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Taking Stock of Bonds

By Aleksandrs Rozens, IDD Magazine

June 29, 2009

Hollywood's Bad Guys

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, a thriller based on a terrific novel by John Godey, has made it to the big screen. Interestingly, Hollywood's scribblers have taken a very good working plot line and looked to update it.

The bad guys -- led by John Travolta -- take over a subway train and demand ransom. The good guys -- led by a dispatcher played by Denzel Washington -- try to hold off a massacre underground. In the original story line -- that is, the novel -- the bad guy who runs the subterranean plot is a former mercenary with plenty of time stirring up trouble in African countries.

The latest iteration of the Pelham 1 2 3 story has the baddy as a former private equity manager who duped state pension funds and is now out for revenge against the city because he served time in jail. In addition to getting his ransom money he also bets on gold trades -- safe haven trading we learn in the film sends gold futures up -- and we even get a glimpse of CNBC's Maria Bartiromo talking about a spike in gold prices.

It's not the first time Hollywood has taken aim at Wall Street or business. In fact it's old trick. In the 1970s a conglomerate financed the overthrow of an African nation in a Richard Burton, Roger Moore and Richard Harris vehicle called Wild Geese. The corporate lifestyle was sneered at in the late 1960s in The Graduate and big business was praised as well as villified in the recent comic book hero movie Iron Man.

But these days you cannot help but wonder if villains in Hollywood will increasingly come from Wall Street or the financial services industry. You can bet your buttered popcorn and the $11 ticket that'll be the case, since terrorists are so 2002 in Hollywood back lots.

The question now is whether a generation of young minds won't be poisoned against considering a job on Wall Street or in financial services.

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Aleksandrs Rozens

Aleksandrs Rozens has 17 years of experience as a financial journalist. He started his career at Dow Jones, and he has worked at Knight Ridder's business news wire where he wrote about mortgage bonds and real estate as well as interest rate swaps. He also edited Private Equity Week and IPO Reporter, and was a reporter for National Mortgage News and helped start the mortgage backed and asset backed coverage at Reuters news agency. Rozens also worked briefly at the AP where he covered real estate, mergers and corporate bankruptcies. Prior to joining IDD he was editor of Bankruptcy Insider. Rozens graduated from Fordham University where he studied English Literature and Russian Studies.

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