Blu-ray Review – Trading Places (1983)

Buying and selling Locations, 1983.

Directed by John Landis.
Starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, Jamie Lee Curtis.

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SYNOPSIS:

Paramount is on an Eddie Murphy nostalgia blitz to advertise the upcoming launch of the sequel Coming 2 America, and as a part of that they’ve reissued Buying and selling Locations on Blu-ray with improved picture high quality and a brand new interview with director John Landis. With the vacations across the nook, the movie has a lesson that’s value being attentive to.

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Buying and selling Locations represents a bridge in Eddie Murphy’s profession. He was a rapidly rising star on Saturday Night time Reside, and he had made his mark reverse Nick Nolte within the profitable 48 Hrs. He was on his method to turning into a significant comedic pressure, and Buying and selling Locations helped set him up for that. It additionally allowed him to star with Saturday Night time Reside alumnus Dan Aykroyd in a movie that was directed by John Landis of Animal Home and Blues Brothers fame, thus bridging the earlier technology of comedian stars and the brand new one.

The story is an up to date model of a story that’s been advised many instances in several methods. It’s an try and reply “Why do folks occupy the stations in life they find yourself in?”, which is a query that’s as related as ever at present. I doubt it would ever stop being related, so long as some folks proceed to chase wealth whereas others fall by the wayside.

Murphy performs Billy Ray Valentine, a poor avenue hustler who’s a variation on the various quick-talking, wise-cracking characters who had been his bread and butter within the Eighties. Aykroyd is Louis Winthorpe III, a rich commodities director at Duke & Duke, which is owned by the brothers Randolph and Mortimer Duke. The pair have an ongoing debate about nature versus nurture, and after they witness Louis’s insistence that Billy Ray be arrested for suspected theft over a easy misunderstanding, they hatch a wager.

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The Dukes organize for Louis’s firing from their agency. Since he’s engaged to their grandniece Penelope, who now desires nothing to do with him, Louis additionally finds himself with out entry to his financial institution accounts and his house. Broke and homeless, Louis turns to Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis), a stereotypical prostitute with a coronary heart of gold who agrees to assist him if he’ll give her a monetary reward as soon as he’s exonerated.

The Dukes additionally bail out Billy Ray and put him in Louis’s previous job. Unsurprisingly, his avenue smarts make him a fairly good commodities dealer, and he enjoys his new standing in life whereas Louis schemes to get his place again. Aykroyd’s character does a lot of the heavy lifting within the early a part of the plot, however when Billy Ray learns that the Dukes have settled their wager for $1 and plan on returning him to the streets, he seeks out Louis to assist flip the tables on them.

It’s greatest to view Buying and selling Locations via the lens of a modern-day parable, similar to a retelling of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper. The characters are archetypes and the plot is generally predictable, nevertheless it serves as a superb lesson on the function of wealth and greed in our society, even when those that really want to study it are those who’re least doubtless to concentrate.

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It’s additionally a enjoyable movie to revisit if, like me, you grew up through the period during which it was made, or in case you take pleasure in 80s nostalgia. Aykroyd was a reliable lead actor who was poised for an enormous breakthrough the next 12 months with Ghostbusters, and Murphy was starring in his second function movie and was additionally constructing towards his personal main success in 1984 with Beverly Hills Cop. As well as, Jamie Lee Curtis had been typecast as a horror film actress, so this movie helped set her up for extra various roles sooner or later.

Buying and selling Locations was remastered in 4K, though it’s not obtainable on 4K Extremely HD but, so followers must accept this Blu-ray version. It was beforehand issued twice on Blu-ray, and from what I’ve learn on-line, this model’s image high quality is a step up from these releases. Paramount additionally included a code for a digital copy.

There’s one new bonus function on this disc, Filmmaker Focus: John Landis on Buying and selling Locations, which runs practically 9 minutes. Landis opens his remarks by noting that the script felt like a movie that might have been made through the Nineteen Thirties, when the Despair put the distinction between haves and have-nots in sharp aid. He additionally admits that he didn’t know a lot about Eddie Murphy earlier than the actor’s identify was offered to him, however as quickly as he noticed his abilities, he knew the comic was proper for the function.

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The remainder of the extras had been ported over from previous editions. They embody:

  • Insider Buying and selling: The Making of Buying and selling Locations (18.5 minutes): Landis, writers Herschel Weingrod and Tm Harris, government producer George Folsey, Jr., and the principal stars focus on the movie from its early days via to its launch.
  • Buying and selling Tales (8 minutes): Hailing from 1983, this transient piece options Landis, Akroyd, Murphy, and Curtis speaking in regards to the movie.
  • The Commerce in Buying and selling Locations (5.5 minutes): If the monetary facets of the film’s plot are a bit arcane to you, this fast primer will get you on top of things on crucial issues you might want to know. A couple of monetary business of us be part of this chat.
  • Dressing the Half (6.5 minutes): Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman, Landis, Akroyd, and Curtis discuss why sure varieties of clothes had been chosen for the movie. It ought to be pretty apparent why they had been chosen, nevertheless it’s at all times good to have a lesser-known artistic get a flip within the highlight within the bonus options.
  • Trade Promotional Piece (4 minutes): Landis introduces this promo during which Akroyd and Murphy improvise some comedy as a part of the trouble to promote the movie to film theaters. It’s a enjoyable glimpse into the previous days of how movies had been promoted to theater homeowners.

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The theatrical trailer and a deleted scene, which can also be obtainable with commentary by Folsey, spherical out the disc.

Flickering Myth Rating – Movie: ★ ★ ★ / Film: ★ ★ ★

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