❗Help close the gap: We still need to raise $40,000 by the end of March. Donate now

And the nominees for Best Money-Themed Picture are…

Marketplace Staff Feb 26, 2011
HTML EMBED:
COPY

And the nominees for Best Money-Themed Picture are…

Marketplace Staff Feb 26, 2011
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

Tess Vigeland: When we’re not busy offering advice on what to do with your money, we have been known to enjoy a movie or two. So in honor of Sunday’s Oscars, we asked a few of the nation’s top critics for their nominations for Best Money-Themed Picture.


Ignatiy Vishnevetsky: My name Ignatiy Vishnevetsky. I’m a film critic for Movies.com. I also co-host “Ebert Presents at the Movies.” Most movies are kind of about money, but if I had to name my favorite, it would have to be “If I had a million” from 1932. A billionaire tycoon thinks he’s about to die and his whole family is there and all they want is their inheritance. And he thinks they’re a bunch of greedy vultures, so he says, “Oh, I’m better off just giving my fortune away to random people from the phone book,” which is what he does.

John Glidden: Would you mind telling me now that you have that money, what you’re going to do with it? Oh, not that you have to… It’s yours, my sweet! You must use it to gratify your every whim!

Leonard Maltin: Hi, I’m Leonard Maltin from ReelsChannel.com, Maltin on Movies and Maltin.com. I think my favorite about money is the classic story that’s been filmed many times, Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Being a traditionalist, I go with what people consider the definitive “Christmas Carol” from 1951, the British movie starring Alastair Sim. Scrooge, of course, is a man who is completely miserly, yet derives no pleasure from his money. He cannot begin to comprehend how Bob Cratchit, this lowly, underpaid employee does have a happy family life.

Bob Cratchit: It’s a family more than me, so they put their hearts into Christmas, is it where is it?

Scrooge: Yes, and put their hands in the very pocket as it were, sir. I suppose you better the whole day. Be back earlier the next morning.

Cratchit: I will indeed sir. Thank you sir. It’s more than generous of you sir.

Scrooge: Yes, I know it is. You don’t have to tell me.

Betsy Sharkey: Hi, this is Betsy Sharkey. I’m a film critic for the Los Angeles Times. And my favorite about money has to be “Chinatown.” It’s all about conspiracy and about people and love and power, but ultimately, it is about money.

Jake Gittes: That’s what you were gonna do in the valley.

Noah Cross: That’s what I am doing. If the bond issue passes Tuesday, there’ll be eight million dollars to build an aqueduct and reservoir. I’m doing it.

Gittes: Gonna be a lot of irate citizens when they find out that they’re paying for water that they’re not gonna get.

Cross: Oh, that’s all taken care of.

Omar Moore: Hello, my name is Omar Moore and I’m the founder and editor of the Popcorn Reel movie review website. My favorite movie is “Glengarry Glen Ross.” The film is a story about four salesmen in Brooklyn, N.Y. who try to stay afloat by selling real estate. And the most enticing scene of all from this one is Alec Baldwin’s tour de force sequence. His speech defines the whole film and the era.

Blake: A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing. You close, or you hit the bricks.

Vigeland: Well we hit the bricks. No, actually, we hit Facebook and Twitter to get your picks. Among them: “Other People’s Money,” “A Simple Plan,” “Trading Places,” “Brewster’s Millions,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Wall Street” (the original one), “The Smartest Guys in the Room,” and from my friends at “Only A Game,” “The Brink’s Job.” Have to add that one to my Netflix list.

Go to our Facebook page to give us your picks.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.