Trading Places (1983)
A commodities broker and a con man swap lives on a bet — over Christmas.
Two millionaire brothers bet one dollar they can destroy a snobbish broker and elevate a street hustler — and the two men, discovering the bet, plot a Christmas-season revenge on the commodities floor. Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd at their sharpest; the holiday setting is the point: grace, greed, and payback.
John Landis built a Prince-and-the-Pauper experiment on a one-dollar bet between two monstrous brothers, and it made Eddie Murphy a movie star: his Billy Ray Valentine, thinking three moves ahead in every scene, is one of the great comic performances. Dan Aykroyd's ruined Louis, reduced to a Santa suit and a bus-station grudge, gives the film its Christmas spine. Jamie Lee Curtis made her dramatic-comedy debut, and the frozen-orange-juice finale remains the most satisfying commodities trading sequence ever filmed — yes, that's a category of one.
From the Film
The Facts
- Year
- 1983
- Director
- John Landis
- Runtime
- 116 minutes
- Genres
- Comedy
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Dan Aykroyd | Louis Winthorpe III |
| Eddie Murphy | Billy Ray Valentine |
| Ralph Bellamy | Randolph Duke |
| Don Ameche | Mortimer Duke |
| Denholm Elliott | Coleman |
| Jamie Lee Curtis | Ophelia |
Good to know: The lives of its two leads intersect over the Christmas and New Year holidays when wealthy brothers make them the subjects of an elaborate bet.
Where to watch Trading Places
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More from the 1980s — or browse the full A–Z catalog.
