''Limit Up'' is a 1989 comedy film starring Nancy Allen as Chicago commodities trader Casey Falls. The film was directed by Richard Martini and produced by

Jonathan D. Krane Jonathan D. Krane (May 1, 1952 – August 1, 2016) was an American screenwriter, film producer, talent manager, and studio head. He's most known in Hollywood for his decade and a half partnership with John Travolta, who he managed from 1987 until ...

. It was filmed through

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and prominently features scenes at the

Chicago Board of Trade The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established on April 3, 1848, is one of the world's oldest futures and options exchanges. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and three other excha ...

and

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

Rance Howard Rance Howard (born Harold Engle Beckenholdt; November 17, 1928 – November 25, 2017) was an American actor who starred in film and on television. He was the father of actor and filmmaker Ron Howard and actor Clint Howard, and grandfather of actr ...

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...

, blues icon

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

and ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' alumni

Danitra Vance Danitra Vance (July 13, 1954 – August 21, 1994) was an American comedian and actress, who was a Saturday Night Live cast members, cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (SNL) during its Saturday Night Live (sea ...

and

Brad Hall William Bradford Hall (born March 21, 1958) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known as a ''Weekend Update'' news anchor on ''Saturday Night Live'' and for creating the sitcoms ''The Single Guy'' and ''Watching Ellie''. H ...

round out the cast. Additionally, actress

Sally Kellerman Sally Clare Kellerman (June 2, 1937 – February 24, 2022) was an American actress and singer whose acting career spanned 60 years. Her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in Robert Altman's film ''M*A*S*H'' (1970) earned her an Oscar no ...

makes a cameo appearance as a

nightclub singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

John Tesh John Frank Tesh (born July 9, 1952) is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. He hosts the ''Intelligence for Your Life'' radio show. In addition, since 2014, he has hosted ''Intelligen ...

scored the film.

Plot

Casey Falls works as a runner at the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

for a ruthless commodities broker, Peter Oak. It is her ambition to someday become a top trader herself, but Oak condescendingly insists that Casey will never make the grade. Upset at the lack of opportunities for women, Casey is visited by a spirit, Nike, who angelically gives her tips that result in Casey making millions of dollars for traders like Marty Callahan and

Chuck Feeney Charles Francis Feeney (born April 23, 1931) is an Irish-American businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune as a co-founder of the Hong Kong based Duty Free Shoppers Group. He is the founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies, one of the ...

. In love with her, Marty helps arrange it that Casey become a licensed trader. Before long, with Nike's can't-miss advice, Casey becomes one of the wealthiest women in the business. However, her attitude changes when Nike abruptly goes from angel to devil and decides to coax Casey into monopolizing world markets and earning so much money that it will wreck the economy of others around the globe. Casey openly rebels, with the help of Marty and a street musician, Julius, who is not what he seems.

Cast

* Nancy Allen as Casey Falls *

as Peter Oak *

as Marty Callahan *

as Nike *

as Julius *

as Chuck Feeney * Sandra Bogan as Andy Lincoln * William J. Wolf as Rusty *

Ava Fabian Ava Fabian (born April 4, 1962, in Brewster, New York) is an American model and actress. She was chosen as ''Playboy's'' Playmate of the Month in August 1986 and has appeared in numerous ''Playboy'' videos. Her centerfold was photographed by Ar ...

as Sasha * Robbie Martini as Oak's Assistant * Teressa Ovetta Burrell as Clerk * Winifred Freedman as Pit Recorder *

Luana Anders Luana Anders (born Luana Margo Anderson, May 12, 1938 – July 21, 1996) was an American film and television actress and screenwriter. Career Anders began her career with supporting roles for American International Pictures. Some of the early fi ...

as Teacher * Richard Martini as Student * Kellie Joy Beals as Reporter *

Nicky Blair Nicky Blair's was a high-end Italian restaurant on the Sunset Strip on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, next to Le Dome. It thrived in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was named after the proprietor, Nicky Blair, a bit-part film actor who starred ...

as Maitre d' *

Force MDs The Force M.D.'s are an American contemporary R&B, R&B vocal group that was formed in 1981 in Staten Island, New York. Although the group has old school hip hop roots, it is perhaps best known for two tunes that are widely considered 1980s quiet ...

as Band *

as Nightclub Singer

Critical response

The lighthearted romp received a B+ from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'': "Splendid with good cast, good script, tidy direction" and "Nancy Allen is particularly delightful." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' noted that director Martini succeeds "in making the commodity-market scenes comprehensible for the layman." ''The St. Paul Pioneer Press'' said ''Limit Up'' "can't be faulted for enthusiasm or moxie" and its "strong equality-of-women-in-the-workplace message is welcome". Dually, ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' was less complimentary: "the picture is as spunky and good-natured as all get out, but in the absence of any original or substantial ideas, its spunk soon grates."https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24585361.html?dids=24585361:24585361&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+03%2C+1989&author=Dave+Kehr%2C+Movie+critic.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Eager+%60Limit+Up'+has+nothing+to+barter+with&pqatl=google In his ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' review of Nov. 3, 1989,

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

described the film as "witless from one end to another" as well as "lame-brained and cornball".

External links

* * *
Limit Up
at

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References

{{Reflist 1989 films 1980s fantasy comedy films 1989 independent films American fantasy comedy films American independent films 1980s English-language films Films set in Chicago Films shot in Chicago Stock trading films Chicago in fiction Works based on the Faust legend 1980s American films