Comments on: Robert Zemeckis' "Used Cars"

Robert Zemeckis' "Used Cars"

Trurl — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:03:58 -0800

The concept of Used Cars originated with writer-director-producer John Milius, who pitched the idea to scribes Zemeckis and Gale while they were still hard at work on what would become 1941. ... Zemeckis shot Cars in a breakneck 28 days at a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership in Mesa, Ariz. ... Despite its low profile, the film received a great deal of critical acclaim, including the notoriously finicky Pauline Kael...who described Cars as "a classic screwball fantasy — a neglected modern comedy that's like a more restless and visually high-spirited version of the W.C. Fields pictures."*

Throughout, you will be on your feet for this cheap-looking, utterly tasteless film that revels in its misanthropy and misogyny without a shred of irony or remorse. ... It's the slobs versus the assholes in an underrated classic, in which Kurt Russell has never been used to greater effect.

By: asperity

asperity — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:08:11 -0800

I love this movie so, so, so much. Family favorite that would never get made today.

By: Blue_Villain

Blue_Villain — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:18:06 -0800

Sadly, when I worked as a used car salesperson, this movie was actually used as a training video. Multiple times. /sigh

By: h00py

h00py — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:18:24 -0800

I'll often say, when the context is right, "you killed my dog, mister!" in exactly the same way as the guy in the movie did (well, as close as I can get to it, anyway) and in fact was doing so for many years whilst wracking my brain as to which movie it came from. Thanks, Internet! I had the same thing happen with the line, "no more" which has to be whimpered, from Poltergeist. 80's movies. Some are worth remembering, at least some lines from them anyway.

By: Yakuman

Yakuman — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:22:24 -0800

John Milius went on to make the ultimate Cold War movie, Red Dawn. And I was the only person who ever saw his Flight of the Intruder. Lots of people saw Apocalypse Now. He's something of a right-wing biker anarchist. Long story.

By: rmmcclay

rmmcclay — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:22:44 -0800

I consider Used Cars, Big Trouble in Little China and Captain Ron to be Russell's best performances.

By: The demon that lives in the air

The demon that lives in the air — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:23:37 -0800

h00py: oh god, I'm so glad mine wasn't the only family to gleefully shout TEST DRIVE WITH TOBY!!!! at any reasonable opportunity. That dog steals every scene he's in.

By: unliteral

unliteral — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:27:10 -0800

fred will be happy.

By: nathancaswell

nathancaswell — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:30:56 -0800

I consider Used Cars, Big Trouble in Little China and Captain Ron to be Russell's best performances. This comment contains a shockingly small amount of The Thing.

By: Roman Graves

Roman Graves — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:33:51 -0800

This comment contains a shockingly small amount of The Thing. That's a different Kurt Russell, the MacReady/Plissken/Earp Russell.

By: dirtdirt

dirtdirt — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:41:02 -0800

Ok, so, with my addition, we have it narrowed down to: "Kurt Russell's best performances are in Used Cars, Big Trouble in Little China, The Thing, Escape From New York, Tombstone, Captain Ron and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes".

By: charlie don't surf

charlie don't surf — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:43:40 -0800

Oh yes I truly love that movie. It has everything you ever wanted in a movie: greed, lust, political corruption, murder, explosions, monumental driving stunts, hell, it even has Lenny and Squiggy. The whole scene about the 250 cars driving across the desert is a good metaphor for the movie as a whole. It propels itself more by sheer will than by its ability to deliver on its promises. But I can't believe anyone could even imagine doing a FPP on Used Cars without a video of the most famous scene, the bootleg commercial where they destroy his competitor's most expensive cars, declaring "we blew the shit out of that overpriced motherfucker, just the way we blow the shit out of ALL high prices!"

By: nathancaswell

nathancaswell — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:44:56 -0800

Tombstone There were other people in Tombstone besides Val Kilmer? I didn't remember.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:46:37 -0800

"If I can build and install a pacemaker in this man's chest..."

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:50:43 -0800

Robert Zemeckis is underrated and Used Cars is awesome.

By: destro

destro — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:51:52 -0800

Classic

By: Senor Cardgage

Senor Cardgage — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:54:40 -0800

I was having drinks with a friend a month or so back while watching Grindhouse when it occurred to us that Kurt Russell is pretty much our generation's John Wayne. Except John Wayne is fucking boring and Kurt Russell is infinitely awesome.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:58:02 -0800

I remember, or misremember, Used Cars being one of those movies that was infinitely replayed on TV networks in the mid to late 80s. It seemed to always be on whenever I visited my folks, who didn't have cable and didn't rent movies often.

By: Senor Cardgage

Senor Cardgage — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:58:51 -0800

BTW, this (awesome) flick features Gerritt Graham's second best performance ever.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:15:21 -0800

I had the promotional gag model set for this movie! I even tried putting it together one holiday when I was bored. It turned out to be a Camaro. I wonder how much money I squandered doing that.

By: charlie don't surf

charlie don't surf — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:16:48 -0800

I remember, or misremember, Used Cars being one of those movies that was infinitely replayed on TV networks in the mid to late 80s. Yeah, but it was always the censored version without the swearing and the naked Penthouse Pets.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:33:44 -0800

John Milius went on to make the ultimate Cold War movie, Red Dawn. Hmmm? I saw Red Dawn during its initial theatrical run. My memory is that I walked out of the theater feeling embarrassed to be a white, North American male.

By: charlie don't surf

charlie don't surf — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:24:27 -0800

funny how your memory plays tricks on you like that.

By: Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner

Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:26:06 -0800

Glad to see some love for Used Cars, which has been a favorite of mine since I first saw it back in the 1980s. It may be silly, crude and cheaply made, but it delivers laughs and still holds up pretty well today. Russell and Graham both gave entertaining performances, and let's not forget Jack Warden, who was very funny in both his roles.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:00:45 -0800

Only seen this once, and don't remember it well, but do remember it starting out slowly and gradually building to a rather exciting climax (though not an action movie per se). Funny, too.

By: Grangousier

Grangousier — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:25:24 -0800

Today you could read Red Dawn as an ironic comment on the U.S.' experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, though. Ah, John Milius. He was the Frank Miller of his day.

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:17:17 -0800

I think it's possible that the ultimate Cold War movie can be the same movie that makes you embarassed to be a white, North American male. In fact, some might say it's a prerequisite. full disclosure: I loved it. But I also loved Toy Soldiers for the same fantasy fulfillment reasons. And by that time, I should have known better.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:38:28 -0800

...John Milius, who pitched the idea to scribes Zemeckis and Gale while they were still hard at work on what would become 1941...Zemeckis shot Cars in a breakneck 28 days And Used Cars is the far better comedy for it, whereas 1941 fails exactly because it was lavished so much attention, money, and time.

By: tommasz

tommasz — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:58:41 -0800

Yellow primer.

By: Naberius

Naberius — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:04:10 -0800

Milius has long demanded - as a clause he has included in his contracts - that if you want to hire him for a writing gig, part of his payment is that you have to buy him a gun.

By: whuppy

whuppy — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:15:17 -0800

That chase scene is right up there with The Road Warrior. Ahh, the lost art of real stunts and non-CGI action.

By: mysterpigg

mysterpigg — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:38:41 -0800

Robert Zemeckis is underrated ... I disagree. This is the guy who directed the Back to the Future Series, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Forrest Gump. Then you add other pretty good movies like Castaway, Death Becomes Her and Romancing the Stone. Even if you consider his later MoCap movies to be of lesser quality, I still don't believe he falls anywhere near "underrated".

By: sciencejock

sciencejock — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:14:29 -0800

Twenty years ago my friends and I were out having a few beers and someone quoted used cars. We all agreed it was one of the all-time best, and then one of the guys says, "hey, I've got an old recording of Used Cars from HBO at home on Beta. Let's go watch it." So we all go to his place and watch the first 90 minutes or so which takes you right up to the middle of the 250 car chase. All of a sudden the video stops and we can hear his machine rewinding. We all look at him like, "WTF?" and then he says, "oh, yeah. I forgot the beta tapes are only 90 minutes so I don't have the end." It took all our restraint to keep from killing him. Bad enough, right? It only took about 2 years for us to ALL forget that the end was missing when we did the same damn thing AGAIN another drunken night.

By: perhapses

perhapses — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:21:11 -0800

Almost every time I see a red car, a voice inside my head says, "Maroon, my ass. That motherfucker is red."

By: aquanaut

aquanaut — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:33:53 -0800

Heh. I ditched 9th grade to be an extra in this movie. Most vivid memory: Kurt Russell bored sh*tless between takes, caked in makeup, standing in the parking lot picking up handfuls of gravel and throwing it one piece at a time back on the ground.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:37:27 -0800

> I ditched 9th grade to be an extra in this movie. Are you in the final cut?

By: aquanaut

aquanaut — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:45:28 -0800

Yup, standing on the median in the background of a shot of a car screeching into the car lot from Main Street.