"Trading Places" is a great comedy, but it's also notable how important it was for many of the key players involved.

[Crowded Caribou]

This, of course, along with "48 Hours", instantly made Eddie Murphy a film star and set him up for "Beverly Hills Cop" and being the biggest star on the planet. It was Jamie Lee Curtis's first major role outside the horror genre and showed she was more than just a scream queen. And it brought Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche late career renaissances, especially Ameche who hadn't done a film previously in over a decade and promptly won his Oscar for "Cocoon" not long afterwards.

But the one who it was arguably the most important for was Dan Akyroyd in that it arguably saved his career. People may not remember this, but at this point Akyroyd was struggling; not only had he just suffered a big flop with "Doctor Detroit", but he was also dealing with the still recent death of John Belushi and people in the industry were questioning if he was viable onscreen without Belushi as his comedic partner (John Landis said they compared it to "Abbott without Costello"). But thanks to "Trading Places" (which paired him with another "SNL" alumnus in Murphy), he left those fears in the dust and showed he was still very viable without Belushi. And then "Ghostbusters" came out the next year and then everyone promptly forgot they ever doubled him.

submitted by /u/Mst3Kgf
[link] [comments]

Continue reading...