Trading Places

Louis Winthorpe III was a really respected senior employee of Duke& Duke, which was owned by the two broker brothers, Randolph and Mortimer Duke. Winthorpe managed their investment bank. He had a huge mansion, a butler, and on top of that he was engaged to marry the Dukes’ grand-niece, Penelope.Then, there was Billie Ray Valentine, a black beggar/con artist from the ghetto, who got arrested after the police busted his act as a Vietnam War cripple. Randolph remarked that Valentine turned to a life of crime because of the environment he was raised in. Mortimer argued by saying he would have turned out the same in whatever environment he grew up in because he was a ‘negro’. So, Randolph made a bet that even their respected employee Winthorpe, if his money, job, possessions, and fiancé were all taken away from him, would also turn to crime. And that if Valentine were put in his place, he would turn out to be an honest and responsible citizen. Mortimer accepted this bet.And so they bailed Valentine out of prison, took him to Winthorpe’s fancy house, and told him it was all his. Valentine wasn’t quite able to believe his luck. Meanwhile, Winthorpe was humiliated after being falsely accused of theft and drug-dealing (a ploy of the Dukes). He was fired from his job, stripped of his money, and barred from his own home. So, he became a destitute. But he was taken in by a good-hearted prostitute named Orphelia.During this time, Valentine was fitting in nicely to the upper class. Like Randolph predicted, he was behaving like a responsible and honest citizen. He even proved to be a genius at their business. People were now eager for whatever advice he had to give them. Mortimer was not at all pleased with the outcome.Winthorpe was not at all fitting in nicely like Valentine. Again, like Randolph predicted, he resorted to crime, showing up at the Dukes’ Christmas party with a loaded gun. Now, it was clear that Randolph had won his bet.Valentine happened to overhear a private conversation between the Duke Brothers. Now that Randolph had won the wager, which was (gasp) one dollar, they were wondering what move they should take next. Mortimer wasn’t sure if he wanted Winthorpe back, but both of them were sure they didn’t want a ‘nigger’ running their family business.After hearing the brothers’ intentions of throwing him back to the streets, Valentine seek out Winthorpe and informed him about the Dukes’ “scientific experiment”. Winthorpe was so incensed that he started loading his rifles to murder them. But Valentine had a better idea: to make rich people miserable was to make them poor. So the two of them teamed up to get their revenge on the Dukes. They found out that the Dukes had been hiring a man called Clarence Beeks in order to corner the entire frozen orange juice market. Valentine, under the pretense as Beeks, gave them false information on the crop report. This made the Dukes misplay the market and bankrupt themselves, while Valentine and Winthorpe used the correct information and got rich.