Tucker: The Man and His Dream

Stoo

Well-known member
This forgotten Coppola/Lucas effort with Jeff Bridges from 1988 was universally praised at the time but, for one reason or another, I never managed to see it. Recently, it was on my mind when I walked into a pharmacy and, lo & behold, there it was on a bargain rack for $8! Bought it immediately. (It even has interesting bonus features.:))

I've only ever heard good things about this film and will be watching it very soon. Anyone else see "Tucker"? It's a Lucasfilm production (with George as exec producer).
 

roundshort

Active member
I have seen and even sat in the car! it has been at FFC's winery in Napa, it is now is Sonoma. A great movie, but for me a bit boring.

I hope you enjoy!
 

roundshort

Active member
right in Glen Ellen,

It has the desk form Godfather, Surfboard form Apocalypse now, armor form Dracula and much more!
 

Deckard

New member
This is a great movie I reccomend to all of my friends. Jeff Bridges is great as usual, definately watch this if you haven't seen it.

Its on HBO from time to time.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Lucas produced this stalled project out of his interest in automobiles... or something else? From the bio of minor character Alex Tremulis:
The sole designer of the ill-fated 1948 “Tucker Torpedo”, he had many other automotive, railroad, aircraft and spacecraft designs to his credit, including the original design for what evolved into today's space shuttle, and very possibly being the inventor of the term "flying saucer".
During his tenure in the Air Corps, he made the first speculative drawings of what extra-terrestrial life forms would use as transportation to visit the Earth. His concept drawings were the first saucer shaped spacecraft drawings documented. This concept generated much controversy, following which (in 1947) the even more famous Roswell "UFO incident" occurred. Freelance writer Deke Houlgate speculated at a 1990 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) tribute to Tremulis: "Do we have Alex Tremulis to thank for 40 years of speculation over space visitors?"
2740727.jpg

4267068.jpg


Having launched the saucer craze, Tremulis secured a patent in 1951 for illuminated hood ornaments:

4245217.jpg
 

phantom train

New member
"Tucker: The Man and his Dream" is an excellent film - I've seen it a couple of times on DVD, but never saw it in the theatre.

Very underrated, and IMHO definitely one of JB's best films.
 

Sea Monarch

New member
First glimpse of Indy 3

Ah, Tucker. The movie that would officially reintroduce me to Jeff Bridges (only saw his King Kong when I was really little, didn't remember it being the same guy), and win me over to his great acting!
I wanted to catch this in theaters in '88, but had limited opps to see movies that summer, and it felt like it left the screens relatively quickly. Wanted to see Willow really badly and didn't get to catch that till VHS. What does that tell ya?
No, I got to see the likes of Crocodile Dundee II (liked), Roger Rabbit (overrated), and Beetlejuice (great, and carried into the summer from spring), and Phantasm II (let's not go there).

While I agree with roundshort, this movie can feel a bit slow, I enjoyed this little slice of Yesteryear Americana, and soaked it up. I loved little flourishes, like the way they showed Tucker, and his wife talking on the phone, shot as if they were in the same room together. It reminded me of the way I could imagine other movies might have looked from that period.
I loved the charisma, that Jeff infused his character with. To where you believed he was the type of guy that his friends/employees would have got in the trenches, and gone to the matts for. That his belief in his dreams was contagious. And his dreams, no matter how lofty, were attainable.
Also, a sobering lesson on the powers that try to stifle independence, and vision, because of greed, jealousy, etc, and the battle one must fight often times to see those dreams realized. But ultimately hopeful, in the triumph of the human spirit, and the American dream.

I loved the music to this flick, provided by Joe Jackson, that (naturally) had a hip, jazzy vibe to it, while harkening back to a more perceivably innocent time in America. Hold that Tiger, indeed!!!
Funny, how I didn't at the time understand the comment made by Howard Hughes, about Pistachios, and the underlining reason for that quirky scene.

Also noteworthy are performances by Joan Allen, Martin Landau (if I remember right, Oscar nomination/or win for this role), and a young Christian Slater in what may be his first movie role.

But my favorite moment associated with this movie, was upon finally watching it on VHS in early spring '89 when it had just been released, Paramount was nice enough to include a teaser trailer, for a certain adventure movie starring A Mr. Harrison Ford, and A Mr. Sean Connery.
It was my first glimpse of footage for Indy III, which I had so eagerly been awaiting since I heard the news about a year earlier! (y) And I still remember laughing out loud when Ford says "Hardest part is keeping your hat on...There, that should do it" As he pretends to staple his head!:D
I probably rewound and watched that trailer about 7 times, before I proceeded with Tucker!:) I could, because I had the TV all to myself since it was a "sick day";)
And Last Crusade was only a few short months away, and I already had my new Fedora, I got for Christmas, ready to don!
Oh,.... um, right...yeah. And Tucker's a pretty good movie too.:eek:
 
Top