Plot
A 1940s promotional film by the Tucker Automobile Company introduces Preston Tucker (Jeff Bridges) and a new automobile filled with technological innovations. The film then flashes back to an earlier start as an inventor and as a staunch family man. His loyal wife (Joan Allen) and children, headed by his namesake, Preston Tucker Jr. (Christian Slater), support his efforts. Tucker's passion for automobiles began as a child and by 1935 he had started a successful partnership with racing car innovator Harry Miller. In World War II, Tucker designed an armored car for the United States military, rejected for being too fast. However, the car's gun turret was put into production.
At war's end, with the proceeds from the turret bankrolling a new automotive project, Tucker hires young designer Alex Tremulis (Elias Koteas) to help him create a radical new car design, the 1948 Tucker Torpedo. Tucker's dream of manufacturing a revolutionary automobile with futuristic features will pit him against the oppressive Detroit-based Big Three automakers. With the support of his long-time New York financier Abe Karatz (Martin Landau), Tucker creates nationwide interest by advertising the "Tucker Torpedo" in Pic magazine. Raising the money through a stock issue, Tucker and Karatz acquire the enormous Dodge Chicago Plant to begin manufacturing. Despite groundbreaking features on the first hand-built prototype such as disc brakes, seat belts, a fuel-injected engine in the rear, a padded dashboard, and a front windshield that pops out in severe collisions, the new car is beset with problems.
Launching "The car of tomorrow" in a spectacular way, the Tucker Corporation is met with enthusiasm from both shareholders and the general public. However, the Tucker company board of directors, unsure of his ability to overcome the technical and financial obstacles ahead, send Tucker off on a publicity campaign, and attempt to take complete control of the company. At the same time, Tucker faces animosity from the Big Three and the authorities led by Michigan Senator Homer S. Ferguson (Lloyd Bridges). While the manufacturing of the Tucker Torpedo continues, Tucker is confronted with allegations of stock fraud. Ferguson's investigation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), causes Karatz, once convicted of bank fraud, to resign, fearful that his criminal record will prejudice the hearings. Yellow journalism also starts ruining Tucker's public image even though the ultimate courtroom battle is resolved when he parades his entire production run of 51 Tucker Torpedoes, proving that he has reached production status.
After giving a speech to the jurors on how capitalism in the United States is harmed by efforts of large corporations against small entrepreneurs like himself, Tucker is acquitted on all charges. Nevertheless, Tucker's company falls into bankruptcy and Preston Tucker succumbs to a heart attack seven years later, never able to realize his dream of producing a state-of-the-art automobile.
Read more about this topic: Tucker: The Man And His Dream
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—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“James’s great gift, of course, was his ability to tell a plot in shimmering detail with such delicacy of treatment and such fine aloofness—that is, reluctance to engage in any direct grappling with what, in the play or story, had actually “taken place”Mthat his listeners often did not, in the end, know what had, to put it in another way, “gone on.””
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—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)