1983 Trading Places

80's movie studios were fighting over themselves to poach the services of comedians from Saturday Night Live. Through SNL we had Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, John Belushi and Lilly Tomlin. If you could find a project that brought those talents together, then surely that was a guaranteed hit.

Trading Places is part of that. A movie that combines the comedic talents of Aykroyd and Murphy to create a slice of magic.

The movie begins with two aging millionaires waging a bet with each other, for fun. Played wonderfully by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche, they clearly have fun as the villains of the piece. The wager is simple, can they turn a homeless bum into a rich playboy and a rich playboy into a homeless bum. Step forward Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy, in roles that get reversed.

Also starring Jamie Lee Curtis, this is an excellent movie about money, greed, and society. The humour comes thick and fast with its farcical set up and then beautifully timed delivery. The whole cast appear to be loving the story they are telling.

Directed by John Landis, who made his name shooting Animal House and The Blues Brothers, he would go onto direct Beverly Hills Cop 3 with Murphy. It proved a big hit both at the box office, generating $90m; and at home, where it found a new audience on the new VHS rental market.

The comedy duo of Aykroyd and Murphy is one that could have been as good, if not better, than that of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. They bounce off each other so well, and more projects should have been dreamt up. However, this is it. Enjoy it in all its delicious anarchy.