The Soldiers of Fortune (film)

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Movie
German title The adventurers
Original title Trading Places
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1983
length 111 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director John Landis
script Timothy Harris
Herschel Weingrod
production Aaron Russo
music Elmer Bernstein
camera Robert Paynter
cut Malcolm Campbell
occupation
synchronization

Trading Places is an American movie from the year 1983 with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy in the lead roles. The original film title Trading Places is a play on words: on the one hand it means "trading places" - the commodity futures exchange plays an important role - and on the other hand "to swap places", which is what happens to the two heroes of the film. The film is loosely based on motifs from the novel The Prince and the Beggar Boy and the short story The Million Pound Bank Note by the American writer Mark Twain .

The dubbing was done by the dubbing company Cine Adaption GmbH, Munich, while Jürgen Clause was responsible for the script and the dialogue direction. The Soldiers of Fortune grossed $ 90 million on a budget of $ 15 million , making it one of the most successful American films of the year (4th place). Frank Oz as a corrupt police officer, James Belushi as a partygoer in gorilla disguise and Kelly Curtis - sister of Jamie Lee Curtis (Ophelia) - as Penelope's friend are seen in small supporting roles . Al Franken and Bo Diddley also had guest appearances .

action

Louis Winthorpe III is the CEO of Duke & Duke Commodities Brokers , the company of millionaire brothers Randolph and Mortimer Duke, the commodity futures operates and communicates. He has a butler named Coleman who looks after him, is engaged to Penelope, the niece of the Duke brothers, and is in high society . The crook Billy Ray Valentine makes his way through life begging , pretending to have lost legs and eyesight in the Vietnam War . One day they both meet when Billy Ray is fleeing from a police checkpoint and runs into Louis, who has just come from the “Heritage Club”. Billy Ray is mistakenly accused of trying to rob Louis and is sent to jail.

On a whim, the Duke brothers bet one another on the question of whether human behavior is more determined by their environment or their genes. They want to clarify this in an experiment. They decide to swap the roles of Billy Ray and Louis and see if they will adapt to their new environment. To do this, they instruct their henchman Clarence Beeks, who slides a marked wad of money on Louis the next day in the Heritage Club and convicts him as a thief in front of the club members present, whereupon Louis is arrested. The Dukes also ensure that he is framed for company money and drug trafficking. Billy Ray has since been taken out of jail by the Duke brothers on bail and taken to Louis' house on the pretext that they want to make him the new manager of the company. Billy Ray accepts the offer, but needs some time to find his luck.

When Louis is picked up from prison by Penelope the next day, Beeks makes sure that the prostitute Ophelia approaches Louis, kisses him and asks if he has drugs for her again. Despite Louis' pledges of innocence, Penelope is beside herself and leaves him. Since Louis' bank accounts are blocked, his friends reject him and his butler Coleman denies knowing him, Ophelia takes the devastated Louis home with her. In the meantime, Billy Ray is developing into a capable manager. He can quickly register the first successes and enjoys life in wealth. Louis, on the other hand, seeks revenge and tries, disguised as Santa Claus, to pass drugs on Billy Ray at the company's Christmas party, but the plan fails. After a failed suicide attempt with a pistol, he returns to Ophelia's apartment and swallows pills to kill himself.

Meanwhile, Billy Ray accidentally and unnoticed witness a conversation between the Duke brothers about their bet. They state that the experiment worked because Louis was successful in the end and Billy Ray. Mortimer pays his brother the one dollar bet and they decide to get rid of both Louis and Billy Ray. He then rushes to Ophelia's apartment to clear everything up. There he finds the already unconscious Louis and calls a doctor who saves Louis' life.

Billy Ray, Coleman and Ophelia inform Louis about the bet. Together they decide to take revenge on the Dukes. They find out that Beeks is supposed to provide the Duke brothers with an upcoming “crop report” ahead of its official release . This harvest report, commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, contains a forecast of the expected orange harvest , which will have an impact on the market price of frozen orange juice concentrate. A plan by the four to swap Beeks' suitcase with the "Crop report" on a train ride is noticed by the latter. With luck, they'll put him out of action and stick him with his mouth taped up in a gorilla costume in the cage of a male gorilla that is on its way to Africa to be released into the wild .

Louis and Billy Ray arrange a secret handover of the fake “Crop Report” to the Duke brothers. Then they collect all available money, including Ophelia and Coleman's savings. At the Multi Commodity Exchange New York Cotton Exchange in the World Trade Center , there is a showdown. Louis and Billy Ray mingle with the crowd as stockbrokers in the orange juice concentrate trade . Before the stock exchange opens, the Duke brothers, believing that the orange harvest will be poor, instruct their broker to buy orange juice concentrate, even if prices are rising. Other brokers notice this and buy too, which drives the price up. Louis and Billy Ray, on the other hand, sell short to those willing to buy. To the surprise of the Dukes, the price drops back to the initial level. When the Agriculture Minister presented the real “Crop Report”, which promised a good orange harvest, the price of the orange juice concentrate fell. The broker of the Dukes can not make it to the close of trading more that previously bought in quantities to sell, while Louis and Billy Ray their open trading positions at low prices to compensate and make a fortune. Both tell the Dukes that they bet they couldn't get filthy rich themselves without the Duke brothers becoming impoverished. The "loser" Louis pays the one dollar "bet" to Billy Ray. The Dukes lost $ 394 million and are ruined. Their stock exchange seats are sold and their possessions attached, causing Randolph to have a heart attack.

Louis and Ophelia find each other and enjoy their newly acquired wealth with Billy Ray and Coleman on the beach in the Caribbean , while Beeks is embarked for Africa with the male gorilla.

criticism

source rating
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IMDb

"Turbulent comedy based on the classic Hollywood pattern, which at times conveys its socio-critical interest a little superficially and in a clothing-like manner, but mostly entertains with speed, unbroken enthusiasm and anarchic wit."

- Lexicon of international film

At Moviesection, Thomas Ays awards all five possible stars and says: “With 'The Soldiers of Fortune' [director John Landis] tells a story that Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod not only wrote creatively, but also implements an idea that is only considered highly creative and must be called original. This plot is simply ingenious and was also implemented impressively. ”He also finds words of praise for the cast of the main roles.

Stefan Retro from Retro-Film says: “The Soldiers of Fortune is a comedy that completely dispenses with slapstick, instead biting slogans are strung together that have not lost any of their appeal and effect to this day, even the German synchro is definitely in this case successful. "

Florian Tritsch comments on Movie-Maze: “The comedy by the Blues Brothers director John Landis, inspired by Mark Twain's short story" The Million Pound Note ", impresses with its consistently high pace and its two convincing leading actors Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. And even if not all gags always want to ignite one hundred percent, Die Glücksritter is a lot of fun for the entire playing time. "

Trivia

  • The Duke brothers also appear in the John Landis film The Prince of Zamunda (1988), in which the Prince ( Eddie Murphy ) gives the homeless Randolph a large wad of money. He calls out "Mortimer, we're back".
  • The opening scene is highlighted with the overture by Le nozze di Figaro .

Awards

The film was in 1984 in the category Best Original Score ( "or Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation Best Adaptation Score") for the Oscar nominated.

Denholm Elliott won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and Jamie Lee Curtis was nominated for Best Supporting Actress , Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod were nominated for Best Original Screenplay. In the comedy / musical category , the film and Eddie Murphy (Category: Best Actor) were nominated for a Golden Globe .

Related works

While The Soldiers of Fortune was merely inspired by Mark Twain's The Million Pound Note , a film adaptation by Ronald Neame more true to the short story was made in Great Britain in 1953 under the title The Million Pound Note ( His Greatest Bluff ) : Gregory Peck plays a poor man who is played by two rich brothers got a million pound note because of a bet, which he is not allowed to redeem, but which nevertheless leads to the fact that he is suddenly respected by society - only because of his fortune.

The motif of the bet between two millionaires, whether the genes or the milieu are decisive for success in life, can also be found in a short film by the Three Stooges from 1935 with the title Hoi Polloi .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Die Glücksritter (1983) German synchronous card index . Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  2. ↑ Box Office Mojo (Engl.)
  3. ↑ a b Trading Places (1983). Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved January 1, 2016 .
  4. ↑ a b Trading Places. Metacritic , accessed January 1, 2016 .
  5. ↑ The Soldiers of Fortune (1983). IMDb , accessed January 1, 2016 .
  6. ↑ The Soldiers of Fortune. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 29, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  7. ↑ Thomas Ays : The Soldiers of Fortune. In: MovieSection. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014 ; accessed on July 9, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Stefan Retro: film review at retro-film.info, accessed on September 7, 2014.
  9. ↑ Florian Tritsch: Film review at moviemaze.de ( Memento from September 7, 2014 in the web archive archive.today )
  10. ↑ Background information from Internet Movie Database , accessed on September 7, 2014.

Web links

Wikiquote: The Soldiers of Fortune  - Quotes