Used Cars (1980)
We always say the best music, movies and TV shows have all been made, we’re here to help you remember them all.
1980’s “Used Cars” is proof of that.
This is a must-see for anyone who loves a good laugh – check that… massive amounts of laughs with gags and one-liners that’ll permeate their way into your vocabulary for life. If you’re planning a “male-bonding” Monday, this is the movie to kick it off.
Kurt Russell plays Rudy Russo, a young and cunning car salesman with aspirations of running for the state senate. He works at the struggling New Deal used car lot owned by Luke Fuchs, a nice guy who agrees to help invest $10,000 in Rudy’s campaign if he promises to keep the business alive.
Meanwhile, across the street, Luke’s twin brother and arch-competitor Roy L. Fuchs (also played by Warden) is desperate to keep his used-car lot from being demolished and replaced by a proposed freeway exit.
Wanting to collect life insurance money and New Deal from Luke, Roy hires his mechanic, demolition derby driver Mickey, to recklessly drive Luke’s 1957 Chevrolet Two-Ten around the block with Luke in the passenger’s seat. After the car crashes back into the lot, Luke dies of a heart attack but leaves Rudy with evidence that Roy staged the “accident”.
To prevent Roy from gaining any inheritance, Rudy has his superstitious co-worker Jeff and mechanic Jim help him bury Luke in the lot’s backyard in an Edsel that was once New Deal’s sign ornament. When Roy comes looking for Luke the next day, they explain that Luke took the Edsel on vacation to Miami and this is where the craziness begins. There are so many crazy scenes that are so unique to this movie!
What a great cast! Kurt Russell, Joe Flaherty, Jack Warden, Frank McCrae, Gerrit Graham, Deborah Harmon, “Toby” and The Munsters’ “Grandpa” Al Lewis as “Hangin’ Judge Harrison. Throw in Lenny and Squiggy breaking into President Carter’s address to the nation and you have all the makings of a movie that will keep you laughing.
The movie was budgeted for 8 million dollars. While it only grossed a little under 12 million at the box office, the movie has since become a right of passage for male-bonding sessions and a classic among true fans of comedy.
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