Used Cars – IOTW Report

Used Cars

Earlier in the day I used this image on a post –>

If you know what this is, good for you. If you don’t, you should correct it ASAP.

It’s Kurt Russell. He plays Rudy Russo in a very funny movie called Used Cars.

Rudy finds out he can be a state senator if he just makes a payola payment. But he’s a sheister used car salesman at a rundown lot that sells mostly clunkers. He works for a father figure named Luke Fuchs, played by Jack Warden, an honest guy with a heart of gold, and also a heart condition. He’s slowing down, thinking of retirement. Rudy needs to have Luke step up his game, or get out of the way and let Rudy do it for him.

Luke’s brother, Roy L. Fuchs (also played by Jack Warden) is more ambitious, and devious, and has a used car lot right across the street. Luke and Roy are bitter rivals. A highway is planned to pass right through the area, right over Roy’s lot. He wants Luke’s lot, even if it means killing Luke.

Rudy Russo, meanwhile, has his own plans. He needs fast cash. He needs the used car lot to sell out its inventory, quick, and comes up with a unique marketing strategy.

Used Cars was produced by Steven Spielberg, and directed by Robert Zemeckis, in 1980. It scored highest among test groups that year, and Columbia Pictures felt it didn’t need much publicity. Unfortunately they released it a week after Airplane! and they were buried. Now it is a cult classic.

Kurt Russell is pretty solid in whatever he does, and he’s perfect in this role. It takes a lot of talent for the viewer to root for a total scumbag. Russell pulls it off.

Here are a few clips.

The “Toby” scene-

The “50 Bucks Never Killed Anyone” scene-

The “Iranian Students” scene –

I never saw this trailer before, it makes the movie seem a bit crude, maybe it is… but it’s very funny –

36 Comments on Used Cars

  1. Most timely quotes from “Used Cars”:

    Jeff: “For Christ’s sake, we’re fuckin’ with the President of the United States.”

    Rudy: “He fucks with us, doesn’t he?”

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  2. That beagle! 😂 I trained my now departed Bernese Mtn. Dog to flop over “dead” when I pretended to shoot him (he did it in slow motion. Lol) I miss that dog!

    I’ve never heard of the movie; looks pretty entertaining.

    13
  3. Seriously though Kurt Russell is a national treasure.

    Like Used Cars, if you haven’t seen ‘Captain Ron’ you really should.
    I watched it again just a couple of weeks ago.

    BTW, I won’t include the entire movie synopsis here…
    AHEM!
    Just sayin’

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  4. Here’s another timeless one:

    Roy L. Fuchs: “I’ll tell you something. This country is going to the dogs. You know, it used to be when you bought a politician, that son of a bitch stayed bought.“

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  5. Kurt has been a favorite of mine for decades. He does comedy so well. Captain Ron is a classic. He’s a legend in Aspen, lives right out of town in a beautiful home he built himself. A man’s man, excellent chef, hunter and his wines are pricy but delicious. Big on 2A.

    Of all of his movies, I still love watching Overboard at least once/year. If you’ve never seen Bone Tomahawk, settle in for a hell of a ride. There’s scene near the end that will blow you away.

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  6. BTW people, there was NOTHING given away in my synopsis. That is bullshit. It’s called describing the premise of the the movie. The movie trailer in the theater would give away more of the plot.

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  7. Another good one:

    Jeff: “No-one’s going to believe he went to Miami, nobody goes to Miami!”
    – Rudy: “Old people go to Miami, he’s old isn’t he? Where do you want him to go, Aspen?”

    4
  8. “Toby wants to go for a test drive. Dontcha Toby?”

    Great baseball documentary about Kurt Russell’s father Bing Russell.
    The Battered Bastards of Baseball
    The Battered Bastards of Baseball is a 2014 documentary film about the Portland Mavericks, a defunct minor league baseball team in Portland, Oregon. They played five seasons in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, from 1973 through 1977. Owned by actor Bing Russell, the Mavericks were an independent team, without the affiliation of a parent team in the major leagues. The title is from a line in Jim Bouton’s 1970 book Ball Four: “Us battered bastards of baseball are the biggest customers of the U.S. Post Office, forwarding-address department.”

    5
  9. Absolutely one of my favorite movies. Tipped to it by a friend when it first came out. Saw it. Loved it. Later I had to hire an outfit of vagabond salespeople to sell out a family business. This experience taught me that the movie was not that farfetched.

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