Tucker: The Man and His Dream

Francis Ford Coppola’s vehicle stars Jeff Bridges as the real-life automaker whose dream car was detoured by rivals in the 1940s. Vera: Joan Allen. Abe: Martin Landau. Eddie: Frederic Forrest. Jimmy: Mako. Alex: Elias Koteas. Junior: Christian Slater. Marilyn: Nina Siemaszko. Bennington: Dean Goodman., Based on the real-life story of would-be automobile mogul Preston Tucker and his struggle to produce the groundbreaking Tucker Torpedo in 1947. But the established car manufacturers take a dim view of Tucker and his plans, and use every trick in the book to put their new rival out of business., Director Francis Ford Coppola pays homage to Preston Tucker, the man who planned a range of futuristic automobiles in the years following World War II. Tucker’s dreams are hampered by American corporate self-interest before they are even out of the garage. Jeff Bridges is the enthusiastic inventor, Joan Allen his wife, the same combination that star in political drama The Contender. Of the 51 Tucker cars that actually rolled off the production line, two are owned by movie moguls. Coppola himself has one. The other is owned by his film school pal George Lucas. The film parallels Coppola’s own struggle against the Hollywood Studio establishment as he tried, unsuccessfully, to build a rival, the Zoetrope studio in San Francisco., Film biography of legendary car designer Preston Tucker and his struggle to produce the groundbreaking Tucker Torpedo., History tells us that would-be automobile mogul Preston Tucker was a silver-tongued con man, who misappropriated his investors’ money and played fast and loose with ethics and legalities in the pursuit of his dream. Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola isn’t buying this: to hear Coppola tell it, Tucker was “Mr. Smith Goes to Detroit,” a sincere visionary who tried and failed to buck the Big Three auto manufacturers. Moreover, he was a staunch defender of family values, as witness his inseparable relationship with his loyal wife (Joan Allen) and adoring children. It was for his family’s sake, rather than any dreams of financial gain, that Tucker created the oddball three-headlight vehicle which he envisioned as the “car of the future”. Naturally, the corporate fat cats of 1947 can’t abide competition from a rugged individualist; thus, with several politicos in their pockets, they crush the Tucker and the man who built it. We’d have been more inclined to believe the story had Coppola adopted a straightforward Capraesque approach and not utilized all sorts of complicated camera trickery. Somehow, by presenting Tucker in so showoffy a directorial manner, the character comes off more as a sleight-of-hand artist than a bastion of sincerity. Even so, Jeff Bridges does a nice job as Tucker, as does Martin Landau as Tucker’s incongruous business partner. Jeff’s dad, Lloyd Bridges, appears in an uncredited role as a “bought” senator.