Trading Places

Question: Why are Dan and Eddie in wool sweaters on a tropical beach when the women are in bikinis at the end of the movie?

Answer: Character choice. I've seen people doing exactly that if they are not happy with their body image.

Ssiscool

Question: How much did Louis and Valentine make after they scored at the commodity exchange?

Answer: Without knowing precisely how many stocks Winthorp and Valentine sold at the beginning, there is no way to get an exact figure. But we can make some educated guesses. Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice is sold in contracts, with each contract containing 15,000 pounds. By the end of the day, Winthorp and Valentine were making at least an 84 cent profit on each pound, and $12,600 on each contract. If they sold 20,000 contracts, their profit would be $252 million. Considering the Duke's lost $394 million, that estimate seems to fit (and is likely even a little low).

Question: I don't understand when Louie's finance was waiting at the police station for him to get released, a man sits down and asks about her purse - what was that all about?

Answer: It's about nothing. The man is not exactly normal, and he begins a nonsense conversation with a very prim, uptight woman who looks like she should be anywhere but there.

raywest

Question: In the New Year's Eve train scene right before getting caught, Winthorp says "So Mr. Beaks, will you be getting off the train in Philadelphia" Why would he call him by name if he is supposed to be a Jamaican man named Lionel Joseph?

kindjordan

Chosen answer: There's a cut scene and some time passes. He could have asked the man's name during that time.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: In the living room scene right after Aykroyd strangles Murphy, there is a shot of the TV right before it cuts to the news and mentions Beeks. The TV looks like it is showing the wedding scene from Coming to America. Is this accurate? Wasn't Coming to America made after Trading Places?

Answer: It is a scene near the end of the movie "To Catch a Thief." They are in the French Riviera attending the Sanford gala costume ball. It was made in 1955 and starred Cary Grant and Grace Kelly.

Answer: What Jamie Lee Curtis is watching is an old movie - it appears to be a colorized film from the 1930s, with the characters being at a ball during the French Revolution. Screenshot: http://s17.postimg.org/rfk5d76cf/trading.jpg I cannot, however, find any images online to confirm where it came from, but it seems that Marie Antoinette (1938) may be the movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030418/.

David R Turner

Question: Does the watch Winthorpe wants to sell really exist or is it a made up brand? There seems to be no information about it on the net.

Answer: It's a made-up brand, named after La Rochefoucauld, a 15th century French writer. An April fool's article exists online claiming the watch has been redesigned for the 21st century.

Question: Can someone please explain to me how Randolph and Mortimer get screwed at the end? I'm not good with the stock market...

Ral0618

Chosen answer: Mortimer and Randolph pay Beeks to bring to them the crop report (oranges) before it goes public. Akroyd, Murphy, Curtis and the butler scheme to get the crop report, before the brothers see it. Now that the 3 partners have the true results of the upcoming crops, before it becomes public, they buy as many shares as they can, which starts to create a frenzy, only to start selling off all their shares at a market high price. Mortimer and Randolph tell their 'floor guy' to "buy, buy, buy", (remember they have a fake crop report). Once the brothers buy many shares at the high price, assuming that they're cornering the market, an announcement is made public on the news about the real crop results for the coming harvest, then they realize too late, that their shares are quickly dropping in price and they yell for their 'floor guy' to "sell, sell, sell". By that time already the bell rings and the machines are turned off, and the brothers start yelling, "Turn those machines back on...." Just to add slightly, the fake crop report that the Dukes have suggest that the orange crop will be poor. That means that the contracts that their floor guy is buying will only go higher once that bad report comes out. However, when the report indicates that the orange crop will be plentiful, the demand for FCOJ futures decreases, causing the price the drop. So the Dukes 'bought high' and 'sold low', which is the absolutely worst thing you can do. Akroyd/Murphy/Curtis 'sold high' and then 'bought low', which netted them a significant profit on the transaction.

Super Grover

Question: Don't you have to have a license to be a stockbroker? And how did Billy Ray get a name tag made already with "Val" on it - wouldn't he had to submit or show his license to get said tag?

ckbyers

Answer: The Duke brothers would have arranged all that as part of their "experiment." Since they had no idea of the plan to con them, Billy Ray's credentials would still be valid.

Question: Why did Winthrope try another exchange of suitcase (on the train, with Bleeks) and got caught, when Valentine already made such an attempt before and was successful in it?

manubhatt3@gmail.com

Chosen answer: They had to make sure what the crop report said before they could put a fake report in so they can fool the Dukes. Basically Valentine got the case and gave it to Winthorpe. Whinthorpe removed the crop report and replaced it with a fake one. Then he had to get the fake to Bleeks.

Question: What exactly is the dessert that Coleman tosses in the garbage after Louis tells him that he can have it?

Answer: It was Crêpes Suzette.

raywest

Question: Louis is arrested for theft, and ultimately also booked for PCP possession. Penelope pays his bail and gets him out so the plot can carry on, but the theft and drug charges never come up again. Why is all of that dropped? Do the Dukes just drop the charges?

Answer: It's likely that the Dukes dropped the charges. They initially were planning on bringing Winthorpe back into the company after conducting their little experiment, and only changed their minds after Winthorpe threatened them at the Christmas party.

Answer: Petty theft and first time drug possession wouldn't be impossible to have the charges reduced or dismissed. If found guilty it would most likely be a heavy fine and probation. Also, after the scandal with the Duke brothers and Bryon Beaks, the plot against Louis would have been uncovered.

Answer: Louis became a millionaire again, and likely just hired a good attorney to get the charges dismissed.

Brian Katcher

Trading Places mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Louie is released from jail his hair is sticking up all wild, then it's flat, then it's all wild again. (00:47:25)

More mistakes in Trading Places

Louis Winthorpe III: He was wearing my Harvard tie. Can you believe it? My Harvard tie. Like oh, sure he went to Harvard.

More quotes from Trading Places

Trivia: The owner of the pawn shop, who offers Louis $50 for his $6000 watch, is blues legend Bo Diddley.

More trivia for Trading Places

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