BEFORE: Man, September is moving quickly, isn't it? I mean, it's half over, and it feels like it just started! I had to stop in the $5.99 DVD store today, and buy copies of the three films that will make my Shock-Tober horror chain work. Some cable channel might run those films, but I needed to know for sure that I could watch them as of Oct. 1.
Tonight it's another film about a starry-eyed inventor in the auto biz. Executive producer was George Lucas, a dreamer himself whose films inspired me and set me on my own career path. Lucas' name means the film merits a look, though I'm still feeling burned by the suckfest that was "Radioland Murders".
THE PLOT: The story of Preston Tucker, the maverick car designer and his ill-fated challenge to the auto industry with his revolutionary car concept.
AFTER: Well, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't spectacular either - it's another film based on a true story, so it's hard to criticize it (assuming it told Tucker's story accurately, that is...).
As in last night's film, a car innovator (and family man) sees his life's work end up in court, thanks to the big automakers, who act as a cartel to block Tucker's innovations. He had this crazy idea that cars should be safer, with things like seatbelts, shatter-proof glass, disc brakes, etc. Not that I know much about cars, but Tucker apparently did - many of the Tucker cars that were produced are still running today. According to IMDB, producer George Lucas and director Francis Ford Coppola each own two.
I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to learn from this film, with regards to big business, or even filmmaking. What's the moral - stay true to your dreams? Don't let the big guys wear you down? It's OK to raise capital investments, and produce a small amount of merchandise? The American dream says it's OK to build a company on promises, smoke + mirrors?
And what's with that song, "The Tiger Rag" (aka "Hold That Tiger"?) what does it mean? Why did Tucker keep singing it - what's the implication? Other than the fact that jazz standards are really non-sensical and awful...
I don't know, I wasn't blown away by this one - maybe I am getting cynical and burnt out on movies.
Starring Jeff Bridges (last seen in "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People"), Joan Allen (last seen in "Manhunter"), Martin Landau (last seen in "The Majestic"), Elias Koteas (last seen in "Fallen"), Christian Slater (last seen in "Mobsters"), and (friend of the blogger) Jay O. Sanders (last seen in "Half Nelson"), plus cameos from Lloyd Bridges, Patti Austin, Don "Fr. Guido Sarducci" Novello (last seen in "Casper"), and Dean Stockwell (last seen in "Air Force One") as Howard Hughes.
RATING: 5 out of 10 engine blocks
The real story and the real Tucker would have been far more interesting. In fact, it'd be a much bigger movie if you made it today: it's the classic tale of the startup company. You start with a slightly silly idea that nonetheless is easy to pitch and easy for people to understand.
ReplyDeleteThen the worst thing possible happens: your pie-in-the-sky idea gets funded. Oh, ****: now, you need to actually engineer and build the thing.
That's the cool story, here. We're seeing it being played out in hundreds of tech startups...the successes, the failures, and the ones in limbo.
Hell, we're seeing it with Tesla Motors. The key difference: the company is sending hundreds of cars out the door and they're doing it without trying the patience of customers, dealers, and investors.
That's the big failure of this movie. The "innovative, independent genius is envied and hated by the big corporations that control the government" story must have appealed to Coppola at that point in his career, when a string of failures had left his creative life completely at the mercy of new conglomerate-owned studios.
But it makes for a boring picture. In the movie, Tucker's only weaknesses are naiveté and enthusiasm. In truth, he overpromised and underdelivered. A better film would have explored what was going through his mind at the time.