Trading Places

Dir: John Landis

1983

*****

Trading Places is fast becoming a favourite alternative Christmas film among fans but first and foremost, it's a classic American comedy of the highest order. Based on Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, and incorporating ideas from The Million Pound Bank Note and The Marriage of Figaro (indeed, music from Mozart's opera can be heard throughout the film), Trading Places is a 1980s New York update of the classic tale. Randolph and Mortimer (played by the brilliant and sorely missed Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) are a couple of wealthy brothers and owners of a successful commodities brokerage. They are both as dastardly as they are rich and decide to place a wager with each other in a social experiment. They swap the lives of one of their most loyal directors (Dan Aykroyd) and a homeless beggar they encounter on the streets (Eddie Murphy). Aykroyd's Louis Winthorpe III is sheltered by local prostitute Jamie Lee Curtis and Murphy's Billy ray Valintine is helped by Winthorpe's ex-butler Denholm Elliott and rags to riches (and riches to rags) hijinks soon follow. It's full of great comedy performances and some brilliant one liners. The conclusion is as funny as it is rewarding. Its 80s American comedy at its best and probably my favourite film by everyone involved. Timeless is an overused word but I think it's a suitable one to describe this great film.