Great to see another new film from Scott. Despite its many twists and turns, Scott still made a superb film.
The film is based on a real event. The narrative is that in 1973, Paul, the grandson of Getty, the world's richest man at the time, was kidnapped and the kidnappers demanded a ransom of $17 million. Paul's mother turned to Getty for help, hoping he could pay for her grandson. And Getty's answer was: No! This attitude led to a series of waves that followed.
According to the usual view, this should be a cop movie or a crime movie. The director Scott took a slant on the sword. Like the title of "The World of Money", he interpreted this incident as a conflict between family affection and money, allowing people to observe the contest between the two in modern society.
Money is a good thing, it can bring convenience to our life and make us rich. In today's society, from the two horses to the working class, most people love money. I remember an economist once said: the most important quality a businessman or entrepreneur should have is: a love of money. A good word for "cool" is not general love, not special love, but "cool" love. What is "cool"? It is to regard making money as the sole purpose of life, and regard money as the god in your heart, which can replace all the feelings that people are born with. The old Getty is such an extreme money worshipper. It doesn't make money to change its own life, as he puts it, to "make more." He also loves his family, especially his little grandson, but in front of money, these affections are overshadowed. The gift he gave to his grandson was a little idol. He knew it was only a souvenir worth $11, but it claimed to be worth $1.2 million to show how much he loved his grandson.
In order to save money, he washed his own clothes, so that the presidential suite he lived in was full of drying racks. There is only one coin-operated phone in his living room for guests to use, and the phone is actually locked to prevent servants from stealing it. Fortunately, he prepared a bag of change for the guests to show his generosity. I noticed that the Getty family crest and name were also printed on the money bag. These ridiculous behaviors remind me of Balzac's Grandet. This is not something that can be described simply by being stingy and stingy, but it just shows his "love" for money.
In Getty's mind, everything in the world is just business. He also believed that the kidnapping of his grandson was just a business. The sellers are the kidnappers. They occupied the precious resource of Sun Tzu and charged sky-high prices. As a buyer, if he wants to buy back this resource, he needs various business skills to bargain. In this respect, Getty is no different from the kidnappers, at least in the same way of thinking about the kidnapping case. In Getty's eyes, Paul's mother, Gail, is one of the distributors, but she doesn't know where she stands. As for the life and death of the grandson, the pain and worries of the daughter-in-law have nothing to do with the business, and are naturally not in Getty's consideration. It is incredible to ordinary people that, in the face of the lives of relatives, Getty is still pondering the issue of commercial tax avoidance, because this is business. In fact, Gale spent the most energy not dealing with the kidnappers, but dealing with her former father-in-law, Getty. Until Paul's ear was cut off by the kidnappers, which meant the seller's overweight. Gail was so angry that he bought a thousand copies of the newspaper that published the news and sent it to Getty, which made the old man submit. In my opinion, Getty's final motivation for paying the money was not entirely to save his grandson, but more to maintain his business image in the eyes of the public. In contrast, the behavior of one of the kidnappers, Jin Guangda, was much more noble than Getty.
I believe that Getty must have been no different from ordinary people when he was young, with normal feelings, thoughts and behaviors. However, once he enters the market, if he wants to succeed, make money and get ahead, he must abide by the rules of the market, he must learn to intrigue, and he must be insatiable. Decades of complicated life have made him work hard, rushing from left to right, and amassing endless wealth in the eyes of people's envy and jealousy. It also forced him to wear heavy shackles and heavy armor, and cultivated a heart of stone. The price he paid for this was to change his character, to abandon his former kinship, and to have no joy at all. From a normal person to a standard businessman. He said: "Being a rich man is easy, but how to be a rich man is difficult." How frustrating is this! In the end, he guarded his wealth, touched the priceless collection, and passed away sadly.
When Gail was packing up the belongings left by the old man, he saw a black statue of Getty. Even after his death, Getty is still showing his legacy. Gail looked at the ruthless face, his lips were shaking, his whole body was shaking. In addition to awe and fear, she may be thinking: what kind of life will she choose in the future?
Scott, who was 81 years old when he made the film, faced one of the biggest challenges of his career. Originally, the movie had been completed, but there was a scandal of sexual assault by the starring Spacey. In desperation, Scott decided to remake the Getty part. Invite the veteran actor Christopher Plummer to play the role, working 16 hours a day for nine days. Finally it's all done and it's flawless. Kudos to the old man!
Christopher Plummer was chosen as Getty and Michelle Williams as Gale. Same perfect.
My rating: 8.0.
Attachment: The real history of the Getty family
The Gettys, once known for their oil wealth and eccentric feelings, now enter the public eye every decade, often because of some tragic event. Founder Paul Getty’s fortune as the world’s richest man is a two-fold history: on the one hand, laissez-faire capitalism has spawned a multi-billion-dollar international oil empire; on the other, decades of indifference to kinship , completely destroyed the lives of several family members whose wealth ranks among the best in the world.
From the beginning of Paul's fortune, it is not difficult to see his delicate relationship with his father George Paul. Paul, who wanted to start an oil business with only $500 in initial capital, asked his father for funds, and his father only agreed to pay $100 in advance every month. Aid, also asked to enjoy Paul's 70% profit commission. However, Paul's luck or vision has always been good. His first oil property leased to transfer only 2 weeks to obtain a profit of 12,000 US dollars. Of course, the reason for the quick transfer is indeed because of his stingy father. He can't get enough Funding maintained. With his first pot of gold, Paul found himself with a fortune of $1 million in just five months.
By the 1830s, Paul's father died, leaving him with no inheritance, setting the stage for the crisis he faced in dealing with the Great Depression. During the Great Depression, the stock price of the oil company he controlled plummeted, exhausting all his savings and it was difficult to maintain, and finally was rescued with the support of his mother.
By the 1950s, the oil picture began to shift to the Middle East. The weak Paul was unable to compete with the seven major oil empires that had already formed. He had to bet on a cheap wasteland in the neutral zone of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that no one was optimistic about, and did not produce a drop in four years of mining. High-quality oil, the company is in crisis again, and Getty is getting restless, after all, he is no longer young. However, in the fifth year, the time finally came, and oil-bearing sands were discovered on this under-appreciated land, and then oil began to spray outwards. The discovery completely reversed Getty's fortunes, and in just one month, Getty's stock doubled. The discovery of this 13 trillion barrel super oil field made Paul Getty the world's richest man three years later with a fortune of $3 billion.
However, it can be said that if the Getty family's fortune is tortuous and difficult, then his family's emotional history can be said to be disastrous, and people are more willing to dig and talk about it.
Paul Getty was notoriously rich and notoriously stingy, and his personal life was often characterized by a miserly frugality. In an apartment building in London, in order to save on telephone bills, he removed all outside calls in the building and installed a coin-operated phone in the lobby on the first floor. Locked, too, because he repeatedly complained about the workers at home stealing phone calls. Many of his friends found out after eating at his home that they had to put coins in order to borrow his home phone. No matter what the occasion, he only pays his own portion every time he goes to eat. He was reluctant to pay even for a meal with his lover. He claimed to leave an inheritance to 100 of his lovers, but after his death, his blooming lovers vehemently accused the media of the insulting dismissal. This is not unusual. Even the priest who prayed at his funeral complained that the wages were not cashed. This ceremony was considered free.
Perhaps because of the repression of this character, his children are rarely happy. His eldest son, George Paul, was initially favored by him, but because of disguised inspiration, he eventually committed suicide by taking poison at a young age.
The burden of succession fell to the second son, Getty II, who was perhaps coddled by the effects of his eldest son's suicide.
However, bigger things are yet to come. The second wife's child, Getty III, has become so dissolute that no one can control him. He wandered into the Italian underground and was eventually kidnapped by bandits in Calabria. The kidnappers and his mother The $17 million ransom was demanded by police and the media at first as a prank by the rich three generations to defraud pocket money. After being confirmed, the aging Paul Getty stuck to his usual stingy claims and refused to pay the ransom. During protracted negotiations, poor Getty III had his ear cut off and sent to his grandfather. Getty eventually gave in and bargained for $3.2 million in exchange for his scrap grandson, of which only $2.2 million was paid voluntarily, and the other $1 million needed to be repaid by his son afterwards with interest. And the redeemed grandson spent the rest of his life on drugs in a wheelchair. It is said that after being redeemed, his mother asked him to call his grandfather to report safety, but the old Getty refused to answer.
After the incident, Getty II hated this money-oriented family relationship, and he moved to the UK, no longer involved in the family business.
After Getty died, he had to inherit his career to his third son Gordon Getty. Gordon had no interest in the oil business at all. He was keen on literature and movies. Ten years after the death of Getty Sr., the literary son not only sold the Getty Oil Company, but also pryed open the $4 billion family trust he inherited at the expense of $1 billion in taxes. The family's children, who were already conflicted over inheritance issues, broke out in a long and fierce legal battle.
The Getty family was last seen in 2015 when Gordon's eldest son, Andrew Getty, died mysteriously at home, likely due to a long-running violent dispute with his girlfriend.
Born in turn-of-the-century America, Getty traversed the business world throughout his life, becoming a recognized symbol of authoritarian wealth. However, he and his family unfortunately fell prey to the lure of unfathomable wealth, step by step toward material and spiritual depravity and destruction.
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