Car Movies

Tucker: The Man and His Dream is a 1988 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Jeff Bridges which tells the story of Preston Tucker and his attempt to produce and market the Tucker ’48.

Plot

The film is initially presented as a kitschy promotional movie/documentary made in the 1940s, complete with a eccentric narrator and flashy titles that decorate the screen. The story concerns Preston Tucker’s (Jeff Bridges) dream of making a safe and reliable family automobile – with technological innovations that were rather radical at the time. As a result, the established car manufacturers considered his car a threat to their products. Tucker’s car could be built for a fraction of the money it took the mainstream carmakers to construct one. His car also featured a wide array of extras like disc brakes, seat belts, a fuel-injected engine in the rear, a padded dashboard, and a front windshield that popped out in a severe collision. These ideas were considered revolutionary at the time, and as Tucker began to make his car a reality, the Big Three and the authorities in Washington, D.C. worked together to ruin him.

Production

The film’s inception can be traced as far back as 1976 when Coppola considered it as a potential project with Marlon Brando playing Tucker. Nothing ever materialized and so Coppola ended up meeting with composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein with the idea of transforming the film into a musical comedy. This approach was deemed “impractical” and the film was shelved again. Studios at the time were not interested in doing a film on a rather obscure historical figure like Preston Tucker.

It wasn’t until 1986 that Tucker became a viable commodity in the eyes of a studio. This was due in large part to the involvement of Coppola’s close friend and cinematic contemporary, George Lucas who guaranteed a $25 million budget for the film.

Coppola had a certain amount of personal affiliation with the material. His father had been one of the original investors in Tucker stock and since Coppola was a young boy he had always admired the inventor’s short-lived legacy. Coppola stated in an interview that, “It was that beautiful, gleaming car that caught my imagination, but it was also something else: the whole notion of what our country was going to be like in twenty or thirty years, based on our new position in the world…our technological inventiveness.”

Principal photography for Tucker began on April 13, 1987 shot on location in and around the Bay Area. George Lucas’ input on the production side of things helped Coppola immensely as his wife, Eleanor remembers, “Usually he’s at odds with the production side of things; they haven’t understood him, and haven’t given him money in the areas where he needed it. On Tucker, he felt relieved to turn over some of the responsibility to George, who’s a fellow filmmaker.” Lucas not only loaned his state-of-the-art sound facilities to Coppola, but his own expertise in filmmaking as well.

The famed stylist, Alex Tremulis, who was hired by Tucker and given just six days to finalize the design, served as a consultant for the movie.

[edit] The cars

Fortunately for producers of this movie, 48 of the original 51 Tucker cars still exist, and many are in excellent condition. These cars were borrowed from members of the Tucker Automobile Club (some of whom were allowed to be extras in the film), and a number of Tucker replicas were also built specifically for the movie. These replicas were used to supplement to original Tuckers used in the film.

A green Tucker shown in the track scene where the car is being driven for 24 hours straight to test its endurance, rolls over, becoming a dented wreck. However, this car wasn’t a Tucker. It was an old Studebaker sedan that used replica Tucker body panels, Tuckers being too valuable. This car, still in its wrecked state, is presently on display at a car museum in Tallahassee, Florida.

Heart Like a Wheel is a 1983 biographical film based on the life of drag racing driver Shirley Muldowney. It stars Bonnie Bedelia and Beau Bridges.

The film garnered two award nominations: Bedelia for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama, and William Theiss for an Academy Award for Costume Design.

Plot summary

In 1956 Schenectady, New York, waitress Shirley Roque (Bonnie Bedelia) marries auto mechanic Jack Muldowney (Leo Rossi) over the mild objections of her singer father Tex (Hoyt Axton), who wants her to be able to take care of herself, rather than having to rely on a husband. Jack buys a gas station, Shirley becomes a housewife, and they have a son.

For fun, Jack races his sportscar against others on deserted stretches of road late at night. One time, Shirley talks him into letting her drive. She wins and continues winning. A chance encounter with professional driver “Big Daddy” Don Garlits (Bill McKinney) gives her the idea to look for sponsorship from one of the major car manufacturers, despite her husband’s skepticism. This being the 1950s, a pretty housewife is not taken seriously, especially since there are no women pro drivers at all. But when she returns home, Jack tells her that he can build her a dragster.

In 1966, she is ready. She still needs to get three signatures before she can get her National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) license, nearly impossible in the macho racing world. Finally, Garlits (seeing an opportunity to broaden the popularity of the sport) signs, followed by funny car driver Connie Kalitta (Beau Bridges), who has his own reasons; Connie talks a reluctant third driver into going along. In her first attempt to qualify for a race, she sets a track record. Later, during a dinner with their respective spouses, Connie gets her alone, makes a pass at her, and gets slapped in the face.

Shirley becomes successful, racing on weekends, but when Connie decides to move up to Top Fuel dragsters, she wants to buy his funny car and compete year round. This is the last straw for her husband, who just wants his wife back, and they separate.

Connie and Shirley become involved, despite his continual philandering. In a 1973 race, her funny car is destroyed and she herself is seriously burned. When Connie is suspended indefinitely by the NHRA for fighting on her behalf, she tells him that she is going to Top Fuel. He becomes her crew chief. She wins her first NHRA national event in 1976, then the World Championship in 1977. Finally, tired of Connie’s womanizing, she drops him from her team. Angry, he gets himself reinstated by the NHRA.

Shirley, with little sponsorship and an inexperienced crew, has two lean years, but rebounds in 1980. She races against Kalitta in that year’s NHRA championship final. The film ends with her victory and their reconciliation, and her ex-husband (who had watched the victory on TV) giving her a private cheer.

King Of The Mountain is a 1981 film starring Harry Hamlin, Joseph Bottoms, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Richard Cox, Seymour Cassel and Dennis Hopper about a group that race their cars up and down Mulholland Drive for both money and prestige.

The film’s primary focus is Steve (Harry Hamlin), who has found himself generally content with his uncomplicated life of working and racing. This creates some amount of tension between him and his friends, who have been losing their interest in racing and have been attempting to make serious inroads in the music industry. Steve’s blossoming relationship with singer Tina (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) causes him to re-think his mantra, as he realizes that a truly fulfilling life involves more than just work and play.

The film was poorly regarded critically and did not perform well in the box office, although it was significant in being among the first films about street racing. It also marked somewhat of a return for Dennis Hopper, who had spent several months secluded away from Los Angeles prior to making his appearance.

Story

Steve works at a Porsche repair garage by day but by night reigns as the “King of The Mountain”, the most successful and talented of a group that organize, wager on and participate in races up and down the narrow, winding roads of Mulholland Drive in the hills on the edge of the San Fernando Valley. In his highly tuned 356 Speedster, Steve races against both newcomers and veterans alike, never really considering the risks associated with the lifestyle or if there might be more for him elsewhere.

The film’s climax depicts a dangerous, high speed race down the hill between Steve and Cal (Dennis Hopper), the former King who still clings to his aging and dilapidated Corvette.