Tucker: The Man and His Dream - PG

Smoke-filled, rousing dramedy about corruption.

Rating: PG Studio: Paramount Pictures Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola Cast: Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Martin Landau Running Time: 110 minutes Release Date: 08/12/1988 Genre: Drama

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that while this movie is set in the 1940s and 1950s, there's considerable drinking, smoking, and swearing. There's also some kissing. Expect discrimination typical of the era: Abe calls Preston's partner a "Jap," and Preston says Jimmy's family is all in a relocation camp. Characters also use the phrase "New Yorker" to mean "Jewish" when speaking of Abe. And Bennington calls Vera "the little woman" in a belittling way. Also, some images of people killed in car accidents and bloodied may be too much for younger or more sensitive viewers.

Families can talk about the kind of work it takes to pursue a dream. Was Tucker a dreamer, a businessman, or an inventor? He did research, he worked with engineers, and he was a great salesman. Do you have to be all those things to start a new company? Do you have to lie?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Heather Boerner

Long before the big three U.S. automakers had Ralph Nader tailed, they made life for inventor Preston Tucker nearly impossible. TUCKER: THE MAN AND HIS DREAM explains why.

Tucker is a real man who turned his Michigan barn into a workshop to build all kinds of crazy things, including an armored car with a gun turret for use in the war. At the end of World War II, he comes up with a new scheme after he finds a poll stating that 87 percent of people coming back from the war want a new car.

Behold the Tucker: A car with all kinds of bells and whistles that didn't exist at that time, including fuel injection, seatbelts, disc brakes, and roll bars. And he'll even make it look like a jet and put the engine in the rear. He could make a bundle!

With the help his own underhandedness -- he gets a friend to write an article extolling the virtues of a car he's not yet manufactured -- and the business sense of Abe Karatz (the fabulous Martin Landau), his dream has a chance to become a reality. But when faced with the corruption of elected officials (eating out of the hands of the big three) and a board of directors bent on tabling all his innovative ideas, what will happen to his invention?

The answer may surprise you. This film could have been one long, self-righteous screed against corporations, a la An Unreasonable Man. But it's directed by legendary Francis Ford Coppola, who makes his characters loveable, charming, even impish, and makes the telling of the story as important as the point it has to make.

People who enjoy this film may also like the documentaries An Unreasonable Man and Who Killed the Electric Car.

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content Preston and Vera kiss and later make out on a bed (clothes on).
Violence A car rolls with someone in it (no injuries). Preston shows photos of people killed in car accidents. A woman faints. A fire starts under a car.
Language Some swearing, most notably several uses of the words "damn" and "hell." Also used: "goddammit," "bastards," "son of a bitch," "prick," and "ass."
Message
	Social Behavior Someone calls a Japanese man a "Jap" and the way characters use the phrase "New Yorker," it's clear it's a stand-in for "Jew." Characters demean women, calling Vera "the little woman." Reference to Abe having served a prison sentence.
	Commercialism
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Most characters smoke constantly, including Tucker and Vera. Men smoke cigars. Characters drink martinis and champagne. Tucker and other men drink liquor from a bottle.