USED CARS / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ROBERT ZEMECKIS / SCREENPLAY: ROBERT ZEMECKIS, BOB GALE / STARRING: KURT RUSSELL, JACK WARDEN, GERRIT GRAHAM, DEBORAH HARMON / RELEASE DATE: 12TH AUGUST
The feuding Fuchs brothers (both played by Warden) have car sales lots on opposite sides of the road. Whereas Roy runs a respectable establishment, the Mayor is about to green-light a new road going straight through his showroom. Roy’s brother, Luke, owns the other car lot, which sells cars of dubious quality, enabled by his best salesman, Rudy (Russell), and Roy wants to take over the land so he can move over the road and have the biggest car sales lot in the area. Roy is also not against using underhand tactics to get his way…
When one of his plots ends up with Luke dying from a heart attack, Rudy and his pals, knowing that Roy can take over the lot if Luke’s death is confirmed, cover it up and try to carry on usual. While all this is going on, Rudy is also trying to get enough capital together to run for State Senator and, to confuse matters further, Luke’s daughter, Barbara, suddenly turns up out of the blue. Rudy tries to keep Luke’s death a secret while he woos her, but the ruse doesn’t last long and Barbara fires him when she finds out. Barbara is then stitched up by Roy and taken to court to prove she has as many cars as she claims in a commercial – only for Rudy to and a bunch of drivers-ed students to swoop in and save the day.
Most early 80s comedies have dated badly, mostly because of crude humour, but Used Cars still shows itself to be harmless enough, which is perhaps not that surprising considering the involvement of Zemeckis and Gale. Although the comedy value of Luke’s corpse is not taken to Weekend at Bernie’s levels, there are more than enough moments on show to make you smirk, many involving one of the most lovable dogs on screen. Russell was still honing his skills here, but manages to make Rudy a fast-talking loveable rogue rather than the slimy womanising scumbag that he could so easily have been. The supporting cast all do their jobs well and, as a result, although Used Cars doesn’t have that total new car smell, it does have an aura of an older classic that has a few miles left on the clock. It’s a reliable old runner and well worth a test drive.
