MovieChat Forums > The Firm (2009) Discussion > value of money in the early 1980s. no sp...

value of money in the early 1980s. no spoilers

posted 15 years ago by ib011f9545i
9 replies | jump to latest

This film was good but not great.
The original tv film was better but this version was better than I feared it might be.

One issue I had was with the subject of money.
I don't think the filmakers understand how things were in the early 1980s.

People lend each other £20 and buy tracksuits for £80.
I was 20 in 1980.
I reckon lots of people were paid £100 a week(before deductions) in many jobs in the early 1980s,so you could have a good night out for £20 never mind £50.

[–] jonnyc_uk 15 years ago

Yeah I agree. But I was under the impression that when ellesse and sergio first released their brands they were ridiculous prices? I was only a nipper in the 80s but in the early 90s one of the first times I went shopping alone I remember one of my mates paying 70 quid for a sergio top and thinking it was a total rip off.

If you look at this

http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2002/rp02-044.pdf

you can see the price index of a pound in the 80s was about 350, and now its about 700.

So a pound was worth about what 2 pounds is now.

80 quid for a tracksuit top? = 160 quid in todays cash, seems a bit wrong.

[–] RR123 15 years ago

In about 1991 I bought a pair of Reebok Pumps for a ridiculous £75 - I must have been mad.

Mind you I was still living at home and when the old man asked me how much they were I lied (as if I told the truth my board would have gone up) and told him they were £40 - he was still horrified - but not so much as to put my board up thank god.

[–] skipton345 14 years ago

He got it bang on. I paid £45 for a Sergio Tacchini tracksuit top in 1984 and the bottoms were another £40. A plain Pringle was £20, diamond cut £30 and trainers were in the region of £25-35. The price of tennis shirts seemed to go up every week once the casual thing was out of the bag and I remember Olympus Sports (remember them?) selling Fila tennis shirts for £45. Bear in mind that stealing from shops and "taxing" from other people was also rife back then. Sportswear went "out" shortly after the period this film was set.

[–] btownsend8366 14 years ago

What fashion replaced the "sportswear" look once it went out of style? about what year also?

[–] JackieVega 14 years ago

OP has it spot on. When Dom says to his Dad 'I need £20 ! What can a £5 buy me', I thought it would get you a decent night in 1984. As an 18 year old you could definitely get drunk on a fiver 25 years ago.

[–] puschit-1 10 years ago

That's what I thought, too. We don't know how much he had to pay for entry, though. But 20 pounds was a helluva lot to spend in 1984 ...

[–] mark-warrington-1 14 years ago

The sportswear look was well on it's way out by 1985, digging in my memory here but I think the look that followed was paisley pattern shirts, slicked back hair, Cecil Gee (G2), Aquascutum, Next has just come on the scene as had Reiss and Giorgio Armani started to make an appearance. Woodhouse in Oxford St was very popular at the time

[–] minkster 14 years ago

I thought the movie had all sorts of problems with the timeline, personally. Both from a monetary value and a musical value (set in 84, but a lot of the soundtrack seemed to be from around 81). I also think it would be nice to see some genuine period haircuts in one of these 80s 'nostalgia' films, regardless of how daft they may look - rather than re-writing history so just about everyone looks like a variation of Danny Dyer.

Love would be well advised to take a leaf out of Shane Meadows book when it comes to authentic 80s period pieces....

[–] 14 years ago

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