MovieChat Forums > Trading Places (1983) Discussion > Could ANYONE HERE live like this (Wint...

Could ANYONE HERE live like this (Winthorpe--pre frame)


There is NO WAY I could ever live like Winthorpe did (before he got screwed over).

I could NOT allow myself to live in a house like that. It absolutely SCREAMS "ostentation"!! It looks more like a museum--than a house. And having your butler do EVERYTHING for you? To me--it is de-humanizing to act that way. Sure, clean , cook and such---but FEED you and SHAVE you and DRIVE you everywhere? Maybe i just like driving too much...

A nice 2 story house, with some land and a nice big work garage would be FINE for me. Perhaps a maid...but NO butler or chauffeur..


And that damn club....I would NEVER be part of ANY club like that !! Not even sure what it was for. IT looked more like some sort of "board meeting" than a club to me...SO useless. I am part of an antique radio club, and some of the guys there are rich... (and often make fun of ME for wanting "cheap stuff"), but NO ONE acts REMOTELY like that !!

The same with the club his "friends" were at. Also phony, useless. NONE of them appeared to EVER having wanted for anything. Such total bastard snobs!! And they all (the guys anyway) acted retarded, with that dumb song of theirs. I would NEVER want to associate with people like that !!

I guess it is from always having to "scrape, rig and save" most of my life, that makes me feel this way. Sure--I would have some nice things...but some sort of mansion-style house, when other deserving people can't afford ANY house? not me. The same for the car. I would NOT want a car costing (by today's standards) probably 300-K+-when someone I know might not have even $300 DOLLARS to buy a car...

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[deleted]

I sort of agree with you.

Anyone who won't even take care of their own personal hygiene has to be either extremely lazy or extremely self-entitled. I'm pretty sure that in this day and age their are STILL people who have servants in their house whom they treat as if they are invisible.
Watching the early scenes with Coleman reminded me of how people treated SLAVES in days gone by and it's quite disturbing to think that people can envisage themselves superior to other human beings like that... and still do.

The club simply reminded me of that Groucho Marx quote about not wanting to be a member of any club who would want him in it. I mean, if you were invited into a club like that it would be a bloody insult! ha ha

As for wanting to have the most ostentatious possessions, I'm one hundred per cent with you on that. People are perfectly entitled to buy what they like with their hard earned cash, but sometimes it just reeks of having things for the sake of having them and impressing others.

I'd be happy to have enough money that I didn't have to think about money ever again.

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It's just a job. They aren't slaved. Do you never sit down and have a meal at a restaurant or a diner? Those people who work there are servers, no different than servants. Just because someone is serving you, doesn't mean you have to treat them badly.

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that was the whole point of it, to show what a very spoiled life winthorp had.

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I could deal with someone who did the stuff like dusting and mopping ... I'm just not sure I want them rearranging stuff on my dresser top; and having someone to cook a few nights a week would be heaven. I wouldn't mind a driver, just because I don't enjoy it.

What I would want, whether I had a driver or not is a late 60s/early 70s Super Beetle restored so that I wouldn't have to worry about rust or breaking down. And a really old Silver Ghost (Rolls) like in the classic movies. Not to be ostentatious, but because I think they are beautiful cars.

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Winthorpe didn't live where the Dukes did, that was a huge estate. Winthorpe lived in a condo with nice furniture. I don't remember it being that ostentation. Maybe you felt that because he had a butler.

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This.

I don't see how the OP could think Winthorpe lived in a mansion, when he obviously did not.

I think having a butler shave me would be a bit much.

As far as other things, I don't know what I would have and would not have. It would be nice to have the freedom to have anything, but I don't know just how far I would go. I live a pretty frugal life, I could spend a whole lot more than I do, but I guess I'm just not as interested in material things as some others are. I don't criticize people for having nice things though. People like Winthorpe work incredibly hard, despite the way the movie makes it look. Commodities analysts work the way stock analysts do, very hard. Exeter and Harvard are very difficult schools, so Winthorpe would have worked extremely hard in high school and college. He might have inherited money, and he did have the advantage of having the best in terms of educational opportunities, but if people are trying to portray him as lazy they are completely incorrect. Lazy people do not succeed at Exeter, and they do not succeed as analysts. Winthorpe was most certainly not a guy who sat around and had anything he wanted. I don't blame him for wanting someone to cook and clean given how hard he worked. Like I said before, however, the shaving part was a bit much.

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People like Winthorpe work incredibly hard, despite the way the movie makes it look.


Well that's a good point and I think the movie does try to show that. We need to care about this character so they make him just a bit naive and sheltered, rather than outright cruel or lazy. And we have to believe he's very good at his job because that's what ends up coming back to haunt the Dukes at the end.

"If it seems too complicated, make it easy on yourself: just send money."

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I always wondered about him having an inheritance. The house he lived in was (I thought) the Dukes'. It just seemed really weird to me that they, somehow, were able to cut him off from everything.

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Good point. I had forgotten that the Dukes owned the house. Possibly Winthorpe was living there rent free and just padding his wealth? With what he was doing he certainly could have afforded a nice house, but maybe he was waiting until he found something he liked? It said he went to Exeter and Harvard and the Dukes imply that he had all the advantages, so it is hard to see how they could completely cut him off. The Dukes do say that Winthorpe's parents are dead, so I can't believe he would not have some sort of inheritance. It is very rare for someone to go to Exeter and Harvard and not have money. It is possible, but unlikely. I think you are right though, I can't see how they could completely ruin him financially.

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[deleted]

They would not have been able to freeze the assets for very long. The IRS would have examined his tax records and his income and quickly come to the conclusion that everything was in line. Winthorpe could explain all of his money, if he had cash he could not explain he would have been in trouble, but his money would have been in line meaning it would have been hard for them to freeze his assets for very long. They would need to prove those assets came from drug dealing and they would not have been able to do that.

Also, they caught him with a tiny amount of drugs. It would be hard to make the case that he was a dealer based on that. When people are caught with kilos they can't claim it was personal, but the cops would not realistically be able to say he was a dealer.

I probably should not think to deeply about this. It is a movie, it does not need to be realistic.

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[deleted]

Excellent point about the Dukes and the paper trail. I had not considered that. They could have made it look like his salary was lower than it actually was, giving him an unexplained standard of living.

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"They would need to prove those assets came from drug dealing"

Sorry, but no. That is not how things work. If you are suspected of having dirty money the government will seize it until YOU PROVE that the money is legitimate. That requires a lawyer. A lawyer requires money, and Winthorpe had none.
He was proper phvked.

https://youtu.be/3O6Ui7TPYRI?t=31

Guilty until proven innocent. Deprived of property without due process. SMO in the land of the fee and the home of the slave.

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I agree. Not to mention the costs of keeping such a house clean. If I were that rich I wouldn't want to pay a butler to do what I can do for myself at no cost; I'm much too used to relying on myself for that. I'd go for a one-story house. As for the other expensive stuff, I'd rather have money than possessions.

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I don't have a butler, but I do have a maid every few weeks. I work extremely hard, and with a vigorous exercise routine I don't have the energy to do much more than basic cleaning. I still put money away, and I would not have maid service if it were anything close to a financial inconvenience, but I don't see anything wrong with maid service for someone that can afford it.

As for the house, it was not huge. He had a townhome, nothing more. It might have been expensive if it was in a prestigious part of the city, it certainly would be pricey in Manhattan, although he was in Philadelphia, but it was not huge.

The Dukes were different. They lived in an estate.

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{{"And that damn club....I would NEVER be part of ANY club like that"}}

"I would never be part of any club that would have me as a member".

I agree with Groucho Marx on that one.



I guess it's like looking at clouds. You see one thing and I see another. Peace.

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[deleted]

I think what summed up the whole "vulgar display of wealth" vibe to me was Wenthorpe standing by the car waiting for the butler to open the door for him like it was beneath him to open his own door. I thought he was a complete douche for that.

I don't love her.. She kicked me in the face!!

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What sums it up for me is Coleman bringing in breakfast and the newspaper while Louis is literally and figuratively asleep to the service Coleman is providing him. Notice later when Ophelia brings him the paper he's awake and appreciative. Of course it helps that Ophelia's really hot, lol, but it's also that Ophelia doesn't let him wallow in himself and his problems for very long. Good callback, and it's not spoon fed to the audience, it's just there and it works.

"Time is what keeps everything from happening at once."

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The movie's devices don't need to match up to our reality. They just need to make sense for the movie.

The personal manservant is exceedingly rare in our era. It was common among the elites a hundred years ago. The extent to which Coleman pampers Winthorpe might be a little exaggerated, but not much.

I figured Winthorpe was in his mid-twenties and hadn't had his MBA more than a couple of years. He was living in the Dukes' townhouse and getting his career ducks in a row. Everybody assumed as soon as the Dukes got their big payday, Winthorpe would get his big bonus, get married, buy a swanky place in the 'burbs, and start a family. Witherspoon, we are going to have a great life!

I always got the impression the Dukes knew Winthorpe's parents. After their death, they took Winthorpe under their wing. He was like family. Of course, the Dukes were compulsively sadistic, so they couldn't help screwing Winthorpe over for fun when the notion struck them.

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