| Tucker: The Man and His Dream | | Cast : | Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, Martin Landau | | Director : | Francis Ford Coppola | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Widescreen, Closed-captioned, Dolby | | Released Date : | August 12, 1988 | | DVD Released Date : | October 24, 2000 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | March 27, 2005 | | Summary | Tucker's dream isn't that memorable | Content
 | Francis Ford Coppola directs the story of Preston Tucker, a man who dared to think outside the box and invent one of the greatest automobiles (In my opinion) ever made. Jeff Bridges plays Preston Tucker in this "interesting look at American Automotive History" says IMDB.com.
The film is about how Preston Tucker went through struggles with corporations to create his dream car, The Tucker. Despite his lack of steel and other supplies Preston uses scrap cars to develop these incredible vehicles. But when the industry tries to take Preston's dreams and mold them for their own purposes Preston rebels against the industry. His rebel acts end him up in court where he accused of not having any intent on even making the cars and stealing government money. Fortunately he was found not guilty.
Now I personally did not care much for this film, and let me tell you why. Coppola was taking part in Lucas and Spielberg's cliché feel good film era. Now I know this a true story, but I personally do not care much for the producer Lucas when it comes to cinema politics. Look at other films from this little fad that Steven and he started; Land Before Time (Producer), Willow (Producer), The Young Indiana Jones series (Producer). Now as a filmmaker, I feel these feel good adventures are just in there for the extra buck and a good credit towards him. Tucker was just another brick in the wall in this franchise that Lucas was racking up. He was better off with the Star Wars series.
Coppola did a good job from the filming aspect, I like the God shots when your viewing the factory. I also like the fifties feel he pulled off quite smoothly, if the film quality wasn't as good I'd actually think this was made in the fifties. But via DVD makes the quality unbelievable.
I like the father son acting rivalry between Jeff Bridges and Lloyd Bridges is wonderful. Both great actors that have great credentials; Jeff is in thriller classic Arlington Road and Lloyd is in comedy cult classic Airplane.
I suggest maybe some of Coppola's earlier and better works. Like the classic and nominated as the greatest film of all time The Godfather. A Vietnam classic and another Top Fifty of all time film is Apocalypse Now.
So despite the cinema politics of the whole thing, this is a very decent film.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 12, 2004 | | Summary | "It's the idea that counts, and the dream." | Content
| This 1988 movie, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by George Lucas, has good acting from Jeff Bridges, Martin Landau, Frederic Forrest, and Joan Allen in the larger roles. Smaller supporting roles were also handled well by Christian Slater, Jay O. Sanders, Nina Siemaszko and Mako. As reflected by the DVD cover, the movie is filmed in a splashy 1940's advertising style, and uses warm gold and sepia tones and some impressive camera work to tell the tale of the development of the "Tucker 48" automobile, also known as the "Torpedo" after its sleek lines (for the times), of which only about 50 were made. For its time, it had many innovative features, including a rear-mounted engine, seat belts and padded dash, push button controls, and a third central headlight that would turn when steering. The large, 4,800 pound behemoth got about 20 MPH. In a somewhat dichotomous framework, the movie shows the result of American "Yankee ingenuity" coupled with the eventual demise of the Tucker due to pressure by the Big Three automaking competitors. Taken to court for fraud with the accusation that he would not deliver on the promise of producing a car, Tucker in fact is found not guilty, and had actually produced about 50 cars, though his business was effective ruined. Tucker had other successes however. Just before World War II, he developed an armored car that was so fast at 80-plus MPH, the Army did not want it because they thought such vehicles should only go about 35 MPH. However, the rotating gun-turret used on top of the vehicle, the "Tucker turret", was used on American bombers, such as the B-17 and B-24, thoughout the war. Although his business partner Abe Karatz (Landau) is quite upset that the car business folded, Tucker tells him..."It's the idea that counts, Abe, and the dream." Tucker died in 1956 from lung cancer at age 53. The reasonably-priced DVD has the wide-screen movie, an excellent original 15-minute long 1948 promotional film made by the Tucker company (with or without commentary by FFC), a mediocre short "making of" collection of cast/crew interview clips mostly from 1988, a decent commentary by FFC, and the usual setup features. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 28, 2004 | | Summary | Excellent Movie | Content
| This is an excellent movie I really like it. What I can also say is it was done in my hometown of Bay Point Ca. The scene where they are watching the movie of the car pulling into the garage and the gas man comes and opens the hood but now engine that is a block away from where I live. They also did some at the county seat and had to take down the state flags because they had to many stars on them for this time but I would recommend this movie to anyone. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 26, 2004 | | Summary | A wonderful story set in a time when America was great | Content
| I first saw this movie when I was ten years old and loved it then as I do now. If you love the style of the 1940's and the incurable optimism of post-War America, then this flik is for you. Preston Tucker was true visionary who demonstrated the power and opportunities that each American has at their fingertips beginning with only a dream or two and Jeff Bridges captures the essence of this incredibly well. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 12, 2003 | | Summary | A period piece that resonates today | Content
| This narrative of Preston Tucker is delivered with Coppolla's full expertise as a filmmaker. If you haven't yet seen this well done film, I recommend that you do rather than read this review (as it might reveal something of the plot). At any rate, I just wanted to address the issue that some critics question specific facts depicted in this biography. However, I find trivial most of the facts that are disputed by critics and find the most important aspects of the film indisputable. The majority of Tucker automobiles built exist to this day, and testify that these were among the best and safest cars built by anyone. Another fact that's evident to this day is that automobiles being currently produced still aren't as safe as the Tucker evidentally was (a car produced over 50 years ago!). For me, this theme of the movie reflects corporate shame that seems true of the automobile industry to this day. This is an important movie at a time now when corporations in general are having more and more influence and impact on our society, which itself is an issue that should be more often discussed. Despite being over 10 years old and depicting events over 50 years ago, this is still an important film to be viewed today. I think it's one of Coppolla's best films. |
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