Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)

The story of Preston Tucker, the maverick car designer and his ill-fated challenge to the auto industry with his revolutionary car concept.

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writers:

Arnold Schulman, David Seidler

Stars:

Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, Martin Landau

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeff Bridges	...	Preston Tucker
Joan Allen	...	Vera Tucker
Martin Landau	...	Abe / Voice of Walter Winchell
Frederic Forrest	...	Eddie
Mako	...	Jimmy
Elias Koteas	...	Alex Tremulis
Christian Slater	...	Junior
Nina Siemaszko	...	Marilyn Lee
Anders Johnson	...	Johnny
Corin Nemec	...	Noble Tucker (as Corky Nemec)
Marshall Bell	...	Frank
Jay O. Sanders	...	Kirby
Peter Donat	...	Otto Kerner
Dean Goodman	...	Bennington / Drew Pearson's Voice
John X. Heart	...	Ferguson's Agent

Storyline

Based on a true story. Shortly after World War II, Preston Tucker is a grandiose schemer with a new dream, to produce the best cars ever made. With the assistance of Abe Karatz and some impressive salesmanship on his own part, he obtains funding and begins to build his factory. The whole movie also has many parallels with director Coppola's own efforts to build a new movie studio of his own.

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Plot Keywords:

car | factory | industry | dream | police | 

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Taglines:

When they tried to buy him, he refused. When they tried to bully him, he resisted. When they tried to break him, he became an American legend. The true story of Preston Tucker.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 August 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tucker - Ein Mann und sein Traum

Filming Locations:

City Hall - 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$23,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$19,652,638 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lucasfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While in post-production of Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola met with Burt Reynolds about playing Preston Tucker, stating how much he resembled the young Tucker in real life. Unfortunately delays due to story development and logistics as well as commitments to other projects, the film was not made until 1988, by which time Reynolds was too old to play the part.

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Goofs

Widescreen images dependent upon lenses not available until 1953 even for theatrical films are used in internal documentaries and the public relation footage in a movie set in 1947 or 1948.

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Quotes

Preston Tucker: [revealing his graphics] The car of tomorrow... today.

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Crazy Credits

Photographs of the real Preston Tucker appear during the closing credits.

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Connections

Featured in The Slanted Screen (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Song of India"
Written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (as Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov)
Arrangement by Bob Wilber
Courtesy of Tusken Music

User Reviews

An interesting look into some American automotive history.

Preston Tucker was a man with a dream. He actually advertised his new car and even took advanced orders for it. But the truth is that there was never a chance that Tucker would ever be able to deliver on his promises. Jeff Bridges plays the would be automotive tycoon with an Oscar going to his co-star Martin Landau for his portrayal of "Abe" Tucker's business manager. You will enjoy seeing most all of the remaining Tuckers in this film. This is a good film and I recommend it.