay any attention to.

It's really too bad they didn't do a little better with this new edition of Wall Street since it is such a classic. A re-mastered transfer would have been appreciated as would have been an improved audio track and a new commentary, imagine if Stone, Douglas and Sheen had all gotten in on an audio commentary for this flick. Yeah, now that would have been a truly "special" edition. As it is, you aren't getting more than what you may already own. If you don't own this movie yet, now is as good a time as any to pick it up, everyone should have this flick in their collection as it is a good one to revisit every so often.