Tin Men

1987 "The American Dream changes. The people who sell it don't."
6.6| 1h52m| R| en| More Info
Released: 06 March 1987 Released
Producted By: Touchstone Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

A minor car accident drives two rival aluminum-siding salesmen to the ridiculous extremes of man versus man in 1963 Baltimore.

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Reviews

Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.
videorama-759-859391 Yeah I finally watched it. I heard my Dad commend it back a couple of years, after it's late 87 cinema release. Coincidentally it opened up the same day as Hellraiser, which is kind of what these two, smooth talking aluminum salesmen (better known in the field as tin men) bring down on each other after a little vehicular ruckus. Both roles are filled with the right shoes, that of talented Devito, as the ill cautious, and accidental hitter, Tilley and Dreyfuss, overzealous, fired up, BB as the reckless, backer out er, in what is a rental car too. What ensues, is a warring feud of car wreaking and insults, and near punch ups. Dreyfuss, the real eager vengeful beaver, ups the revenge, when he makes a move on Devito's wife, Nora (the always great Hershey, who like her co stars and some others were enjoying the fruits of their careers thanks to Touchstone video) Of course, he falls in love with her, and as for Devito's reaction, you could say it was like that of Ruthless People. Look, I did enjoy tin men up to a point. It just didn't live up to my expectations. Not enough things happened for starters, between our rivals, like a consistency of revenge tricks and stunts. There were not enough plot turns, or developments, or things happening in the movie. There was like holding back, where I did feel, short changed. The dialogue, although very good, was too serious to be funny, I only cracked a couple of laughs throughout the movie. What I did like, funnily enough, was Dreyfuss and Devito's reconciliation, where they finally made peace, and Hershey as the woman in the middle, made the right choice, I think. I loved the reconstruction of the period, 1963 (same as in The Wanderers) that was excellent, and I really enjoyed John 'Frasier' Mahoney's performance as tin man legend, Moe, one of BB's mob, as I did enjoy Brad Sullivan, (Slapshot's dirty old man) as the Grill chief of the union. Too the much missed J.T Walsh, a great actor way too soon. Take Tin Man, an entertaining well shot film noir, comedy drama, where if a salesman, you can draw your own verdict. Fine Young Cannibal's string of appearances in this, go together like chips sprinkled with sugar.
g-bodyl Tin Men is a funny film that really focuses on the theme of man vs. man. When I mean funny, I don't mean it in the term of the general laugh-out-loud sense, but more in the reins of a "smart" funny. What I'm trying to say is don't expect much slapstick from this film despite being labeled as a comedy. That being said, this film is your typical 80's drama/comedy and is reasonably entertaining. It has good acting, good writing, and a good script. However, the movie felt just a tad long despite it being under two hours.This film, which is directed by Barry Levinson, is about two tin men who are both aluminum-panel sellers. After a fender-bender, these two men becomes ultimate rivals and do anything to create havoc with each other.This film is well-acted thanks to the strong leads by Danny DeVito and Richard Dreyfuss. They have good chemistry between each other and each shows off their comedic chops. Personally, I felt the film is at it's best when we see problem after problem occurring to DeVito's character, whose life goes sharply downhill over the course of the film.Overall, Tin Men is a solid film that talks about what happens when fate pit two rivals against each other. The back and forth between these two men are enlightening and often entertaining to watch. Not the best film on Levinson's resume, but it's still a solid, smart film. I rate this film 8/10.
Richard Burin Tin Men (Barry Levinson, 1987) is a nifty examination of the American Dream, focusing on a pair of aluminum-siding salesmen in early-'60s Baltimore who engage in an escalating campaign of retribution after their Cadillacs collide. Richard Dreyfuss is a sharp-shooting huckster in a powder blue suit, Danny DeVito a down-on-his-luck nighthawk trying to stay in the game. Just as they rely on sheen and trickery to flog their wares, so the film inveigles its way in with a succession of comic episodes, before revealing itself as an incisive take on the artifice of materialism and machismo - and a compelling character piece. It flirts with the hustlers' romanticised image of themselves, but also shows the reality: they're just a bunch of fraudsters, flogging the American Dream.Tin Men is a subtle, masterfully-crafted little film, boosted by strong performances from the leads (rough edges and fluffed lines intact), nice supporting turns - including Barbara Hershey as DeVito's put-upon wife - and writer-director Barry Levinson's terrific ear for dialogue. His script is realistic but finely-honed and, years before Tarantino provided his own post-modern take on eatery conversation (and some five years after Levinson's own Diner), offers several servings of pop-culture-savvy squabbling that complement the movie's more ambitious elements.There's one excellent exchange in which DeVito tells his friends he'd never seen Dreyfuss before the crash, only to find that pal Stanley Brock won't let it lie. "You musta seen him. He hangs out with Carly Benelli, Cheese... you know, that group," he says. "Don't you remember, he was up at the Corral one night when we there... he's a good dancer. You must have seen him." Eventually DeVito tires of being told what slick moves his adversary has, retorting: "What do you want me to do, date him? What do I give a (expletive deleted) if he's a good dancer?" "I tell you, if I was a girl I would be very impressed," Brock replies. "You're not a girl and you're impressed," counters friend Jackie Gayle.Another of the film's strengths lies in its original plotting: it's almost impossible to second-guess where the story is heading, particularly in the first half. While the next hour does offer some concessions to conventionality, they're entirely in keeping with the characters' shifting mind-sets, and there's generally another trick or two up Levinson's apparently bottomless sleeve. The subplot about the Maryland Home Improvement Commission clamping down on bad practice is perfect. That's not to say the film doesn't have flaws - there are occasional lulls, and a bit more context wouldn't go amiss - but that it's welcome to find a movie so assured in its value, intelligence and razor-sharp sense of humour that the director lets you discover its qualities for yourself. A movie so well-handled that even the way busted scammers hand in their licenses is a snapshot of their characters. Levinson also makes a neat job of paraphrasing the era, with simple but effective production design, smart credits and a first-rate song score by '60s-soundalikes Fine Young Cannibals.What starts off as a lively story of obsession and revenge - a funny spin on The Duellists, if you will - ultimately ends up as something more intriguing, durable and worthwhile. And the draft drawings of my revamped house look just about good enough for Life Magazine. I'm covering the place in siding.
Pete Mella A chance car prang by the two main protagonists leads to a drawn out snoozathon which seems to last way longer than its 110 minutes.Despite fine performances from both Devito and Dreyfuss, and the very occasional flash of laugh out loud humour in the script, serious flaws make this almost unwatchable.Firstly the characters' unbelievable reactions to events. Are we really to believe Devito is so unphased by a man stealing his wife? And are we to believe the wife Dreyfuss stole is really going to forget everything and marry him so easily, after she discovers he has lied and deceived his way into her pants simply to annoy a man who reversed into his car? And secondly, the two men's occupation hardly elicits shudders of excitement in the audience. At one point Dreyfuss says, to one of the undercover agents looking for corruption in his trade, something along the lines of: "we only sell aluminium siding. Why are you so interested?". He may as well be addressing the audience directly.Unbelievable, soporific nonsense, that cannot be saved by a fine cast and a few good jokes.