Used Cars (1980)

☆ ☆ ☆

Used Cars (1980) – R. Zemeckis

I feel as though there used to be more of these raunchy comedies made for adolescents or guys who haven’t fully grown up.  They aren’t sophisticated (and I know that sometimes that’s what’s needed).  But some of these films find their humour in sexist ways or by making some people the butt of the joke. Of course, this can be done genially or with unpleasantness. Fortunately, Used Cars is really genial in its approach (only some T&A, as they used to call it, feels tackier these days than it did in 1980). That said, at its core, the film is pretty dark:  gentle car lot owner Luke (Jack Warden) dies of a stroke, leaving salesmen Rudy (Kurt Russell) and Jeff (Gerrit Graham) with hiding his death (cue Weekend at Bernie’s) as the only option to save the business from being taken over by Luke’s evil brother (also played by Jack Warden) and his competing car lot across the street.  As a result, an all-out battle for customers ensues between the two franchises (which even involves Lenny & Squiggy as hi-tech airwave pirates) until Luke’s estranged daughter (Deborah Harmon) turns up to throw a monkey wrench into the works. Of course, it all ends with a galvanising feel-good finish.  I can’t say I really laughed too much but the situations were humorous and your “mileage” may vary.