good back-story, and good acting

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Francis Ford Coppola's 'Tucker: The Man and His Dream', based on the life of the Late/Great Preston Tucker and his attempt to produce and market the 1948 Tucker Sedan, is underrated biopic, that hits all the notes. And with Jeff Bridges & The Late/Great Martin Landau in company, its hard not to be mesmerized. 'Tucker: The Man and His Dream' Synopsis: The story of Preston Tucker, the maverick car designer and his ill-fated challenge to the auto industry with his revolutionary car concept.'Tucker: The Man and His Dream' captures Preston Tucker's madness & passion to bring an automobile to the people, that was far beyond people's imagination back then. It also captures his scandal between the "Big Three automobile manufacturers" and accusations of stock fraud from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which whom, he won rightly against in court. And Coppola, the genius, is at the top of his game. 'Tucker: The Man and His Dream' is among the legendary director's most accomplished works, delivering a biopic that's both fascinating & heartfelt. Arnold Schulman & David Seidler's Screenplay is wonderfully gripping. Cinematography & Editing add punch to the narrative. Art & Costume Design are excellent.Performance-Wise: Jeff Bridges as Preston Tucker & The Late/Great Martin Landau as Abe Karatz, the man who helps Tucker achieve his dream, are a Dream-Team. Bridges adds authenticity & charisma to Tucker, portraying a real-life man with full force. And Landau is pure acting gold as Abe, whose performance here, has to be among the strongest supporting turns in the film history. Watching these 2 men unravel here with their gift for acting, left me spell-bound. Of the rest of the cast, Joan Allen as Vera Tucker, Tucker's Wife & Christian Slater as Preston Tucker, Jr, stand out.On the whole, 'Tucker: The Man and His Dream' is a winner!

Here, Jeff Bridges gets to play a little bit of the good-natured kidder we've come to love... as Tucker, the eternal optimist and dreamer, we experience the reality that all dreams are met with obstacles sometimes... The flashy style of the director has the look and feel of a Life magazine or Saturday Evening Post piece... it's hype, sure, but it attempts to capture the entrepreneurial spirit of post-war America with the swing music and stylish clothing... Excellent performances by Bridges (both of them!), Martin Landau and even Christian Slater plays with much more subtlety than usual. Dean Stockwell does a pretty good Howard Hughes.All of the acting performances in this picture are superb, and the pacing is almost frenetic. These factors, along with a rather ingenious use of transitions by Director Francis Ford Coppola (who coincidentally owns one of the few Tuckers left in existence), create a busy feeling that conveys to the audience that Tucker has got the world by the tail and is pulling hard... hold that tiger! Combine all of this with an excellent soundtrack by Joe Jackson (unfortunately very hard to find these days), and you have what one reviewer accurately describes as one of the greatest movies that hardly anyone ever watched.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

The real Preston Tucker wasn't nearly as handsome as Jeff Bridges, but for my money, few men are. As Tucker in "Tucker: The Man and His Dream," a 1988 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Bridges delivers an exuberant performance as a man who, even facing defeat, always had a smile on his face and a dream in his heart.This is the true story of Tucker (1903-1956) who, after the war, had the intention of building an innovative car he had been thinking about for years. The three big car manufacturers of the day didn't like that, and they had the Senator from Michigan, Homer Ferguson (Lloyd Bridges) in their back pocket according to the film. In real life, it's only been speculated that Ferguson worked with the SEC to bring down Tucker.His prototype car received an enormous amount of publicity and brought in investors. But he was unable to purchase enough material to build his cars; the steel just wasn't available. Ultimately he was accused of stealing money and using it not to build cars but for his own gain, and brought to trial.It was Tucker's dream to build 60,000 cars a year. In the film, at the time of his trial, he had 47 completed, and legally he was to produce 50 to keep his company open. Though President Truman closed Tucker's business early and turned the factory over to the manufacture of fabricated housing, Tucker's employees build the remaining three cars before the deadline. (In real life, he only had 37 built, and his employees built the other 13.) Tucker won the battle, but he lost the war. Though he triumphed in court, Tucker's company closed. Always optimistic, he went into other projects, one with a car manufacturer in Brazil, but he didn't live long enough nor was he strong enough in his last years to help bring it to fruition. He died of lung cancer in 1956.Yet, as the film explains at the end, he left quite a legacy. Many of the features of the Tucker automobile are used by Detroit today. He was a man ahead of his time.This is a wonderful, poignant story showing someone who embodied the true American spirit, a man who believed that anything was possible. The reality of politics and finances defeated him, as the film shows, but it didn't bring the man down. Had he lived, he would have had a second act.Fine direction by Coppola, a wonderful soundtrack, and a good cast - - Joan Allen as Tucker's wife Vera, Christian Slater as his oldest son, Martin Landau as his first business partner, and Frederic Forrest as one of his engineers, led by Bridges' strong performance, make Tucker: The Man and His Dream a must-see.

Tucker: The Man and His Dream is a good spirited story of perseverance, loyalty, honor, and integrity from legendary director Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola's name is synonymous with landmark cinema that changed the face of the film industry forever with classics like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. This movie is obviously not of that caliber, but it is an enjoyable experience nonetheless. In it, a thinner, younger, and clean shaven Jeff Bridges plays Preston Tucker, a likable businessman who had big ideas for the auto industry that would ultimately lead to bigger consequences. It's a true story about how one man tried to change the auto industry after World War II by creating the greatest car ever made. His financial support in the booming big government economy after WWII is an issue, but he perseveres through it all with the goal of achieving what others say is impossible. It's a happily inspiring tale, performed excellently by Mr. Bridges, one of my all time favorite actors.Coppola shows in this movie that he can still be a fine director without the backing of a gangster or Vietnam war epic. He has a straightforward directing style for this straightforward film, but it doesn't fault a movie that mainly focuses on character and plot, rather than visual aesthetic. However, the film did get nominated at the Academy Awards for best Art Direction and Costume Design, and deservedly so. Tucker: The Man and His Dream is a period piece, and everything about the film stays true to its time frame. It is always interesting to see such a specific time period like the 1940's projected through an 80's lens, and Tucker: The Man and His Dream does a captivating job at this. The costumes are interesting and relevant, along with the set design and of course the cars. And it is all backed by a fantastic early 1900's jazz soundtrack.The story itself stays mildly interesting the whole way through. It lags in some spots where not as much is happening, but it sets up for a great climax with a beautifully inspirational speech delivered by Bridges. The flow and pacing of the film has its noticeable issues and parts felt slightly choppy. The beginning of the film starts out with an infomercial/historical newsreel quirk that is very creative, but practically abandoned by the end of the film. Despite some minor flaws nothing significantly deteriorates the overall quality of the film.Tucker: The Man and His Dream is a solid film that anyone can at least find mildly interesting, since it is based on a true story after all. Putting this film into today's perspective, it is still relevant and interesting what with all the auto industry crises going on today and how I'm sure we all wish we somebody as steadfast and innovative as Preston Tucker could pick the industry back up on its feet. I commend a film if it makes me think in terms of current events, so kudos to this film. I will say that as a Coppola film, it's nothing too special. I would obviously recommend the first two Godfathers and Apocalypse Now long before Tucker: The Man and His Dream. But as just another film, this movie is plenty enjoyable and interesting to watch.