Used Cars. (15.)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis. 1980.
Starring Kurt Russell, Jack Warden, Gerrit Graham, Frank McRae, Deborah Harmon, Joseph P. Flaherty, David L. Lander, Michael McKean, Alfonso Arau and Al Lewis. Out on Blu-ray from Eureka Classics! 108 mins.
This screwball comedy about two competing used car salesmen is true to its subject: it doesn't offer anything much of real value but it makes its pitch with such gusto and energy that you might be sold on it. Nice(r) Jack Warden runs a downmarket car lot on one side of a freeway while his nasty brother Jack Warden runs a slick, upmarket car lot on the other. Bad Warden wants to elminate the competition and get his hands on that land. Good(ish) Jack Warden has a dicky ticker and when he passes away head salesman Russell comes up with a plan to cover it up to prevent Bad Warden taking possession of the lot.
I remember first seeing this in the late eighties on video, motivated by a rave review by Pauline Kael and the nude scene where a model's dress gets ripped off when it gets caught in a car bonnet. Of these two, only the latter lives up to its promise. (Amazing how Kael could be such a great writer on a topic which she had such consistently lousy taste in.) Three decades on I think that's still the case.
The appeal of the film is its mix of good, old fashioned, All American crash bang levity with a surprisingly mean sensibility. The whole thing takes place in arid desert sunshine, is shot in bland TV colours and is played with frantic cartoon energy that takes the attention away from just how cheerfully immoral it is. It's a black comedy too breezy to acknowledge how dark the laughs are.
So the plot kicks off with the death of the nicer Warden, Luke Fuchs, who is effectively killed by his brother, Roy L. who sends over a stunt driver to test drive one of his motors and takes him on an extended car chase sequence that causes cardiac arrest. Russell's character, nominally our hero, is trying to raise $10,000 to bribe his way into the party's nomination for state senate, a political career which he sees as a chance to make some serious money and tell the people what they want to hear. He keeps track of the money he has raised with a little chart like the one charity's use to mark how much money they have raised towards the total.
Theoretically this it all pretty droll but it didn't raise many laughs watching it. The performances are great, especially Russell and Warden, but the dialogue is rarely witty and most of its energy is too contrived to get laughs. The idea that America is so comfortable in its corruption that it can passed off as wholesome family fun is a good one but it doesn't register while you are watching. Probably the film is too much in love with how naughty it is, and what it is getting away with, for it to have any kick.
This was Zemeckis's second film after I Wanna Hold Your Hand a comedy about the Beatles first American tour that didn't have any footage of The Beatles in it. He's five years and one film, Romancing The Stone, away from Back To The Future. In this period he was a key member of the Spielberg entourage and was viewed as a part of a double act with writer Bob Gale, known to all as The Two Bobs. They wrote the script for Spielberg's sprawling WWII comedy 1941 and I think their epic screwball farce works much better there. The Bobs seem to split after Back To The Future for reasons seeming unknown but seemingly amicable with Gale taking control of the extended Back To the Future world.
Extras
Uncompressed LPCM (original mono presentation) and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio options
Directed by Robert Zemeckis. 1980.
Starring Kurt Russell, Jack Warden, Gerrit Graham, Frank McRae, Deborah Harmon, Joseph P. Flaherty, David L. Lander, Michael McKean, Alfonso Arau and Al Lewis. Out on Blu-ray from Eureka Classics! 108 mins.
This screwball comedy about two competing used car salesmen is true to its subject: it doesn't offer anything much of real value but it makes its pitch with such gusto and energy that you might be sold on it. Nice(r) Jack Warden runs a downmarket car lot on one side of a freeway while his nasty brother Jack Warden runs a slick, upmarket car lot on the other. Bad Warden wants to elminate the competition and get his hands on that land. Good(ish) Jack Warden has a dicky ticker and when he passes away head salesman Russell comes up with a plan to cover it up to prevent Bad Warden taking possession of the lot.
I remember first seeing this in the late eighties on video, motivated by a rave review by Pauline Kael and the nude scene where a model's dress gets ripped off when it gets caught in a car bonnet. Of these two, only the latter lives up to its promise. (Amazing how Kael could be such a great writer on a topic which she had such consistently lousy taste in.) Three decades on I think that's still the case.
The appeal of the film is its mix of good, old fashioned, All American crash bang levity with a surprisingly mean sensibility. The whole thing takes place in arid desert sunshine, is shot in bland TV colours and is played with frantic cartoon energy that takes the attention away from just how cheerfully immoral it is. It's a black comedy too breezy to acknowledge how dark the laughs are.
So the plot kicks off with the death of the nicer Warden, Luke Fuchs, who is effectively killed by his brother, Roy L. who sends over a stunt driver to test drive one of his motors and takes him on an extended car chase sequence that causes cardiac arrest. Russell's character, nominally our hero, is trying to raise $10,000 to bribe his way into the party's nomination for state senate, a political career which he sees as a chance to make some serious money and tell the people what they want to hear. He keeps track of the money he has raised with a little chart like the one charity's use to mark how much money they have raised towards the total.
Theoretically this it all pretty droll but it didn't raise many laughs watching it. The performances are great, especially Russell and Warden, but the dialogue is rarely witty and most of its energy is too contrived to get laughs. The idea that America is so comfortable in its corruption that it can passed off as wholesome family fun is a good one but it doesn't register while you are watching. Probably the film is too much in love with how naughty it is, and what it is getting away with, for it to have any kick.
This was Zemeckis's second film after I Wanna Hold Your Hand a comedy about the Beatles first American tour that didn't have any footage of The Beatles in it. He's five years and one film, Romancing The Stone, away from Back To The Future. In this period he was a key member of the Spielberg entourage and was viewed as a part of a double act with writer Bob Gale, known to all as The Two Bobs. They wrote the script for Spielberg's sprawling WWII comedy 1941 and I think their epic screwball farce works much better there. The Bobs seem to split after Back To The Future for reasons seeming unknown but seemingly amicable with Gale taking control of the extended Back To the Future world.
Extras
Uncompressed LPCM (original mono presentation) and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio options
- Optional English SDH subtitles
- Audio Commentary with director Robert Zemeckis, writer/producer Bob Gale, and star Kurt Russell
- Isolated Score Track (Patrick Williams score)
- Isolated Score Track (Unused Ernest Gold score)
- Interview with producer/co-writer Bob Gale
- Radio Interview with Kurt Russell
- Outtakes and Gag Reel
- Kurt Russell Chrysler Commercial
- Radio Spots
- Stills Galleries
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Limited Edition Collector's booklet featuring new essays by author Scott Harrison and film writer Phil Hoad [First print run only]
