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Trading Places (1983) is the title of a successful comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. It was directed by John Landis.
Plot
As an experiment and for a bet, two immensely wealthy and patrician brothers, Mortimer and Randolph Duke (played by Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy), arrange that two other men "trade places":
- Louis Winthorpe III (played by Dan Aykroyd), a respectable senior employee of the Dukes, is greatly humiliated and loses everything: he is falsely accused of crimes, he is fired, his home and other possesions are taken away from him, and out of misery he actually starts misbehaving. He also loses his friends. However, he is supported by the "hooker with a heart of gold" Ophelia (played by Jamie Lee Curtis).
- Beggar and hustler Billy Ray Valentine (played by Eddie Murphy) is given Winthorpe's job, house, butler (played by Denholm Elliott), and other possesions. Finding himself in a much improved situation and no longer having any need to break the law Billy Ray starts to behave like a responsible and honest citizen.
When Billy Ray finds out that his elevated position is only temporary, and Louis finds out that his misery is caused by the Dukes, they take revenge together, with the help of Ophelia and Coleman the butler. The Dukes' arrangement of using inside information to earn money on the commodities market is made to backfire when Louis and Billy Ray feed them false information, thereby bankrupting them. Simultaneously, they use the correct information themselves to get rich.
Awards
Curtis and Elliott received BAFTA awards for their roles, and the film was also noted for returning veteran Hollywood actors Ameche and Bellamy to the screen.
Trivia
The Duke brothers' attempt to corner the orange juice market is very similar to the real-life case of the Hunt brothers of Texas, who attempted to corner the silver market with the help of Arab investors. Eventually, the "Silver Thursday" market crash of March 27, 1980 devalued their silver holdings enough to make them fail to meet their $100 million margin call and forcing them to declare bankruptcy.
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