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This is Not a Hallmark Christmas – Christmas in Philadelphia
Ms. Phred and I have a number of holiday movies we revisit each year. I submit for your approval: Trading Places. I admit there is a certain amount of nostalgia due to its locale. I grew up in the Delaware Valley. Philadelphia was the major city nearby, which I visited and attended college in. Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro playing underneath the fantastic opening montage hits me in all of my nostalgic pleasure centers for that formally great city and my fondness for it.
When looking back to the early 80s how we experienced movies was just beginning to fragment. Home video and premium cable were becoming part of the movie viewing ecosystem. I’m pretty sure my first viewing—and for sure, subsequent re-viewings—of the film was on our local premium cable channel, PRISM.
This 1980s retelling of the Prince and the Pauper was directed by a then still bankable John Landis. His only misstep at that point was Twilight Zone: The Movie. I contend the George Miller Nightmare at 20,000 Feet is the only worthy segment in the film. (You can fight me on that.) While Trading Places is a bit long for a comedy – almost two hours – it’s an entertaining time well spent. Upon this year’s viewing I noticed it takes 20 minutes to set up the characters and premise. I suppose we were more patient back then, but even a comedy can benefit from character development and storytelling. Show, don’t tell. Let the performances and character motivations sell the comedy. The holiday season appears throughout the film not just as set dressing. It’s in the script, plot events turn around Christmas and New Year’s. So dammit, by Die Hard rules Trading Places is a Christmas film.
It was released in 1983 and stars Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. It’s interesting to reflect on where they were in their careers at that time. Murphy was riding high on his success on SNL and 48 Hrs. Eddie’s celebrity persona does not yet eclipse what you see on the screen. Dan Aykroyd, while working steadily, was coming off an uneven run of films such as 1941, Neighbors, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Doctor Detroit and the commercially successful, although uneven, The Blues Brothers. No Ghostbusters yet. And Jamie Lee Curtis left the “Scream Queen” roles that defined her early career behind and moved into drama and comedy.
Eddie Murphy turns in a smart, funny and sympathetic performance as Billy Ray Valentine. Billy Ray,“Capricorn!”is pulled from the streets by the Main Line Duke brothers as part of a nature vs. nurture experiment/wager. Dan Aykroyd’s snobby performance as Louis Winthorpe III is all Ivy League, Main Line perfection and his descent into ruin as the other party in the “experiment” is hilarious. And yes, Jamie Lee Curtis turns in a charming performance as the “hooker with the heart of gold.” Is her character that believable? Maybe not, but she takes the opportunity to develop her comedic chops for later films (A Fish Called Wanda and True Lies).
Further down in the credits, there’s the genius casting of Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche as the scheming Duke brothers. Denholm Elliot provides a dignified performance as, Coleman, the butler who is stuck in the middle of everything and just tries to do his best to support our protagonists the best he can. Perennial 80s baddie Paul Gleason plays the evil fixer, Clarence Beeks. Frank Oz, Jim Belushi, Bo Diddley, Giancarlo Esposito (Billy Ray jailhouse scene), and Steven Stucker from Airplane! make cameo appearances. Al Franken and Tom Davis make an appearance as baggage handlers, proving once again that while they were a team, there was no comedy to be found therein.
The movie certainly has an edge that won’t play well for “modern audiences.” It’s adult. The language is adult. It’s equal parts mature and immature. It has random nudity. The themes are timeless. It’s funny. It’s still funny after 40 years.
Anyway, beef jerky time…
Published in General
“Dan Aykroyd, while working steadily, was coming off an uneven run of films such as 1941…”
1941 is an awesome film, including Aykroyd.
I enjoyed Yer review and completely agree on Trading Places.
Great movie.
I grew up on the Main Line. I started in Bala Cynwyd (not really Main Line) till age 7, then lived in Wynnewood, Bryn Mawr (born in Bryn Mawr Hospital) and Ardmore. Went to school in Rosemont, a private Catholic School. Went to Radnor Junior High, also Lower Merion High (where Kobe Bryant went – long after me). Had a girlfriend (my first love) who went to Harriton High. Lived at the notorious Devon-Strafford Apartments and took trains to school and walked and hitchhiked up and down Lancaster Avenue. Lived in Paoli and snuck into Villanova football games. Saw Stevie Wonder at Villanova Field House. My father had been a sportswriter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. And now I live in NJ for the last 30 years.
Haven’t seen you around before, good to meet another Philadelphian! Let’s go to the Eagles- Giants game together and throw snowballs at Santa!
Great write-up of this movie. It really is a classic!
Fantastic review of a great comedy. It’s also an “inadvertent documentary” as @jameslileks calls it. Great shots of things that have gone by the wayside.
One of these is the open outcry trading pit where the unwinding of the scheme takes place. Such a wild scene. Hard to think that today’s kids can understand what that was like. Going to have to rewatch it and see if the writers try to explain what Louis and Billy Ray were doing.
Great post, Phred!
I second what Military War Dog says–a great review!
I never thought of it as a Christmas movie before, but of course it is.
I showed an excerpt of the commodities trading scene to a high school class one time. It really is an excellent synopsis of how markets work. The kids liked it so much they wanted to watch the movie. It was a Friday, you know, let everyone just have some fun. It was great until Billy Ray’s friends came over for a party (Who’s been ashing their butts on my carpet? It’s Persian!). Then the topless dancing began. I couldn’t get to the stop button on the VCR fast enough. Thankfully none of the kids narc-ed on me.
One of Trading Places’ producers was Aaron Russo who in 1998 ran a serious Republican/small “l” libertarian bid for Nevada Governor. He was a staunch advocate for limited government and liberty and came real close to getting the nomination.
Great pick, Cosmick! (I love it when stuff rhymes.)
Christmas Eve Tradition here
Seeing the twin towers staggers one a bit, doesn’t it?
I really enjoy TV and film as “inadvertent documentaries” more and more. There were no iPhones. The only photographic documentation of regular public life was from newspapers and photographer “hobbyists.”
Thanks!
Due to corporate transfers, my family moved from CA across the country and ended up in the Wilmington, Delaware area in 1970. We lived in a new development populated by other “nomads” as Dad called them. It was tight knit neighborhood. My wife calls it my Father Knows Best period. I went through elementary school there. I saw Phillies games when the Vet was brand new.
At some point Dad got tired of working for Crown Zellerbach and we landed in Churchville, Northampton Township, Bucks County. I went through intermediate and high school at Council Rock and did some time at Bucks County Community College before moving onto Temple University. I had a great time commuting into the city for classes on the R2 from Warminster and killing time in the city between classes and getting back to the ‘burbs to work my job at Hechinger.
I had the opportunity to return to CA after graduation and I took it. There’s plenty I miss back there, the history, Tastykakes, Lee’s Hoagies, the beauty of all those different trees, but not the summers.
Since only child son married a young lady from Yeadon and moved to the Philadelphia area I now recognize all those places.
My wife and I lived in Devon in the mid-1970s; I commuted to work in Center City via the Main Line to Suburban Station. We really enjoyed life there. It was fun to take visitors to the Independence Hall area for a great walking tour. Weekends we would visit museums and regional historic sites. Never ran out of stuff to do.
it is very sad to see what it has become.
I fondly remember the random nudity. Movies don’t do nudity like they did the the 80. Maybe I remember it that way because I grew up in that era and that was pretty much the only time I got to see boobies. Phoebe Cates in Fast Times? Yum. (I’ll be in my bunk)
And a rare use of the N word in a movie.
The main message of the movie is incorrect. I highly suggest researching twin studies to better understand nature vs. nurture. I still like the movie though.
re Hallmark Christmas movies, see this by @netcapgirl at X:
someone: you can’t spend the holidays pretending you’re in a hallmark christmas movie, you’re delusional
me: i hear you, but rn all i can think about is how conflicted i am about coming back home & running into my old bf while my current bf is busy closing a big deal in the city
I love The Blues Brothers, it’s a classic. You have to admit some scenes go a little long. It could’ve been tighter and less excessive in parts.
Such a great movie. Interesting that it has a very prominent “Blackface” scene, that nobody ever mentions – why hasn’t Dan ackroyd been demolished? Who knows? Mostly because none of that bs makes any sense.
And it has probably the best 4th wall-break in movies, Eddie’s look into the camera during the frozen orange juice scene.
All in all, one of the best comedies from the era of the best comedies.
Yes, a great 4th wall break. Not many laughs are conveyed with such economy than that.
There’s also this one from when he’s arrested:
Did Landis ask for these as alternate takes during filming or did they come from Eddie? In any event, the genius comes from knowing the takes exist when in the editing room and seeing if they “play.”
I recently listened to ZAZ’s book Surely You Can’t Be Serious and it was interesting to see how much discipline they had during the Airplane! test screening/editing process. Of course you want to snip out jokes that don’t land or are redundant. They pruned those. ZAZ also had to remove jokes because the audience was still laughing at the previous ones and control the pacing. It’s a good problem to have, but it’s a lost art when you think of comedies of the last couple of decades – Austin Powers, Will Farrell movies (Elf excepted).
Nah, much of the point of the movie was to put as many places in Chi town and the burbs into the film as possible.
Another point was to wreck as many cop cars as possible.
Besides, as the brothers were on a mission from God, a lack of tightness could be overlooked.