Christmas favorites

Trading Places (1983)

Here's yet another movie that launched its star to new heights.

Fans of the TV show Saturday Night Live already knew and loved Eddie Murphy, a comedian and actor who electrified every skit he was a part of. Murphy was still basking in the rave reviews for his debut film 48 Hours (with Nick Nolte) when Trading Places hit movie screens.

In this one, he and fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd play two guys who are unwittingly caught up in a "nature versus nurture" experiment perpetrated by a pair of wealthy, immoral commodity brokers, played by veteran actors Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy.

The two codgers make a $1 bet with each other to see if they can take a scammer off the street and turn him into a successful broker, while at the same time turn one of their star employees into a bum. Their plan succeeds until the younger men figure out the game, at which time they turn the tables on the old men. It's madcap zaniness, with fine performances throughout.