Money Shots: Leigh Paatsch cashes in on the best films about making money

AS Leonardo DiCaprio proves in The Wolf of Wall Street, there is no place like the movies to find and lose a fortune.

Leonardo DiCaprio in a scene from film The Wolf of Wall Street.

As Leonardo DiCaprio so controversially proves in this week's stunning new stock market black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street, there is no place like the movies to find and lose a fortune.

So open up your wallets, close down your better judgment, and learn all there is know about the almighty dollar on the big screen.

To cash in, or to crash and burn? The choice is all yours. Or is it ... ?

Wall Street (1987)

Actor Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in scene from film "Wall Street". Picture: Supplied

Think of every high-flying entrepreneur there has ever been, and roll them all into one. Give him the trophy wife, the spoiled kids, the mansion, the pool, the limo, the priceless art objects, the slicked-back hair, the striped shirt with the white collar. Voila! Now your have your very own Gordon Gekko (played to unprincipled perfection by Michael Douglas). Feed the crafty critter a seven-figure deal on a daily basis, and he will do his baddest to prove that "greed is good."

INVESTOR ADVICE : BUY! BUY! BUY!

Arbitrage (2012)

Arbitrage with Richard Gere as a billionaire CEO of a hedge fund who has two kinds of fraud, financial and personal, going at once. Susan Sarandon is his wife. Supplied by Madman

Self-styled cash-magnet Robert Miller (Richard Gere) has accidentally put a half-billion-buck hole in his company accounts that currently only he can see. However, it's just a matter of time before the Feds will get wise and haul him through the courts. So it probably isn't the best time for the very famous (and very married) Miller to also accidentally kill his mistress. A tycoon so cunning and devious he makes Donald Trump look like Donald Duck.

INVESTOR ADVICE : SELL! SELL! SELL!

Enron : The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room was released March 2006.

Few public companies have been caught with both their pants down and hands in the till like the defunct US energy trader Enron. This incendiary doco reveals how they went from being the world's sixth-biggest corporation to totally bankrupt inside a year. Bound to happen when your dodgy dealings include selling futures options in kooky commodities such as weather, and switching off power to the whole of California to drive up electricity prices.

INVESTOR ADVICE : LIE! LIE! LIE!

Trading Places (1983)

Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd in scene from the film 'Trading Places'. Picture: Supplied

Where does the ability to climb Mt. Money come from? Can you learn it? Or are you simply born with it? Two wily old coots conduct an experiment to come up with their own answers. Homeless black dude Eddie Murphy is handed his very own keys to the stock market, while rich white fuddy-duddy Dan Aykroyd gets a one-way ticket to the ghetto.

INVESTOR ADVICE : SWAP! SWAP! SWAP!

The Bank Job (2008)

Jason Statham in the film The Bank Job.

How does that old saying go? Sometimes to make money, you're just gonna have to take money. Maybe not. But it sounds about right to Jason Statham and his merry band of roughneck Robin Hoods, who tunnel their way into London's prestigious Lloyds Bank in the early 1970s. Based on the faint whiff of a true story, which deliciously implicated a member of the Royal Family (the late Princess Margaret, no less!) in the shonky smash-and-grab shenanigans.

INVESTOR ADVICE : STEAL! STEAL! STEAL!

The Counterfeiters (2006)

The Counterfeiters (2006).

As opposed to The Bank Job, sometimes to make money, you're just gonna have to print your own. This is another true story, but this time with a fascinating twist. The master currency forgers are all Jews imprisoned by the Nazis during WW2. At the height of their operations, these men produced more British pounds than were in circulation in the UK itself.

INVESTOR ADVICE : COPY! COPY! COPY!

Let It Ride (1989)

Let It Ride starring Richard Dreyfuss (1989).

The dream of every gambler is to get on a roll where you seemingly just can't lose. In this cult classic from the late 1980s, Richard Dreyfuss plays a struggling cab driver who parlays one tip on a horse into a one-day wagering spree that could set him up for life. It all comes down to the last race on the card, just as it should. Will our hero somehow beat the odds, or forever beat himself up over what might have been? Don't tear up your tickets, punters - this one goes right down to the wire.

INVESTOR ADVICE : BET! BET! BET!

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Actor Ed Harris in 1992 film "Glengarry Glen Ross".

"You see this watch? This watch cost more than your car?" So begins the greatest monologue on matters financial ever committed to celluloid, delivered by a malevolently mercenary sales guru played by Alec Baldwin. Over to you, Al : "You think a customer comes in to get out of the rain? A guy don't walk on the lot lest he wants to buy. They're sitting out there waiting to give you their money. Are you gonna take it? Are you man enough to take it?"

INVESTOR ADVICE : LISTEN! LISTEN! LISTEN!

Margin Call (2011)

Demi Moore and Simon Baker in a scene from film Margin Call.

Just in case you missed the final results of the last Global Financial Crisis, here is a quick recap. They won. You lost. This superb drama, set on a single fateful evening before the big meltdown of 2008, communicates all too powerfully how it all happened. In the darkened offices of a Wall Street investment firm, one cold, hard decision must - and will - be made by the coldest, hardest CEO you will ever meet (Jeremy Irons).

INVESTOR ADVICE : BUY! BUY? BYE.