Used Cars (1980)

In co-writer/director Robert Zemeckis' raucous, bawdy and satirical R-rated black comedy - it portrayed an hilarious rivalry and nasty competition between two used car lot owners - twin brothers who were positioned across the street from each other. The slick salesman working for one car lot dealer (after the owner's fatal heart attack) resorted to drastic measures when his principal twin-brother rival schemed to take over the property.

The cult film became a project for Columbia Pictures after Universal Pictures declined to proceed. The credibility of the film was established when Columbia's studio President Frank Price revealed that he had been a Beverly Hills, CA car salesman. Star actor Kurt Russell also researched the role by observing car salesmen on the job, and the film's writers Zemeckis and Bob Gale visited a notorious car lot in Lubbock, TX to gather material.

On a budget of $8 million, the film grossed $11.7 million. It was heavily promoted and publicized, by the distribution of car-related items, i.e., keychains, discarded car parts (gas caps, dipsticks), and cans of lemon tree seeds ("lemons" referred to defective cars).

• during the opening title credits (to the tune of a marching band playing 'The Stars and Stripes'), the outside of Mesa, AZ's struggling New Deal Used Cars lot was surveyed, where devious, slimy and dishonest used car salesman Rudy Russo (Kurt Russell) worked for kindly and affable, but sickly car lot owner-boss Luke Fuchs (Jack Warden); hot-shot Rudy's cunning tactics to sell junked used cars included lowering the odometer reading of a dilapidated Buick Centurion (from 98,933 to 31,377), holding the detached rear bumper to the car with bubble-gum, and placing a "LOW MILEAGE!" sign on its windshield; on a second car, he placed a "LIKE NEW!" sign and inflated its flat tires with a can of compressed air
• across the street was the more competitive and lucrative rival car dealership (Auto Emporium) run by Luke's shady and more financially-successful, mean and scheming twin brother Roy L. Fuchs (also Jack Warden)

The Auto Emporium Across the Street From Luke's New Deal
The "Auto Emporium" Car Dealership Owned by Roy Fuchs	Twin Brother - Roy L. Fuchs (Jack Warden in a Dual Role)	Roy's Shyster Lawyer Sam Slaton (Joe Flaherty)

• it appeared that Luke's business was being supplied with stolen, cheaply repainted, or salvaged used cars from the nearby junkyard ("Finders Keepers") of Manuel (Alfonso Arau), a Mexican; a string of repainted blue cars (including a yellow taxi cab) was hauled into Luke's lot, and Manuel boasted he had an additional 253 similar cars

New Deal Used Cars
Luke Fuchs (Jack Warden) - Owner of the New Deal Car Lot	Slick New Deal Car Salesman Rudy Russo (Kurt Russell)
Rudy's Superstitious Co-Worker Jeff (Gerrit Graham)	The Dealership's Mechanic Jim (Frank McRae)

• Rudy's co-workers at Luke's New Deal were introduced: extremely superstitious Jeff (Gerrit Graham) (who had an obsessive phobia, believing that the color red meant only trouble and bad luck), and excitable, lazy mechanic Jim (Frank McRae); the self-promoting, ambitious Rudy also revealed to Jeff that he had applied to run for public office as a State Senator for Arizona
• Rudy baited a customer named Stan Dewoski (Beans Morocco) across the street at the competitive dealership with a $10 dollar bill on a fishing line-hook, to get him to cross the dangerous, heavily-trafficked street; fast-talking Rudy conned the duped Stan into buying his advertised Buick Centurion convertible; as Stan drove off, Rudy placed a political bumper sticker (of himself) on the newly-purchased Buick's bumper; then, as he watched the bumper completely fall off, Rudy cursed to Jeff: "Ah, s--t! There goes a perfectly good bumper sticker"
• meanwhile, Roy was being informed by his shyster lawyer and assistant district attorney Sam Slaton (Joe Flaherty) that the Mayor (who had been bribed) had still approved a plan to build a new freeway exit ramp right through his location - and that his car business soon faced demolition teams that would level it; at the same time, boss Luke cautioned Rudy to behave wisely, because his dealership also faced legal and financial trouble and they were still on probation for "consumer fraud"
• Rudy explained to Luke how he was about to become the political machine's candidate, to avoid wasting his life as a used car salesman; however, he had to raise $10,000 dollars more in just six weeks; he had already raised $50,000 for his political campaign, but needed '10 grand' more to reach the total exorbitant fee of $60,000 dollars to "buy the nomination" from the machine; Luke agreed to loan his salesman Rudy the $10,000 dollars, if he promised to prevent his greedy brother Roy from "getting his hands on this lot"; due to Rudy's excitement, he lifted Luke's body with a big bear-hug, but aggravated Luke's heart issues ("a bad ticker") and he went into mild cardiac arrest; Luke was saved when Rudy administered one of his boss' heart pills
• meanwhile across the street, the treacherous Roy was maneuvering with his lawyer to take over his brother's lot, knowing that the freeway ramp construction would be announced publically in just two weeks; they both knew that when the Mayor's secret proposal for a new interstate freeway came to fruition, it would give the New Deal lot a prime spot, and Roy's lot would be bulldozed to construct the freeway exit; they proposed ways to take over Luke's business, such as Roy's arsonist-torching of his own lot and the use of an insurance pay-out to buy out Luke's place; they also considered inheriting the lot, but feared that Luke's missing daughter (for 10 years) might return and be first in line; Roy also thought up a more drastic and destructive alternative - to cause Luke's weak heart to give out
• foul play would be arch-rival Roy's chosen measure - that evening, he sent over his mechanic, demolition derby driver Mickey (Michael Talbott) to impersonate an "interested party" who wished to take a test drive with Luke in one of his favorite vehicles - a beautiful, vintage, robins' egg-blue and white, hand-restored 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, for sale at $2,400; Mickey deliberately chose to have Luke as a passenger for a reckless, scary and hair-raising ride (swerving, crossing a center barrier, playing "chicken" by driving the wrong way, and then rolling and crashing the car back into the lot); as a result, Luke staggered from the car and then suffered a fatal heart-attack, as Rudy was trying to decide on a price with a complaining customer named Charlie (Andrew Duncan) who kept stating: "Fifty bucks never killed anybody"; Charlie and his wife fled from the office (they ran past Jeff who was making out with a female customer in the back of one of the cars on the lot), as Rudy attended to Luke
• it was too late to help Luke and he died in Rudy's arms; Rudy immediately suspected that Roy had set up the 'accident'; he was determined to keep their jobs, prevent Roy from inheriting the business, and to conceal Luke's body after his passing; in a heavy downpour that evening, Rudy and his two co-workers Jeff and Jim placed Luke's body in the driver's seat of Luke's favorite junker - a 1959 green and white Edsel Ranger 4-door sedan (that had served as the lot's sign ornament), and held a brief memorial service for him with a car-related eulogy accompanied by a soundtrack of organ music: (Rudy: "You'll be surrounded by a constantly-revolving inventory of the finest quality, low-mileage discount cars - Ford, Chrysler, General Motors will be your headstone"); then for the remainder of the night, the three buried the vehicle in a rear service pit within the lot
• the next morning, Roy and his lawyer Slaton began snooping around Luke's dealership; they were deceitfully told that Luke had driven off in the Edsel for a vacation in Miami Beach, FL; Roy knew that Rudy was lying, but couldn't prove it
• that evening, one of Rudy's advertising stunts (to increase business) was to have "two electronics whizz-kids" -- Freddie Paris (David L. Lander) with his partner-assistant Eddie Winslow (Michael McKean) -- shoot a TV commercial featuring Jeff with a pretty, sexy blonde sales-girl model named Margaret (Former Penthouse Pet of the Year Cheryl Rixon); during the live film shoot outside a football stadium (in Tempe, AZ) where the Arizona State University Sundevils were playing, their commercial ad was planned to be illegally broadcast during the game's TV feed
• Margaret was coached to spout suggestive words about the purple Olds for sale with "high beams"; Freddie's video camera caught Jeff cursing obscenely at the repainted red car (revealed once the blue lights were replaced with white light sunlights); Rudy (wearing Groucho Marx goggles and a mustache disguise) was pitching New Deal and one of its cars, while Margaret had slipped off the car's hood and snagged part of her dress on the front hood ornament; when Rudy popped open the hood: ("Margaret, let's take a look under the hood, shall we?"), her topless body was exposed, and Freddie zoomed in for a closer shot; audiences everywhere were shocked - one boy pointed at his home's TV screen and exclaimed to his mother and father on the sofa: "Hey, look, bare tits!", as they tried to shield him; Rudy kept pitching: "Come on down to New Deal Used Cars. Come on down and 'squeeze' on us!" - as he also reached over and fondled Margaret

Filming and Broadcasting an Illegal Commercial During a Football Game
Electronic "Whizz-Kid": Freddie Paris (David L. Lander) With Video Camera	The Commercial: Jeff with Sexy Model Margaret (Cheryl Rixon)	Rudy Advertising a "New Deal" Used Car as Margaret Snagged Her Dress
Rudy Popped Open the Car's Hood, Removing Margaret's Dress	Jim with Freddie Filming the Flubbed Ad With a Zoomed-In Close-up	Young Boy: "Hey look, bare tits!"

• the crude ad worked, garnered Southwest Herald headlines the next morning: ("NEW DEAL USED CARS PRE-EMPTS FOOTBALL GAME"), and brought crowds of people to the New Deal used car lot the next day to shop for vehicles; salesman Jeff fooled a family, Al (Claude Earl Jones), his wife (Jan Sandwich), and three kids (Tracy Lee Rowe, Kurtis Sanders, and Clint Lilley) into believing that the lot's mascot beagle dog (Toby) had been run over during a test drive with a station wagon, and guilt-persuaded them to buy the car
• a battle of stunts between the two lots commenced; as a gimmick ("old-fashioned, home-spun entertainment"), Roy hosted a carnival on his lot with rides on circus animals, balloon artists, etc., but the unscrupulous Rudy countered; he distracted Roy's customers by hiring a bunch of female strippers to perform live to disco music while gyrating on the front hoods of their cars; the sexy dancers removed their outer bottoms labeled "LOW-DOWN PRICES" and their tops to reveal pasties (rabbits and dollar signs), causing multiple car accidents on the main street; suggestive double-entendres were announced:
  • "Here at New Deal used cars, we are stripping away inflation! We're taking off those high prices! Yes, we're getting down to the bare minimums on these babies, so come on over and check out the front ends of these beauties and inspect the rear ends too!"
• after the stripper stunt, Rudy became worried when Roy took to the airwaves to denounce the menacing New Deal on the late evening's Channel 12 TV news:
  • "Behind me, as you can see, is the automobile business at its absolute worst. Here we have a group of immoral charlatans, masquerading as businessmen. They will stoop to the lowest, most vulgar, cheap, vile and disgusting ploys to deceive and cheat the honest, hard-working citizen. They are the lowest form of scum on the face of the Earth, and I urge you to stay away from them!"
• with the help of Freddie and his partner Eddie the next day, Rudy again plotted to use microwaves to cut into and jam ComSat signals during President Jimmy Carter's (as Himself, with archival footage) Washington, DC nationwide address (the next day's evening at 9 PM) to the nation on all of the three major networks, and to substitute their own bootlegged ad [Note: If the broadcast was live at 9 PM in Arizona, it would be at least two hours later in DC - an unlikely start time!]
• Luke's estranged daughter (of 10 years) Barbara (Deborah Harmon) happened to arrive in town to be reunited with her father, after dropping out of college and living in a hippie-commune; she drove into the New Deal lot in a red 1971 Toyota Corona, and Rudy immediately noted that she had great legs, but Jeff tried to remind him: "Just don't let the little head do the thinkin' for the big head"; as Jeff had predicted to Rudy, her first skeptical question to his slick come-on was: "Listen, can you tell me where I might find the owner?"; Rudy deceitfully told her that Luke was vacationing in Florida, and she became quite upset because she had called Luke earlier and had been expecting to see him
• to cheer her up and convince her that Luke wasn't avoiding her, Rudy invited her on a date to a bowling alley, where they flirted with each other and told jokes to each other over drinks; she even admitted she formerly worked for the Consumer Protection Agency, a fact that Jeff had feared; she considered leaving the next day and heading onward to Oregon, fearing that her father had fled town after their call; but then after they both expressed how much they enjoyed each other's company (to Rudy's chagrin), she changed her mind and decided to remain in town for a few days until her father returned; she explained that she had been too hasty in judging her father's motivations; naturally, her decision really threw Rudy's plans off-kilter
• to get her out of town the next evening, Jeff had bought Barbara a one-way train ticket to Miami and suggested telling her that Luke had called and wanted her to come see him; the deceptive plan was also designed to distract her from seeing the live filming on the lot of the bootlegged ad (during the President's address); the plan was for Rudy to take her to dinner, give her the ticket, and then deliver her to the midnight train to Miami
• in a fancy restaurant where Rudy was very conflicted and preoccupied with his dilemma about how to give her the train ticket, she discovered the dropped ticket and thought it was considerate of Rudy to buy it for her, but she told him how she was still going to wait for Luke's return; he became aware that a patron at an adjacent table with a portable TV was watching the beginning of the broadcast of The President's address; it was about to be interrupted by their dealership's illegal advertisement at 9:03 PM (showing the live destruction of Roy's rival's cars that were allegedly too expensive)

Rudy Faking a Choking Attack, and Rushing Outside the Restaurant	The Row of TVs in a Store Window
Rudy Kissing Barbara and Holding Her Ears	Rudy Preventing Barbara From Seeing and Hearing Jeff in the Illegal Commercial

• Rudy diverted Barbara's attention from the portable TV with a choking fit, and then with a stomach ache and panic attack; outside, he also distracted her from viewing a wall of TV sets in a TV store window; he passionately kissed her (and plugged her ears and held her head faced away from the window)
• in the spliced-in commercial, Jeff (disguised as a western bearded 'Marshal Lucky' with a shotgun) shouted about how to end high prices by using his shotgun to destroy two offending cars, and then blew up a third car: ("We're lowering inflation not only by fighting High Prices, not only by murdering high prices, but by blowing the living s--t out of High Prices...Yessir, we blew the s--t out of that over-priced motherf--ker, just the way we blow the s--t out of all high prices down here at New Deal Used Cars"); the joke was that Jim appeared in a purple costume labeled "HIGH PRICES" - when the Marshal shot at him, concealed blood packets were used to bloody himself
• as Roy viewed the ad at home during the broadcast, he became enraged, kicked his television, and partially electrocuted himself; later in the evening at the New Deal lot, when Jeff was questioned by FBI agents about the incident, he blamed the Ayatollah and the Iranians: "I guess it was Iranian students out to discredit the American way of life. I can't imagine who else would do such a thing. Sure hope ya nail 'em. Happy motoring!"
• that same night, Roy drove onto the New Deal lot and targeted Jeff with his vehicle; they brawled inside the lot's office and exchanged punches; as Roy was demanding: "Where are you hiding my brother?", he reached for a jagged piece of glass from a broken picture frame to strike at Jeff, but then looked at the frame's picture; he saw Luke seated in the Edsel on top of the pit; he suddenly remembered how the New Deal lot used to have a pit in the back, and suspected that it was Luke's burial site: ("They filled in the pit!"); he ran outside and began digging with his hands, and found evidence of the top of the green Edsel before being chased off the lot by Toby
• Toby raced back inside to alert mechanic Jim who was sleeping on the floor of the lot's car-bay; he lifted his leg and pissed onto Jim's face to awaken him, and then ran outside to show him the uncovered top of the Edsel inside the pit
• after Rudy had let go of Barbara in front of the row of TVs, her had taken her to his place to have sex and spend the night together; as they were kissing in bed, Barbara asked: "Now aren't you glad I didn't go to Florida?"; he was interrupted by a frantic phone call (after his answering machine was activated) from Jim to warn him of Roy's findings; Rudy rushed off, leaving Barbara alone in his place; as she looked around for any clues, she happened to playback the two-way recording on the machine, confirming everyone's cover-up scheme involving her father's death and burial, and Rudy's knowledge of everything: (Jim: "Fuchs knows Luke's dead. He found out where we buried him....the cops are gonna think we killed him!")
• the next morning, Roy and Sam Slaton (with a fleet of police cars) drove onto New Deal's lot with a search warrant to investigate and dig up the rear pit to find Luke's body, but found nothing; Rudy and Jeff had already dug up the corpse beforehand, but were claiming that Luke had just returned from Florida; as they spread lies, Jim propped Luke's corpse up in the driver's seat of the Edsel on the lot, doused the car in fuel and directed it to race off into the lot; as everyone watched, Sam was convinced: "Jesus, he IS still alive!"; the car crashed into a power transformer across the street, exploded and destroyed evidence of Luke's corpse; now, there was no way to believe anything other than that Luke had died in the crash

Deceased Luke Propped Up In the Driver's Seat of Edsel, and Directed to Ram Into a Power Transformer and Explode

• Rudy then officially told Roy - who thought he now owned New Deal - that Luke's daughter Barbara, who was in town, would be inheriting the lot instead, even though she had no auto dealership experience; Barbara arrived to listen to two versions of how her father died; she became so fed up with Rudy's deceptive tricks and lies that she slapped him, and then fired him (with Jeff and Jim), and ordered everyone to leave the premises
• afterwards, Rudy was also informed that the political machine's 'slate of candidates' would be announced in two days, and that he needed to pay up with his contribution; meanwhile, Barbara had hired the local Channel 7 TV station KFUK to film a new advertisement for her newly-acquired New Deal business; she hadn't sold a car in four days, and it was predicted that she could go bankrupt in three weeks; also the Mayor was expected to announce the new freeway in two days
• the treacherous Roy was determined to take over his deceased brother's seemingly-worthless property from Barbara, by any means and as soon as possible before the Mayor's announcement; with dirty smear tactics, he had the TV station's video-technician (Dave Adams) modify Barbara's video-ad footage, and change the wording from: "Come on down and see the style of cars we have to choose from..." to "Come on down and see the mile of cars we have to choose from..."; if Barbara's ad was untrue (if she didn't literally have a 'mile of cars'), she could be accused of committing false advertising; the ad was scheduled to play during the night's televised football game
• at a bar where they were about to watch the NFL game between the Denver and Kansas City teams, the school's driver's ed teacher Mr. Ghertner (Woodrow Parfrey) was complaining to Rudy that the cars provided by New Deal were inoperable, and would cause his more than 250 sophomore students to fail driver's education
• Jeff had bet on the favored Denver Broncos team while Rudy had wagered all of his campaign funds ("$40 G's!") on the Kansas City Chiefs; Jeff dumped open and tipped over numerous salt shakers and destroyed a mirror - to superstitiously confirm his bad luck as Rudy won his bet when Kansas City came from behind in the last minute of the game to win (27-26) [Note: The game's video footage was from the same Arizona State University game seen earlier in the film!]
• the next day outside his trailer, Rudy entered the back of a limo with the corrupt Mayor Tucker (Dub Taylor), and was about to buy his way into the state government position by bribing him with the bundles of cash in a briefcase (handcuffed to Tucker); as they drove along, the Mayor explained how the next day, he would announce the new freeway; he also pointed out the closed-down New Deal lot by order of the Police Dept. due to claims of false and misleading advertising; suddenly, Rudy realized that he could act more nobly and save Barbara's business from being prosecuted and shut down by Roy due to doctored charges of consumer fraud; he departed from the limo with his briefcase, breaking its chain by slamming the door to sever it
• Rudy rushed to Barbara's trial hearing at the Maricopa County Courhouse with his winnings to help combat Roy's tactics and save the New Deal business; the case was being handled by tough, by-the-book ("legit") 'Hanging' Judge H.H. Harrison (Al Lewis) who had small models on his bench of an electric chair, guillotine and a platform with a hangman's noose; Rudy was unaware that Roy's immoral attorney had secretly bribed the jury, and paid off the witnesses and Barbara's own defense attorney; Barbara was expected to be ordered to pay a hefty fine as a first offender, and she would be forced to sell the lot

Barbara and Rudy in the Courtroom with Trial Judge H.H. Harrison (Al Lewis)

• in the film's climactic ending, Rudy coached Barbara from the court audience to answer DA Slaton that she could prove that her lot actually had a "mile of cars" if stretched end to end; the harsh Judge ordered that she must prove in two hours time (at 2:45 pm) that she could line up 250 cars (a mile's length) at the lot; with his campaign funds, Rudy bought 250 cars from Mexican car dealer Manuel's junkyard far outside of town, and arranged for the formation of a convoy of vehicles back to New Deal (driven by 250 driver's ed students brought by school bus to the site); Rudy confidently promised Mr. Ghertner a "crash course" in driving for his unlicensed sophomores; in the lead vehicle with Barbara, Rudy directed the convoy, and announced by megaphone that they must drive 75 mph to make it in time; the cars drove on both sides of a two-lane road as some of the cars lost mechanical parts

Rudy Organizing and Leading the Convoy of 250 Cars with Barbara

• realizing that he was about to lose the court fight after hearing a police report that used cars were headed toward town, Roy wished to disrupt the line-up of cars, and he attempted to set up a police road-block and personally attempted to stop Rudy and the vehicles, but failed; the convoy avoided the road-block by taking a cross-country shortcut, and the vehicles made it to the lot just in the nick of time, to prove to the arriving Judge that the cars actually stretched a mile
• as the cars were being measured, Rudy was shocked to learn that Jeff's vehicle was still the last one to arrive; he had stopped outside of town and refused to continue after fearfully realizing that he was actually driving a red St. Louis Fire Dept. vehicle after the cheap purple paint job was washed off by a sprayer truck; Rudy convinced him to forget his rabid stigmas and superstitions (telling him that there was gray primer under the other colors), since his car's length of 18 feet was needed to exonerate Barbara
• at a railway crossing where a freight train was blocking Jeff's passage, the traumatized Jeff (with a string of rabbit's feet hanging from his mouth) jumped over the moving freight train (by launching his car into the air off an angled trailer); moments later, he squealed into the lot to add his car's measurements to the total, but there was still a small gap of two inches to reach a literal mile; gleefully thinking that he had won, Roy excitedly pounded on the back of Jeff's car, causing the license plate cover to fall down and reach the required distance (5,280 feet), and the Judge ordered: "Case dismissed!"; Rudy and Barbara embraced and kissed to celebrate, as the Judge ordered Roy to court for "contempt" after being cursed at
• now that Roy was out of business, ex-attorney Slaton manipulatively switched sides - he predicted to Rudy and Barbara that the upcoming construction of the freeway exit ramp would make New Deal the biggest dealership in the Southwest; as Barbara questioned the untrustworthy Rudy (who hurriedly claimed that they were now partners) about whether he knew about the freeway ramp earlier, they were interrupted by an inquisitive old lady customer (Mildred Brion) asking about one of the vehicle's paint color: ("What's that yellow paint doing on that car? Did it used to be a taxi?"); after knowingly glancing at Rudy, Barbara confidently answered that it was yellow primer; Rudy followed up with more details: ("That's being used on a lot of cars these days. It's a rust preventative, it adds life to the body"), as they walked off together