MovieChat Forums > Wall Street (1987) Discussion > Gekko drops the plate - biggest goof of ...

Gekko drops the plate - biggest goof of all?

posted 14 years ago by epa101
21 replies | jump to latest

In the scene when Gekko meets all the union leaders to explain his plans for Blue Star, he drops a plate of food on the floor after Carl Fox has just made the lawyer leave the room.

This is not in the script online http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Wall-Street.html

Do you think that this was a mistake by Douglas that they kept in for a laugh? It doesn't seem consistent with Gekko's smooth style to drop a plate so clumsily when he's trying to impress people. I don't think that he can be intimidated by Carl Fox.

I've watched the director's commentary. Oliver Stone just laughs at this part and says that the table was badly designed (having made a few comments about badly-designed hotel rooms a few seconds ago).

[–] Mr-Fusion 14 years ago

Oliver Stone just laughs at this part and says that the table was badly designed

I think that was the actual joke. They may have looked at the table, realized it wasn't functional in the least, and had Douglas drop the plate as a statement on the rest of the apartment.

An onset ad-lib that became part of the film, if you will. Right there's a good reason for it not being in the script (and Stone finding it funny twenty years later).

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[–] epa101 14 years ago

Good thinking. Darien's comment that "Bud does it all the time" might fit in with this explanation.

[–] johnston.scot 14 years ago

That online script isn't the shooting script. It differs from the final movie in many details quite a bit more significant than the table. In other words: the script doesn't mean anything.

Even if it were the final shooting script (with all the colored pages inserted), it still wouldn't really mean anything. Physical business like dropping the plate through the table is the sort of thing that directors come up with all the time in the course of shooting a movie.

It may well have been something they thought up on the set after seeing the table, or the table could've been chosen with it in mind.

Reasons it's likely not a blooper:
- Nobody "broke."
- It's pretty funny, and consistent with the movie's depiction of the level of practicality (not to mention "taste") displayed by Darien-as-decorator.
- Daryl Hannah is way too thick to be able simultaneously to come up with a line that makes sense off the top of her head and to deliver it believably.

[–] epa101 14 years ago

Yeah, that makes sense. You're probably right. Thanks for the reply!

Part of the reason why I thought that it might be a goof was that it's funny and Wall Street is not a funny film [as much as I love it]. It seemed unlikely that there would be a joke at this part of the film.

[–] zham-2 13 years ago

i think it was less a joke and more a critique on the fashion/style of the outlandish apartment that Bud was living in. it was less that he dropped the plate and more that he sat it down in a hole in the table

this is in comparison to his dad who somewhere in that scene can be seen inspecting the food like he doesnt know what it is

I think it provides a little context to Bud and his dad's fight that happens right after the sales pitch and how shows how much Bud has changed from how he was raised

[–] eddieinportland 13 years ago

I always thought Gordon was trying to embarrass Bud in front of his father after he asked his lawyer to leave. And to remind Darien of her place and where she was before Gordon found her.

That's what I always thought. I guess it your point of view.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] simonjwhitaker 13 years ago

This is not a mistake, it's an obvious gag about the "modern art" table which has holes in it.

[–] scarface02 13 years ago

I definitely think that Gekko was intimidated by Carl. After all, Gekko needed the unions (workers) on his side so that he could restructure, hence making it possible for him to liquidate.

If the workers didn't buy into his deal, Gekko would have been stuck with a useless investment.

[–] tribhuz 13 years ago

I personally thought he dropped the plate on purpose. But the design of the table - form over function - being the culprit makes sense. Nevertheless, Gekko doesn't come across as a guy who would make a 'clumsy' mistake like that!!

More discussion on this:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/board/flat/166572395

[–] cleverfox 12 years ago

Another here - looked like he did it on purpose. Watching it now and he bends over with the lawyer's plate, looks up at everyone then just drops it on the carpet with no flinch or other body language suggesting surprise that it missed the table.

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] hogwouth 12 years ago

I also always thought that he did it on purpose to create a direct contrast with Carl Fox instead of it being an accident on account of Darien's quirky furniture.

To me it was quite apparent that Gordon Gekko took one bite from the dish and disliked the food, so he faked an accident so he wouldn't have to eat the food. This is to signify his dishonesty and trickery. It's the oldest trick in the book to spill or drop something to not eat it.

Carl Fox on the other hand is an honest man. It is clear that Bud's father also dislikes the food. He makes this obvious by picking up his still untouched plate of food and putting it right up to his nose and smelling it. However, he makes no attempt at any underhanded tricks to not eat it.

It was obviously not a goof in the movie because the camera shot follows the plate of food meaning that there was going to be something worth showing.

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[–] sixpackrt 12 years ago

I came here to post and see what people thought of this rather strange moment and found this post. I don't see it as a joke on the table because, to me at least, it is just such a tense moment. Gordon has the most blank expression on his face after dropping the plate, so blank as to lead me to believe he was trying to make some sort of a point or something. It's such a dramatic pause. If not why not just do the whole "Oh I'm so sorry thing" which would certainly go along with the whole nice guy act he was putting on for the Blue Star people. I have now read the other theories and now believe it is what you make of it. I actually never thought much of it before but today at work that moment popped in my head and I couldn't shake it! It's so strange!

"I've seen things in this city that make Dante's Inferno read like Winnie The Pooh."

[–] Milkdoesabodygood 11 years ago

I never saw that angle thank U for pointing that out, I can C gecko pulling that stunt to not eat the food although it could have been an accident.
IMDB as of late, sold out and became like City Data and about.com, worthless bureaucrats.

[–] forthesafetyofpuppies 10 years ago

I laughed out loud. Good gag. It may not have made absolute sense in the scene/character, whatever. But it was funny.

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[–] DjokerFan 9 years ago

No the biggest goof was that the movie was set in 1985 yet Marv mentions something about the Challenger exploding.