History Trivia / TradingPlaces

** [[spoiler: The plan at the end]] would only work in the days before computer trading.

** Several well-off characters using pay phones instead of cell phones.

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: In Latin America, the film was known as ''De Mendigo A Millonario'' (From Beggar To Millionaire).

* ContractualPurity: As noted below, Jamie Lee Curtis was typecast as the wholesome FinalGirl in horror movies. So playing a prostitute who bares her breasts broke her out of that.

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* Ophelia's "Swedish" disguise came about because Creator/JamieLeeCurtis couldn't do the correct Austrian accent.

* CastTheExpert: With the exceptions of Creator/DanAykroyd, Creator/EddieMurphy, and Richard Hunt, all the traders seen towards the end are real traders, who taught them how to trade convincingly.

** Ophelia's "Swedish" disguise came about because Creator/JamieLeeCurtis couldn't do the correct Austrian accent.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The shots of the World Trade Center (including a ground-perspective shot of how tall the towers were) cast a bit of a shadow on an otherwise fresh, entertaining comedy.

* BeamMeUpScotty: Randolph Duke doesn't actually say "Sell, Mortimer, sell!" towards the end of the movie. The Dukes had their own trading broker, Wilson, working at the floor of the commodities market, so Randolph actually says "We've gotta get Wilson, tell him to sell!" and Mortimer says "Wilson, for Christ's sake, sell!".

* BeamMeUpScotty: Randolph Duke doesn't actually say "Sell, Mortimer, sell!" towards the end of the movie. He says "We've gotta get Wilson, tell him to sell!", and Mortimer Duke says "Wilson, for Christ's sake, sell!".

** A lot of what goes down at the stock market in this movie is also not possible now thanks to computers, and the loopholes exploited have been closed up. One of them is even called "The Eddie Murphy Rule" thanks to this film.

* ActorAllusion: When Louis is arrested, one of the cops individually inspects each of his possessions, states what it is aloud, and then places it in a cardboard box. The cop is played by Creator/FrankOz, who did the exact opposite (taking items out of the box and returning them to the protagonist) in ''Film/TheBluesBrothers''.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Don Ameche, who played Mortimer Duke, apologized to Eddie Murphy for his character's use of [[spoiler:racial slurs]].

** A lot of what goes down at the stock market in this movie is also not possible now thanks to computers, and the loopholes exploited have been closed up. One of them is even called "The Eddie Murphy Rule".

* RealLife/MeanCharacterNiceActor: Mortimer Duke is an elitist, arrogant, racist villain. Creator/DonAmeche meanwhile hated swearing so much he only agreed to one take of his famous PrecisionFStrike at the end. He was also uncomfortable saying the racial slurs his character required, with Creator/EddieMurphy having to re-assure him "It's okay it's just a movie."

* RealLifeRelative: Creator/JamieLeeCurtis' sister Kelly has a small part in this movie. She plays the debutante "Muffy", serenaded with several other girls by the rich boys in the scene where Winthorpe is begging for his friend's re-acceptance.

* VindicatedByCable: The movie was a box office hit, but might have faded into obscurity, if not for constant replaying on cable around Christmas-time, even though the movie is not inherently a "Christmas movie."

* ContractualPurity: As noted below, Jamie Lee Curtis was typecast as the wholesome FinalGirl in horror movies. So playing a prostitute who bears her breasts broke her out of that.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The brokers running out of the bathroom stalls when the bell goes off is very reminiscent of racehorses.

** The baggage handlers were supposed to be the [[Series/{{SCTV}} the [=McKenzie=] Brothers]], but that fell through.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Mortimer Duke is an elitist, arrogant, racist villain. Creator/DonAmeche meanwhile hated swearing so much he only agreed to one take of his famous PrecisionFStrike at the end. He was also uncomfortable saying the racial slurs his character required, with Creator/EddieMurphy having to re-assure him "It's okay it's just a movie."

* DeletedScene: A scene in the movie not included in the final cut but seen frequently when the movie is shown on television (presumably to fill a longer time slot with commercials) occurs after Clarence Beeks talks to the Dukes via telephone and Billy Ray eavesdrops on their scheme. In the original cut, Beeks goes from the phone booth to the Amtrak train platform, holding the briefcase with the crop report. In the added scene, we see Beeks procure the reports from a secured vault where he pays off a security guard and opens a safe-deposit box.

* ThrowItIn: When Randolph tosses Mortimer's money clip back, Creator/DonAmeche bounces it back and forth a couple of times before catching it.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The movie was originally written as a Creator/RichardPryor[=/=]Creator/GeneWilder vehicle, but when Pryor dropped out and Creator/EddieMurphy signed on, he asked that Wilder be replaced, because he didn't want people thinking he was trying to be [[PoorMansSubstitute another Pryor]].