Best Business Movies?

The recent announcement of the Academy Award nominations has me thinking about movies—in particular, movies about business or business law.

Several lists of the best business movies are available online.  Business Pundit has one here. Forbes has one here.  And MSNBC has one here.

Some of the movies on these lists aren’t really what I would consider business movies.  For example, Clerks and It’s a Wonderful Life are both on the Business Pundit list.  I think Clerks is hilarious and It’s a Wonderful Life is one of my all-time favorite movies, but their focus isn’t really business, and certainly not the law of business.  All three lists also include at least one of the Godfather movies.  Again, great movies, but not what we usually think of as business--no business I ever represented, at least.

Business Pundit’s top move is The Godfather and Forbes’ top move is Citizen Kane. MSNBC just lists their top ten chronologically. 

My favorite, perhaps because I teach Securities Regulation and Mergers and Acquisitions, is Wall Street—the original 1987 movie, not last year’s lousy Money Never Sleeps sequel. [Great performances by Martin Sheen and Michael Douglas--and Oliver Stone somehow manages to keep his personal views out of the picture until the somewhat contrived bad-guy-gets-it-in-the-end conclusion. 

And, of course, who can forget Gordon Gekko’s immortal “Greed is Good” speech:  "The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."

So what are your favorite business law movies and why?

-Steve Bradford