Rating: PG
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 08/12/1988(USA)
Release Date: 10/24/2000
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: 5.1/THX
Run Time: 110 Minutes
Flags: Questionable for Children, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: Paramount
History tells us that would-be automobile mogul Preston Tucker was a silver-tongued con man, who misappropriated his investors' money and played fast and loose with ethics and legalities in the pursuit of his dream. Filmmaker
Francis Ford Coppola isn't buying this: to hear
Coppola tell it, Tucker was "Mr. Smith Goes to Detroit," a sincere visionary who tried and failed to buck the Big Three auto manufacturers. Moreover, he was a staunch defender of family values, as witness his inseparable relationship with his loyal wife (
Joan Allen) and adoring children. It was for his family's sake, rather than any dreams of financial gain, that Tucker created the oddball three-headlight vehicle which he envisioned as the "car of the future". Naturally, the corporate fat cats of 1947 can't abide competition from a rugged individualist; thus, with several politicos in their pockets, they crush the Tucker and the man who built it. We'd have been more inclined to believe the story had
Coppola adopted a straightforward
Capraesque approach and not utilized all sorts of complicated camera trickery. Somehow, by presenting Tucker in so showoffy a directorial manner, the character comes off more as a sleight-of-hand artist than a bastion of sincerity. Even so,
Jeff Bridges does a nice job as Tucker, as does
Martin Landau as Tucker's incongruous business partner.
Jeff's dad,
Lloyd Bridges, appears in an uncredited role as a "bought" senator.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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