Tucker - The Man and His Dream
by Francis Ford Coppola
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Frederic Forrest, Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, Mako, Martin LandauDirector: Francis Ford Coppola
Brand: Paramount
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-10-24
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Tucker - The Man and His Dream
Movie Review: Bright and Shiny Optimism
Summary: 5 Stars
Detroit native Francis Ford Coppola's bright, shiny and optimistic film, dedicated to his late son, Gio,who loved cars, and honoring a revolutionary auto maker, captures the spirit of postwar America.
In the 20 years since I, and many others were introduced to Preston Thomas Tucker, so blithely and enthusiatically played by Jeff Bridges, he has become a public figure I've come to admire simply because the vindication of his judgement about the future of the auto industry, the technological advances that needed to be made, and the consequences of the suppression of individual innovativeness was long in coming. Basically, society had to learn the hard way that he was right.
We are introduced to the innovative visionary at his home in 1945 Ypsilanti, Michigan where he builds cars in his barn, and astounds his loving family and maid Millie (Patti Austin) with a bevy of trained Dalmatians he purchased in exchange for his Packard.
His wife, Vera (a pretty, assertive, and charismatic Joan Allen) shares his enthusiasm about his projects and lends herself beautifully to the task of aiding him in his business dealings, and his delightful children, including Junior (a devoted Christian Slater), lovely daughter Marilyn Lee (a lively and pert Nina Siemaszko), and younger sons, Noble and Johnny(Corin Nemec and Anders Johnson) round out the picture of a geniunely happy family, and Abe Karatz( Oscar nominee, Martin Landau), Eddie Dean (Frederic Forrest), Jimmy Sakuyama(Mako), and auto designer Alex Tremulis (Elias Koteas) constitute Tucker's coterie of loyal employees.
Influenced by Gallup polls expressing American's desire to have new cars after World War II ended, Tucker begins to design a newer model with modernized safety features, and when he advertises the prototype in a magazine, he meets resistance but he also attracts young Tremulis, a young engineering student about to be discharged from the Army, to seek employment with him, illustrating the eagerness of people to help bring about a good idea, and Tucker's willingness to give new talent a try.
Regarding those who work with him, in hiring the Japanese Sakuyama, whose relatives were in a relocation camp, and the convicted felon Karatz, we see Tucker's willingness to trust people and give them a second chance irrespective of social or polictical boundaries.
Tucker concocts a brilliant strategy to convince Washington D.C. bigwigs to finance his car by showing them graphic photos of auto accident victims who might have been spared if their cars had the safety featured he advocated, while presiding over a luncheon: What they saw onscreen sent many to the men's room, but it was considered that these repulsed diners had some power to remedy the problem with which Tucker presented them.
One Oscar Beasely(Roland Scrivner) a Special Assistant to the Administrator is impressed enough to meet with Tucker but expressed misgivings about Tucker's meeting with Michigan Senator Homer Ferguson (Jeff Bridge's illustrious father, Lloyd.--My more recent viewings of this film really made me focus on Jeff's strong physical resemblance to his Dad) a powerful but disreputable man with connections to the auto industry who maliciously schemes against Tucker.
The pressure to get the car made within a brief time creates tension. But Frank(Marshall Bell) the Press Agent hired by Abe makes a promotional film, and on the day of the big presentation, the crew of engineers work up until the last minute. While subversive elements work behind the showroom curtain, the car is joyously received by the public.
Tucker goes on a publicity tour as the family move to Chicago to be near the factory, and the acts of sabotage against the car begin to escalate. Mrs. Tucker endures a bit of condescention from Bennington as he reluctantly explains the inability to get materials for the car, and ultimately rejects all of Tucker's intended safety features as he tries to take over the company.
Tucker and his oldest son fly West to meet Howard Hughes(Dean Stockwell). As they stand in the shadow of the Spruce Goose, Hughes explains that Ferguson is after him as well, but also informs Tucker about an aluminum plant with no government connections that will provide him with some material for his cars.
A successful test run on the speed track leads to the resumption of manufacturing the car as it was originally designed.
But Bennington ultimately shuts town the Tucker plant, and despite Tucker's ability to prove the roadworthiness of the cars, he is dragged into court on charges of fraud.
At the film's climax Tucker speaks in his own defense, expounding a warning about sabotaging individual innovativeness that a 1988 audience knew all too well to be true.
While Tucker is vindicated, and soon enough on to his next idea, perhaps the ultimate losers in the case were those who might have been saved had the auto industry adopted the use of Tucker's safety features sooner.
However, one is never left with a sense of melancholy by this film. It is the story of one man's ultimate triumph over corporate-induced adversity,and while he may have intially succeeded only on a small scale, an inspiring tale of a true American hero.
Summary of Tucker - The Man and His Dream
The story of preston tucker the maverick car designer and his ill fated challenge to the auto industry with his revolutionary car concept. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/23/2006 Starring: Joan Allen Jeff Bridges Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Francis Ford CoppolaDirector Francis Ford Coppola and executive producer George Lucas shared a strong desire to film the story of Preston Tucker, the man who revolutionized car design in the late 1940s, only to have his innovation squelched by the "big three" automakers in a legal battle between Tucker and powerful political lobbies. Coppola surely related to and sympathized with Tucker as a visionary underdog, and so this stylish, energetic film envisions "the man and his dream" in idealistic terms--an unabashed optimist (played by Jeff Bridges) who realizes his vision through blind faith and tenacity. Martin Landau gives a superb, heartbreaking performance as an associate who desperately wants to share Tucker's enthusiasm, but knows that corporate wolves are knocking at the door and will soon burst in with fangs bared. Joan Allen is equally good as Tucker's supportive wife, and the film's combination of dazzling costumes, production design, and the fabulous Tucker itself (of which only 50 models were made) creates an infectious atmosphere of postwar optimism. In the end, however, this fascinating film is much like Coppola himself: possessed of genius, blinded by ambition, and prone to create works of erratic brilliance. Don't take that as criticism, however; this is a sharp, underrated film about a dreamer whose dream was a worthy one, even if it only briefly came true. --Jeff Shannon
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