![]() The Dukes decide to use the two men for their experiment, settling on the "usual amount" for their bet. Valentine gets arrested at the racist Winthorpe's insistence because of a suspected robbery attempt. ![]() Valentine is first seen as a dirt-poor con artist who pretends to be blind and paralyzed from the waist down, rolling around the streets of Philly begging for money, when he has a run-in with Winthorpe outside his office building after being chased out of Fairmont Park by two policemen, who order him to stop panhandling. They witness an encounter between their managing director, the well-mannered, cultured and educated Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd), engaged to the Dukes' niece Penelope (Kristin Holby) and a poor African-American street hustler named Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy). ![]() Holding opposing views on the nature versus nurture issue, they make a wager and agree to conduct an experiment switching the lives of two people at opposite sides of the social hierarchy and observing the results. Huggoĭuke brothers Randolph (Ralph Bellamy) and Mortimer (Don Ameche) own Duke & Duke, a successful commodities brokerage in Philadelphia. Beyond the outcome of the Dukes' experiment, can either Winthorpe or Valentine change the course of the new life set out for them by the Dukes, even if they knew what the Dukes were doing? Regardless, this experience will fundamentally change the lives of both Winthorpe and Valentine, but not at without the expense of others as well. Also deeply involved in their plan is a private detective the Dukes often use, Clarence Beeks. Without either knowing of anyone else involved, Coleman, Winthorpe's manservant who is officially employed by the Dukes in his day-to-day job, and a streetwise hooker named Ophelia each play a role in the Duke's plan. They will attempt to place Valentine into every aspect of Winthorpe's life to see how he functions. Like Winthorpe, Valentine was born into and has lived the only life he has ever known. The guinea pigs in their experiment are Winthorpe, whose life they will attempt to ruin to see how he reacts, and Billy Ray Valentine, a black hustler/crook who the Dukes and Winthorpe encountered in one of his scams. Their latest wager is about "nature versus nurture": the importance environment plays versus one's natural bloodline in determining how one's life will turn out. The Duke brothers often disagree with each other and make wagers on the outcome of these disagreements. His job is as managing director at Duke & Duke, a commodities brokerage house owned by brothers Randolph and Mortimer Duke. ![]() But he and his friends, who all have similar backgrounds, are pompous and snobbish. The children he will probably have with his fiancée Penelope will most likely also know nothing but privilege. He is Harvard educated, is successful at his job, has a lavish home paid for by his employers, and is wealthy. Philadelphia based Louis Winthorpe III was born into and has solely lived a life of privilege. ![]()
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