User reviews

It has been some time since I saw the movie, trying to find it somewhere... it gives a very good idea of how dirty a game can be played to the costs of many... It is a very interesting story, and brought to the public almost as if it were a documentary, how people were seduced to buy stocks, how the acquisition took place, and how the "big shots" decided to drop the market so the can benefit from it as much as the want: because of this "black day" on Wall Street the world was in a financial disaster that has influenced many around the world, and destroyed the small investor.

Anyway Richard Crenna in a part that suits him well. Especially that very mean: "he he" when he talks with so much disrespect about the "fools that bought stock" I do remember very well.... after more then 20 years!

One of the best films about how people made out with the events of the stock market crash of 1929. David Ogden Steirs and Richard Crenna give excellent portrayals of Durant and Livermore. The havoc which wrecked many people at the time is depicted very well.

I am a Professor of Finance and money manager and tell my students this is one of the top five movies to watch on the how the financial world works. Unfortunately I have never been able to find it on DVD and it is rarely on TV.

This is a must see by anyone with an interest in the depression and anyone who thinks they can get rich quick in the investments markets.

Any one know where I can get this on DVD?

A previous review thoroughly describes the main characters so there's no need to go over the same ground. The stock market crash was exacerbated.by speculators buying shares they couldn't afford on credit. Some investment funds were too highly geared, and downright criminality such as at the Union Industrial Bank played a part. However I contend that buying the likes of General Motors with your own money in 1929 was not obviously foolish, just rotten timing. It is a conceit of our times that we imagine ourselves wiser than previous generations. Maybe it was ever thus. Many 21st century folks apparently see nothing stupid about investing in Bitcoin, which pays no dividend, has no physical use like gold, and has no intrinsic value.

I have a copy of the book on which the film is based, along with J K Galbraith's pithier The Great Crash 1929. TDTBB will appeal to those interested in people while The Great Crash is a more dry, witty analysis of the 1920s stock market. My advice is see the film but read Galbraith.

While the movie is well done and well researched, it is too lily-White and wasp. It seems that those were the only person concerned by the crash; while for people of color and White ethnics, it meant, more often then not hunger, homelessness and life disruption