Used Cars

Two used car lots face each other across a road, both owned by brothers. When one dies, the other inherits. A salesman named Rudy hides his boss's death to keep the lot running, sabotages the rival's advertising, cuts into television broadcasts with his own commercials, and lies on top of every previous lie. This is Robert Zemeckis's second film and the tone is startlingly merciless. Nobody is honest, nobody learns anything, and selling is presented less as a trade than as a religion. Kurt Russell gives one of the loosest comic performances of his career. Steven Spielberg and John Milius were executive producers. It took twelve million dollars against an eight million budget, and Zemeckis later said the film was never properly released across the country and that the studio botched it. It became a cult item over the years. Its flaw is that some of the humour is coarse and dated, particularly the jokes aimed at the women. Who it is for: fans of black comedy and pre 1980s American satire. Who it is not for: anyone looking for someone to like.