Greed is defined as an excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions, according to Dictionary.com. As Americans, we all have had our fair share of greed, whether through personal experience or through watching others. This is the land of plenty after all; the land where “what you have is decent but what I have has to be 100 times better.”
Along with greed, people are also very familiar with movies. Greed and movies – it’s the perfect American package. Sprinkle in a little pretentiousness and overpriced sports cars, and it’s the ultimate American package! Okay, I’m being a bit facetious; America truly is a great country, but sometimes our greed gets the best of us, and the following top 5 great films about greed are prime examples:
15. The Founder (2016)
A burger joint might seem like an odd place to start a film about greed. Then Ray Kroc walks in. Played by Michael Keaton, the struggling salesman sees huge promise in the fast food system built by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. He wants to take their business across the country.
At first, you can see why they’d let him try. Keaton makes Kroc eager and hard to turn down. Watching that charm turn into a means of pushing the brothers aside is the film’s most painful trick. They made the thing he wants, and being part of it soon isn’t enough.
14. Margin Call (2011)
It’s a long night at an investment firm. A young analyst finds that the risks on its books could bring the whole place down, and each new boss called into the office has worse news to digest.
Jeremy Irons plays the man at the top, whose main concern is getting out before everyone else catches on. That means selling bad assets to people who still trust the firm. Most of Margin Call takes place in rooms full of people talking, yet those calm chats about who gets stuck with the losses are enough to make your skin crawl.
13. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) could sell you a terrible idea and have you thank him for it. Martin Scorsese’s film follows the stockbroker as he builds a fortune through fraud, with an office full of eager recruits learning how to squeeze cash out of clients.
Then comes the spending. Huge parties, a yacht, and enough drugs to make a quiet night seem out of the question.
DiCaprio is so funny in the role that it’s easy to get caught up in the mess. The sales pitch works on the viewer, too, which is a fairly nasty joke once you think about where all that money came from.
12. Uncut Gems (2019)
Adam Sandler spends much of Uncut Gems making you wish he’d stop placing bets. He plays Howard Ratner, a New York jeweler whose debts don’t dent his faith in the next big win. People want their money back. Howard has another scheme.
The Safdie brothers let the noise pile up until even a chat in his shop feels tense, with Sandler somehow making you root for this maddening man.
11. A Simple Plan (1998)
Three men find a crashed plane in the snow with a dead pilot and more than four million dollars inside. They decide to keep the cash. The title is already starting to sound optimistic.
Bill Paxton plays Hank, the man who thinks he can keep the situation under control. His brother Jacob, played by Billy Bob Thornton, is much less equipped for what follows. Sam Raimi gives their lies time to grow, and each attempt to protect the money makes it harder to trust anyone. The brothers’ bond is what hurts most as the plan falls apart.
10. The Big Short (2015)
You don’t need to know how mortgage bonds work to share Steve Carell’s disgust in The Big Short. His character, Mark Baum, is among the investors who discover just how rotten the housing market has become before the 2008 crash. They bet against it, which puts them in the strange position of being right and hoping for disaster.
Director Adam McKay finds plenty to laugh at in the sales talk and smug bankers. The mood gets harder to stomach as the scale of the damage sinks in. Even the people who spot the scam stand to make a lot of money from other people’s misery.
9. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Alec Baldwin drops into a real estate office to tell the salesmen that most of them are about to lose their jobs. So much for a pep talk. The men fight over leads and look for ways to cheat their way ahead.
Jack Lemmon is especially hard to watch as Shelley Levene, an older salesman desperate for a break. David Mamet’s script lets you hear the panic beneath the boasts, even when the men are busy tearing each other apart.
8. Nightcrawler (2014)
Lou Bloom finds a market for footage of people having the worst night of their lives. With a camera and a police scanner, he sets out to cash in. Jake Gyllenhaal plays him with a fixed smile that gets less friendly the longer you look at it.
As Lou sells his work to a local news station, he learns which kinds of suffering fetch the best price. Rene Russo plays the news director, happy to keep buying. Their haggling over grisly footage gives the film its bite, especially as Lou grows more willing to interfere with what he’s filming.
7. There Will Be Blood (2007)
Daniel Plainview works hard for his wealth. That’s part of what makes him so disturbing. Paul Thomas Anderson’s film follows the oilman’s rise, with Daniel Day-Lewis showing how a drive to succeed can sour into hatred for anyone who might get ahead of him.
Plainview takes his young son along when he seeks new drilling rights, selling himself as a family man. His clashes with preacher Eli Sunday, played by Paul Dano, expose a much uglier need to win. Money keeps coming in, but it does very little to ease his spite. By then, the people closest to him are paying for it.
6. Fargo (1996)
Jerry Lundegaard has a plan to get money from his rich father-in-law: hire two men to kidnap his wife and keep part of the ransom. William H. Macy plays the car salesman as a nervous wreck who still believes he can talk his way out of the trouble he’s caused. He really can’t.
The Coen brothers get grim laughs from his efforts, while Frances McDormand’s police chief, Marge Gunderson, patiently follows the trail. Marge has a home life she enjoys and a job she does well. Spending time with her makes Jerry’s choices feel even more senseless, long before anyone gets near that wood chipper.
5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Based on Dr. Seuss’ book), the 1966 cartoon movie version, follows a grumpy old hermit who tries to steal Christmas from the Whos of Whoville. Not many Americans are unfamiliar with the tale, as it’s a classic example of greed.
A remake of the movie was made in 2000, which starred Jim Carrey and Taylor Momsen. In the end, the ‘Grinch’ learns that he can be a good person. Oh, happy endings are the best.
4. Wall Street (1987)
This 1987 movie involves the main character named ‘Bud Fox’, played by Charlie Sheen, and a bad guy named ‘Gordon Gekko’, played by Michael Douglas. Douglas won an Oscar for Best Actor as the slimy, selfish Gekko who proclaimed that “greed, for lack of a better word, is good.”
The Reagan administration is the basis for the film, and it follows a corrupt stockbroker who discovers that the magnetism of money is irresistible.
3. Boiler Room (2000)
Back when Vin Diesel was taken somewhat seriously, and Ben Affleck took small, supporting roles, Boiler Room swept them up in 2000. A college dropout, played by Giovanni Ribisi, gets a job as a broker at an investment firm that eventually proves to be crooked.
In one scene, the young, power-hungry characters even recite some lines from Wall Street as if the words are from the Holy Bible itself.
2. American Psycho (2000)
This 2000 film focuses on a young investment banker, played by Christian Bale, who is obsessed with the concept of money and all aspects involved, especially fashion and material objects.
He dresses impeccably and even goes to great lengths to ensure that no blood spills anywhere in his apartment while murdering a business rival with a chainsaw. The name certainly fits the bill.
1. Jerry Maguire (1996)
Tom Cruise. The end. No, but seriously, this 1996 film features a sports agent named Jerry Maguire (played by Tom Cruise) who voiced the infamous line that ultimately led to his decline:
“Less clients, more personal relationships.”
This translated to his bosses as:
“I want to do less work and make less, but regain my sense of self again.”
The problem is that sports agents don’t necessarily want to feel good about themselves unless they’re making a decent amount of money as well.
They slaughter Maquire’s entire business, which leaves him with an exaggerated, under-the-radar star, a fresh and uncompromising assistant, and a kid who could tell you how much the human head weighs (8 pounds).
