Tucker: The Man and His Dream

1988 "The true story of Preston Tucker."
6.9| 1h51m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 12 August 1988 Released
Producted By: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Ypsilanti, Michigan, 1945. Engineer Preston Tucker dreams of designing the car of future, but his innovative envision will be repeatedly sabotaged by his own unrealistic expectations and the Detroit automobile industry tycoons.

Genre

Drama

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Director

Francis Ford Coppola

Production Companies

Lucasfilm Ltd.

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Tucker: The Man and His Dream Audience Reviews

Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike
Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
RResende The concept is simple: make the film as a publicity to a man who was himself to a great extent a publicity stunt.In order to achieve it, a number of devices are employed:-often we get shots which we immediately or a bit later identify as pieces of publicity/newsreel footage within the film. It actually begins with a newsreel;-the acting from Bridges is admittedly artificial, what you would expect from a salesman of some sort. He is impressive in this role, as he plays always over the thin line after which the whole thing would just become cartoonish. Jeff Bridges proved here that he can consistently work comedy without become a joke. This is his first dude.-the whole story line is not supposed to be read as serious, not even lightly: it's ostensibly sketchy, and it includes bits like the corrupt senator comedic sequences (with the Bridges-Bridges real life wink) or the burning floor car presentation, as well as the whole circus mounted around it (another stunt). The Howard Hughes bit is the ultimate fake, the same short-cut that Welles had used, a kind of an American cinema staple for fakery.-The phoney trial and subsequent triumph with a parade of Tucker's cars being driven and filled by everybody is the ultimate stunt. At certain moments, and this final sequence is one such, the film is choreographed as a classical musical, without the music.The skeleton is wrapped around Coppola's usual lush and seduction through the set and the environment. With Coppola you always have at least a sense of place and mood that really makes the thing matter. Every open shot has a lot more happening than what's supposed to be the main action. This sense of liveliness is an affirmation of the power of deep shots and depth of field, not in the spatial architectural sense of Welles, but almost as if in a painting.The Coppola/Storaro collaboration is one of the strongest in the history. Storaro manipulates color like very few have, one true painter. But this film doesn't matter, it's meaningless, bloodless and forgettable when compared to the best this couple has done. Only Bridges is worth remembering here. Unlike many, i do find valuable things in Coppola's films post-Apocalipse. But not here.
Johan Dondokambey The story was a great one about how a revolutionizing idea will live on even after the inventor is thrown aside. Yet the story mainly focus on how the big names in industries will only think of their own gains and advantages to reap from the market by keeping their own outdated innovations and not letting the people to get the best that ideas can offer. The acting is a decent overall. Jeff Bridges gets into character nicely in he managed to maintain Tucker's almost persistent smile yet he can give out the heated anger scenes the live they need. It's nice too see Elias Koteas and Christian Slater adding the right tone here. Joan Allen has also did a good job in completing the spouses and family scenes well.
Cosmoeticadotcom Tucker: The Man And His Dream is a good solid film, but, as Coppola himself seems to realize (in his commentary), it's nothing special. Its stylized realism is appealing, but ultimately an empty appeal to nothing of substance. That's too bad, because throughout the film I was thinking that there is gold to be mined in the old adage that not all who think that others are out to get them are crazy. Trust me, I know. But this theme is not really even touched on in the film, and only glancingly so in the commentary by Coppola, when the filmmaker muses that newer Internet technology likely makes it easier to succeed against the powers that be (no quite so, Francis!). Nonetheless, the cumulative positives slightly outweigh the negatives, and even if they did not, the film's historical focus deserves viewing. Just, keep expectations in line (unlike Tucker) and you will likely find something of benefit, whether or not Coppola intended it or not.
Lee Eisenberg More than simply the triumph of human spirit, Francis Ford Coppola's "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" specifically shows how Preston Tucker (Jeff Bridges) sought to challenge the dominance of the big automakers and they set out to destroy him. I had never heard of Preston Tucker before watching this movie, so it was fascinating to learn about his deeds. Bridges is great as the entrepreneur, with Joan Allen as his wife Vera.I see that Coppola had weighed making this movie right after "The Godfather Part 2". While I do believe that he made the correct choice in making "Apocalypse Now" - which I consider his greatest movie - this certainly would have constituted a fine follow-up to the films about the Corleone family. Definitely worth seeing.Also starring Martin Landau, Frederic Forrest, Mako, Christian Slater, Jay O. Sanders, Lloyd Bridges and Michael McShane (in his final role).