Les filous

'Tin Men' is the most underrated comedy in film history. How's that for a bold statement? I'm sure you've heard of this movie. Many of you probably saw it. Then turned it off, and said, 'That was cute.' In fact, most will remember it more for launching the brief career of the Fine Young Cannibals. (A couple of their songs were featured in the film) I very well might have been one of you, if it hadn't been for my father's devotion to this film. It was because of him I saw it a half dozen times growing up, and much like 'The Big Lebowski' and 'Sherlock Jr.', the more I saw this film, the more I fell in love with it. 'Tin Men' is about two aluminum siding salesmen (working for competing companies) who get into a car accident, and both believing the other is to blame, decide to get revenge on one another. Richard Dreyfuss and Danny Devito (two of the more underrated actors around) deliver some of the funniest scenes you'll ever see. Things get complicated when Dreyfuss attempts to infuriate Devito by sleeping with his wife, only to fall in love with her. DeVito plays an emotional and financial disaster, struggling to keep his head above water, while tidal waves are crashing down all around him. (And does so, with the efficiency of a Third World sweatshop) Dreyfuss, a slick, fast- talking 'nickel and dime' hustler, whose ideas about life and love change when he discovers the truth about himself and his business through his own vindictive behavior. If you actors out there are wondering how to play 'quiet desperation' funny, rent this movie. 'Tin Men' uses a clever vernacular. Including several seemingly unnecessary dialogue driven scenes done way before dialogue driven scenes became commonplace. (See, Pulp Fiction 1994, and pretty much every movie to follow) With topics ranging from 'Bonanza' not being an accurate depiction of the West, to finding God at the smorgasborg. It also displays a devotion to detail, unparralleled by any big-budget movie of today. Everything feels real. The people, the conversation, the decor, everything.

When I watched this movie again recently I came up with an hypothesis regarding its lack of real success, or longevity. It's quite simple, and when you first say it, feels lame. But the more I think about it, I believe it may be true: Like most great movies that are under-appreciated, they aren't trying to impress us. They don't have to.

Few films can be laugh-out-loud funny and ultimately as touching and deep as this film. Most people remember the dialogue, seemingly ad-libbed during the diner scenes by the cast (Danny DeVito, Jackie Gayle, Bruno Kirby)--and that looks like the same diner that Barry Levinson used for his first movie. But the characters and their quirks are totally fleshed out before the conflict (DeVito's stiff neck, Dreyfuss's ladies' man schtick), making for a few truly hilarious lines and scenes (Gayle talking to DeVito about what a great dancer Dreyfuss is comes to mind). The movie really has a sad story underneath about very unhappy people who delight in the misfortunes of others, until Barbara Hershey's character realizes what's going on. All of these characters and story points climax in a rather sweet and yes, believable final sequence. This movie came out during a spate of late '80s blockbusters and never really found its audience, I think. But it is one of the few late '80s movies I rewatch every couple of years and find more to appreciate with each viewing. I would rank it as Levinson's best film.

I have never quite understood why this flick has not achieved more critical and popular acclaim. I rate it a 9, which is very high for me (10s are reserved for a handful of all time classics). Beyond the great acting, super dialogue, and tremendous comedy -- which everyone seems to recognize -- there is also a very serious movie inside. Of course, as everyone says, it's an interesting slice of Americana: Baltimore in the early 1960s (before the flood). And on that basis alone, Tin Men is a great film. Few movies have ever given such an accurate portrayal of a particular time and place in America as well as this one.

But the movie is more than that. Tin Men is a story in which the historical tension between America's atavistic entrepreneurial spirit (as exemplified by the "tin men") and the regulatory forces of the state (as exemplified by the "investigating commission") are at an important crossroads. From the start it's obvious that the tin men have no chance and will lose this fight. It's a passing of a way of life. Much in the tradition of other great American works of art that examine the trade of salesman (Death of a Salesman, etc.), Tin Men is an indepth (and very funny) portrait of their psychological and social world. Their world outlook is now dying and there is a touch of wistfulness about that passage in the film. Are we as viewers supposed to be sad about it too? Or should we be happy? After all, the life of a tin man was hard and brutal (as well as free): witness the death of one of them to a heart attack.

On the other hand, is this way of life genuinely dying or just metamorphisizing? The ending was excellent because it brought ambiguity to that question. When DeVito and Dreyfus spot a new business opportunity: Volkswagens, we realize these "tin men" are irrepressible! They won't be stopped despite the new regulatory environment of the modern world. For my money, this movie is Barry Levinson's best by far. (Excellent soundtrack by Fine Young Cannibals, as well.)

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.

Rival aluminum-siding salesman declare war in another of director Levinson's returns to his hometown Baltimore, with Dreyfuss and DeVito playing the two feuding parties who constantly try to one up one another in a series of silly and childish gags. That's where the film falters, but it is in the charming performance of Hershey where the film is successful. Considering she's the only character with morals in the entire piece, she's the one you care for and root for. (An especially wonderful scene with DeVito on the porch when the IRS has taken his house.) Dreyfuss and DeVito, with exception to the silly gags the writers engaged their characters in, are in fine form, as always. Stand out performances from Mahoney as a real "tin man," and comedien Jackie Gayle, who has a fixation with knocking "Bonanza," are excellent.