When Hollywood made films about evil crony capitalists

The Queen Of The World and I watched a really interesting film the last movie night.

First, it was a good flick, with a good script, good acting, interesting characters, and a compelling story.  We give it two thumbs up, and the QoTW thinks it for for a royal command performance.  She remembered the film and picked it for movie night.*

But what I thought was particularly interesting was the choice of villain - a US Senator in the pocket of Tucker's competitors.  The Senator used the FBI and the IRS to go after Tucker's company and shut it down (this story is a little timely, amirite?).

You see, Tucker had designed a revolutionary car, one with enhanced safety features, fuel injection, a padded dash, and a third headlight that would pivot as the car went around corners to light up the road ahead.

And this film wasn't just made in Hollywood - it was produced by George Lucas and directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Remember, the bad guys are the Senator and the corporations donating to his re-election campaign.  It is best described as a polemic railing against the power of the government when it is directed by big business to crush small, innovative competitors.

But the car was sweet:

You can see the third headlight in the picture.  They only built 51, but 48 are still running.  The film asked the Tucker Automobile Club of America for volunteers, and 21 of those 48 cars appear in the film.  Pretty cool.  Martin Landau was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and Joe Jackson (yes, that Joe Jackson) was nominated for a Grammy for his composition.

Recommended, especially if you have kids.  This is entirely family friendly, and appropriately subversive.

* She's clearly not just a pretty face, but smart as a whip.  And delightfully subversive, too.  Unexpectedly so for a Queen.