Here is a list of my all all time favorite entrepreneurial movies:
1.Pirates of Silicon Valley
This 1999 movie, starring Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall, arrays the accomplishments of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.
“Good artists copy, great artists steal.” – Steve Jobs (Noah Wyle)
“Success is a menace. It fools smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” – Bill Gates (Anthony Michael Hall)
Watch the Trailer of the movie here.
2.Big Short
The Big Short will affirm your deepest cynicism about Wall Street while simultaneously restoring your faith in Hollywood. – NYTimes
The Big Short revolves around bubbling of home loans. A Wall Street guru Michael Burry (Christian Bale) bets against the housing market by throwing more than $1 billion of his investors’ money into credit default swaps. A banker Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling), hedge-fund specialist Mark Baum (Steve Carell) and other greedy opportunists get attracted by Mark. Together, these men make a fortune by taking full advantage of the impending economic collapse in America.
“I have a feeling in a few years people are going to be doing what they always do when the economy tanks. They will be blaming immigrants and poor people.” – Mark Baum (Steve Carell)
Watch the movie trailer here.
3. Founder
A story behind your favorite McDonald’s. Founder, is a 7.2/10 IMDB rated, 2016 movie starring Michael Keaton, Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch. It is the success story of how Ray Kroc (Keaton) saw the potential of the McDonald brothers.
This powerful speech by Kroc on Persistence is the highlight of the movie.
“Now, I know what you’re thinkin’. How the hell does a 52 year old, over-the-hill milkshake machine salesman… build a fast food empire with 16,000 restaurants, in 50 states, in 5 foreign countries… with an annual revenue of in the neighborhood of $700,000,000.00… One word… PERSISTENCE. Nothing in this world can take the place of good old persistence. Talent won’t. Nothing’s more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius won’t. Unrecognized genius is practically a clich. Education won’t. Why the world is full of educated fools. Persistence and determination alone are all powerful.”
Watch the trailer here.
4. Jerry MaGuire
This 1996 movie, starring Tom Cruise, is a movie revolving around the business decisions of Jerry MaGuire. He quits his job and establishes his own agency only to understand the difficulties of entrepreneurship.
We live in a cynical world. A cynical world. And we work in a business of tough competitors. – Jerry MaGuire (Tom Cruise)
Watch the trailer here.
5. Tucker: The Man and his dream
A story of the Tucker Torpedo – this movie is about Tucker, a car lover, who frenzies futuristic car of masses. Despite the failure, he pushes hard to achieve his dream.
When I was a boy, I used to, uh… I used to read all about Edison, and the Wright brothers… Mr. Ford, they were, they were my heroes… ‘rags to riches’ that’s not just the name of a book; that’s, what this country was all about!… We invented the free enterprise system, where anybody, no matter who he was, where he came from, what class he belonged to… If he came up with a better idea, about ANYTHING, there’s no limit to how far he could go… I grew up a generation too late I guess because now the way the system works… The loner; the dreamer; the CRACKPOT, who, comes up with some CRAZY IDEA that everybody LAUGHS at, that LATER, turns out to REVOLUTIONIZE THE WORLD… HE’S SQUASHED, FROM ABOVE, BEFORE HE EVEN GETS HIS HEAD OUT OF THE WATER, BECAUSE THE BUREAUCRATS, THEY’D RATHER KILL A NEW IDEA THAN LET IT ROCK THE BOAT!… IF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WERE ALIVE TODAY, HE’D BE THROWN IN JAIL FOR SAILING A KITE WITHOUT A LICENSE! – Preston Tucker (Jeff Bridges)
Watch the trailer here.
6. Thank you for smoking
Nick Naylor, a lobbyist for the cigarette business, struggles to explain the nature of his work to his 12-year-old son while trying to be a role model to him. Aaron Eckhart, popularly known for his role in the Batman series as Two-face, displays a unique side of his acting in this movie.
That’s the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you’re never wrong. – Nick Naylor
Watch the trailer here.
7. Devil Wears Prada
A young woman (Anne Hathaway) who’s graduated in journalism comes to New York and becomes an assistant to one of the city’s biggest magazine editors, the ruthless and cynical, Miranda Priestly.
Do you know why I hired you? I always hire the same girl- stylish, slender, of course… worships the magazine. But so often, they turn out to be- I don’t know- disappointing and, um… stupid. So you, with that impressive résumé and the big speech about your so-called work ethic- I, um- I thought you would be different. I said to myself, go ahead. Take a chance. Hire the smart, fat girl. I had hope. My God. I live on it. Anyway, you ended up disappointing me more than, um- more than any of the other silly girls. – Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep)
Watch the trailer here.
8. Merchant of Venice
Adapted from the play written by shakespeare, this movie is about Bassanio who struggles to get money to marry Portia.
When I told you my state was nothing, I should then have told you that I was worse than nothing; for, indeed, I have engag’d myself to a dear friend, engag’d my friend to his mere enemy, to feed my means. – Bassanio
Watch the trailer here.
9. Something Ventured
A 2011 movie about a venture capitalists played a crucial role in the founding and growth of such companies as Intel, Apple and Atari.
Watch the trailer here.
10. Forrest Gump
A classic movie starring Tom Hank as Forrest Gump, a person with low I.Q who joins the army and after deporting, he starts a successful shrimp business, crossing all the hurdles.
I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floatin’ around accidental-like on a breeze. But I, I think maybe it’s both. – Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks)
Watch the trailer here.
11. Pursuit of Happiness
A 2006 biographical drama on the life of an entrepreneur, Chris Gardner, tells an epic tale of how to cope with failure to reach success. A Will Smith starrer movie that every entrepreneurial heart must watch.
“The future was uncertain, absolutely, and there were many hurdles, twists, and turns to come, but as long as I kept moving forward, one foot in front of the other, the voices of fear and shame, the messages from those who wanted me to believe that I wasn’t good enough, would be stilled.” – Chris Gardner (Will Smith)
12. Glengarry Glen Ross
A sales oriented movie of 1992 tells a tale of selling your lies. This mystery genre film revolves around the lives of co-workers constantly struggling to get leads to survive the recession.
When you die, you’re gonna regret the things that you don’t do. – Ricky Roma ( Al Pacino)
13. Office Space
Peter Gibson, no longer happy with his job plots to implant a virus in his Company’s system. This 1999 movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Ron Livingston is a must watch for a 9-5 job-ers.
It’s not just about me and my dream of doing nothing. It’s about all of us. I don’t know what happened to me at that hypnotherapist and, I don’t know, maybe it was just shock and it’s wearing off now, but when I saw that fat man keel over and die – Michael, we don’t have a lot of time on this earth! We weren’t meant to spend it this way. Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements. – Peter Gibson (Ron Livingston)
Watch the trailer here.
14. Love & Other Drugs
A dilemma of a young man, Jamie Randall played by Jake Gyllenhaal, to pursue his drug selling skyrocketing career or the one he ever loved is beautifully portrayed in this romantic comedy.
I used to worry a lot about who I’d be when I grew up. You know, like how much money I’d make or, umm, like some day I’d become some big deal. Sometimes, the thing you want most doesn’t happen. And sometimes, the thing you never expect does. Like giving up my job in Chicago and everything and deciding to stay and apply to med school. I don’t know. You meet thousands of people and none of them really touch you. And then you meet one person and your life is changed… forever. – Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal)
Watch the trailer here.