Michael Douglas: Never an Academy Award?

One of the most versatile and talented actors of the last 25 years, Michael Douglas, has never won an Academy Award. Hopefully this post will serve as a notice, maybe even a petition, to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to let them know how Michael Douglas, through an brief study of his pivotal roles, deserved to win the Oscar for Best Actor, or at least Best Supporting Actor.

Wall Street (1987): Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gekko, a man whose search for the American Dream takes him on a wacky set of adventures all around New York and Long Island (See Jay Gatsby?). At the end we find it isn't himself he was trying to save, but it was America. In a passionate speech given to a group of stockholders, Gekko reminds them, essentially, that America is built upon hard work and learning from our mistakes. This movie, which comes through in the form of a parable of a man searching for something more to life, also stars Douglas' father, Kirk Douglas as Carl Fox- the snivelling and whiny Union Representative who, indirectly, tries taking Gekko down.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992): Michael Douglas re-assumes his heroic Gekko role once again in this movie. At the beginning of this film, they explain how Gekko had to change his name and move out of New York because of the crackdown of the fictional bureaucratic agency, the SEC. He becomes known as Blake, the resilient real estate agent. After leaving New York, Gekko had nothing, but he built a real estate empire from scratch. He volunteers to give a motivational speech to a group of struggling real estate agents where he reminds them of their ABC's (always be closing) and promises them steak knives and Cadillacs for a job well done. He also informs them of the health risks of coffee and the dangers of driving around in, at the time, unproven Korean automobiles. He essentially promises them that if they can prove themselves to him, he will do everything he can to help, including giving them the hot Glengarry leads. He leaves on good terms and the real estate agents turn their unprofitable ways around, helping new families and the poverty stricken find affordable housing. Once again, Gekko (or should we call him Blake) saves America.

Boiler Room (2000): In the final installment of the trilogy, Michael Douglas, although looking quite aged, resumes his role as Gekko. After some greedy real estate agents went to far to get the Glengarry leads in the previous movie, Gekko is once again on the run. He has changed his name again to Jim Young, a managing broker at a low-key, suburban investment house. Through a savvy investment strategy, he has once again made himself a millionaire. He drives a new Ferrari and has a "ridiculous house in the South Fork". In his famous lecture to a young group of recruits, he tells them how happy he has become (complete with an "ear-to-ear" smile), reminds them that money is not the root of evil, and teaches the important life lesson to "act as if". He also guarantees everyone of them that through hard work and sticking with himself, they could all be millionaires within three years. This should serve as a reminder to the viewer of the value of hard work.

The boxed set of this trilogy was first on my Christmas list this year and I did not get it. However, maybe the Academy or the AFI will honor Gekko and Douglas in the upcoming years for these movies, which have not only changed the face of motion pictures, but changed America.