Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

sol- Rival aluminum-siding salesmen find themselves an increasingly hostile tit-for-tat feud spurred on by an automobile accident this Barry Levinson movie. One of two films that Levinson made in 1987, 'Tin Men' never quite found the same audience as 'Good Morning, Vietnam', which is a shame as it is arguably better, even if its lack of appeal to some is understandable. Both protagonists are, after all, very lowdown and despicable characters and while both have their occasion quirks, this is one of those films in which there is not a single likable character in sight. This is a deliberate move by Levinson though as the pair's feud is constantly contrasted against their shady business practices and salesmanship techniques, such as dropping a $5 note and insisting that it is not yours to convince a potential client of your honesty. The feud also coincides with the whole aluminum-siding industry being investigated for unfair selling practices and there is a sense that the protagonists are driven to their extremes as a result of the way they have learnt to work; "deceit is an occupational hazard" as one claims. Knowing this does not make Barbara Hershey's subplot any more credible, nor does it render either lead especially sympathetic, but it does provide some sense of perspective as the idea here is to observe how the characters operate, not to get to like them for who they are. Add in some genuinely funny moments (Dreyfuss realising that DeVito actually doesn't love his wife) and 'Tin Men' is a flawed film that still works surprisingly well. The conclusion is pitch perfect too.

RuthlessGoat This was a comedy near masterpiece and one of the best movies about Salesmen ever made. This vastly underrated and obscure movie really entertains as Dreyfus and DeVito deliver a bellicose duet of tit-for-tat with no holds barred ferocity. The dialogue, acting and pacing of this movie are wonderful and it's all about the sleazy world of Aluminum Siding Sales. There is not a shred of virtue among the two stars or their magnificent supporting cast. We are shown Sales techniques that we all suspected existed, and the Home Improvement Commission is also interested in these guys, but not in a good way.Mix into the fray of these questionable business practices the intense and violent personal feud between BB Babowsky and Ernest Tillie and the never-ending personal waterloos for the latter, and you have a recipe for hilarity. A fender bender with two Cadillacs erupts into full scale war and the ultimate outcome is hilariously surprising. I cannot say enough about the supporting cast and their continuous contribution to this movie, this is what made it great. The never-ending discussion about the deficiencies in realism of the time period show Bonanza ("This show is about a 50 year old father and his 3 47 year old sons…from different mothers!") was genuinely inspired, as well as Sam's vegetable epiphany about god at the smörgåsbord (salad bar).Nothing goes right for Tillie, as he deals with setback after setback. His car is smashed, he is broke because he's lost his Sales touch, his marriage is in shambles and the Home Improvement Commission as well as the IRS are knocking on his door. BB Babowsky seems to be winning their violent feud, but in a surprising twist, his plan for the ultimate revenge has some very unintended consequences.These men love their dark and questionable careers as much as they love their Cadillacs and the continuous revelations about their trade, and its shoddy sales practices, are priceless. If you can find this movie, buy it.

Rodrigo Amaro Dealing with the funny rivalry between two aluminum-siding salesmen, "Tin Men" (as what these men are called in their business) excels itself in just being an ordinary comedy, it also paints a portrait of a decade with a updated look at it; the current 1980's seemed to shape a model for these characters and the situations they've been through. One of the films of the 'Baltimore quadrilogy' (the other films being "Diner", "Avalon" and "Liberty Heights"), all directed by Barry Levinson, who lived in the area, this film looks back at the city of the 1960's, most precisely in 1963, where an simple automobile accident between two tin men started a small but funny war between them. On one side we have the energetic Bill 'BB' Babowski (Richard Dreyfuss), who recently acquired a new Cadillac but within five minutes of getting inside of it his car was hit by the too agitated for his height and size Ernest Tilley (Danny DeVito). The two promise revenge on one another and they spend their days trying to prank each other with some help from their friends. And that goes on, with smashing cars, fist fights that will never happen, one trying to score higher than the other until BB makes the smart move of going out with Ernest's wife (Barbara Hershey) and that might backfire in a surprising way for both of these guys.It's not all about rivalry between these two but it's also about how they guarantee their work (through hilarious scams selling aluminum-siding for houses, pretending to be part of Life magazine quoting that it will make the house look better in the magazine's photos and others scams too). Their work, now, is at risk when a commission appears to investigate cases of fraud in their sellings, and it is most likely these guys will be called to testify about what they do, if it's correct or not. But it is in difficult hours like that that the enemy of your enemy is your friend, right? The whole dispute, whether about the sales they do or the pranks these accident resulted, goes to show us a big game with no easy victories, no easy gains but with lots of dishonesty to compensate for the trouble. This was how the minds of the 1980's were looking at the 1960's period, as a place where people took advantage of each other through the simplest things, profit of any kind must be on top of everything. It's never about getting even, it's more about being the king of the game, the winner of all. Levinson is not trying to gives moralistic lessons about that era because he's more concerned about what was funny about all that. Most certainly, he was looking back at that time thinking that this was quite innocent and childish compared to the excesses of the Reaganomics era, period in which this film was made but somehow these two eras seem to be attached here in this nostalgic film. And in the following decades societies have gone way worst than just destroying someone's car... The premise, despite some lack of originality, perfectly works; the movie is warmly funny, not only in the arguments between DeVito and Dreyfuss but also in the talks they have with their friends (played by John Mahoney, Bruno Kirby, Richard Portnow, Seymour Cassel and others), one of these talks concerning about the irrealism during the cowboys talks in "Bonanza" (again, a contemporary look of the past, people wouldn't notice back then these kind of problems in the TV show). Notice the great soundtrack made by one of the groups of the moment, the Fine Young Cannibals, who appear in the film as band members of a nightclub often visited by both groups of tin men. Simply irresistible! 10/10

Yann Saunders I don't expect my comments to help potential viewers appreciate or not the performances of either Hershey, Dreyfuss or De Vito. My point is that, as an auto historian with a penchant for older Cadillacs, the movie did more than satisfy my interest in the "old American iron". The sets were realistic too; the opening scene was shot in the Chesapeake Cadillac dealership owned, at the time, by the brother of a car-collector friend. If any of you ever bought a car from a dealership, you will enjoy the opening scenes and Dreyfuss' repartee with the car salesman.Car lovers need to see this funny movie! Would-be con artists can also learn a few tricks from it.