Brokers, Bankers, and Boiler Rooms

Financial markets have been a very fertile ground for film plots of intrigue and suspense. The trading floor, filled with swarms of brokers frantically buying and selling stocks, is very cinematic. Cinema has often portrayed the stock market as a giant casino where winning and losing millions is just a matter of luck, and traders risk it all by doubling down on their investments. A casino populated by men of dubious morality willing to do anything to make a profit; scammers, tricksters, snake oil salesmen always ready to take advantage of the greedy or the unwary. Individual bankers, in contrast, have received a better treatment in film as key providers of credit to businesses and families.