Tin Men

Plot synopsis:
Set in the year 1963, Ernest Tilley (Danny DeVito) and Bill "BB" Babowsky (Richard Dreyfuss) are two very different door-to-door aluminum siding salesmen in Baltimore, Maryland. Working for different companies, the "tin men" are prepared to do almost anything—legal or illegal—to close a sale.
Their first meeting is in the opening scene when BB buys a new Cadillac and almost immediately crashes into another Cadillac driven by Tilley. The accident is caused by BB, as he reverses into the street from the dealer's forecourt. Tilley, though distracted, clearly has the right of way. Both BB and Tilley blame each other for the car accident and declare war.
After they smash glass on each other's cars (BB smashes Tilley's headlights, and Tilley smashes BB's car windows in return), BB takes it a step further. He sets out to seduce Tilley's wife Nora (Barbara Hershey) as an act of revenge. When he calls Tilley immediately after having sex with her to hear his reaction, Tilley tells BB to keep Nora; he wants to be rid of her.
In between their personal war, the two tin men's personal lives are shown over the course of the film; BB is a smooth-talking con-artist who scams naive and comely young women with his sales pitches. BB soon does some soul searching for himself when his much older partner and mentor Moe Adamson (John Mahoney) is hospitalized with a serious heart condition. In contrast to BB, Tilley is a hapless loser who can't make a sale no matter how hard he honestly (or dishonestly) tries. Tilley also has a serious gambling problem and squanders what little money he makes on horse race bets which creates a rift between him and his long-suffering wife Nora. Because of Tilley's addiction to gambling, he is heavily in debt to various creditors and the IRS. Nora, who works as a local secretary, is frustrated by Tilley's indifference to his gambling addiction as well as his irresponsibility to pay house bills and indifference to life in general. Also, Tilley finds his life falling apart when the IRS begins confiscating his possessions for unpaid property taxes which include his house and, at the end of the film, his own car.
Exhausted by their rivalry, the two men decide to play a game of pool to decide who should get Nora in order to end to their personal war. BB loses, but he does not honor the bet. He has fallen in love for the first time, and Nora has moved in with BB to make a future with him.
The climax of the film is set at the newly formed Maryland Home Improvement Commission which is charged with uprooting corrupt sales practices in the home-improvement industry, which subpoenas both men. After Tilley, and then BB, give testimony about their sales practices, the commission takes away both of their sales licenses. While Tilley gives up his license reluctantly, BB does so willingly as part of his outlook on his life's new direction. In the final scene, BB, seeing that Tilley has lost everything including his car, takes pity on him and gives him a ride in his. Having lost their jobs and reconciled to their fate of being unemployed, Tilley and BB begin sharing ideas for a new business they can create for themselves.

Tags: revenge

Review:
'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.
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.
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.
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.
Tin Men is one of my favorite movies of all time.
The thing that always strikes me whenever I watch this movie is that while the characters of Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito are seemingly feuding non-stop throughout the movie, in reality they are actually kindred spirits.
I love the diner dialog which is reminiscent of Barry Levinson's previous film "Diner." The background scenes of Baltimore landscape add to the realistic atmosphere of the movie.
Diner vs Rain Man. You can tell when you are watching a movie made by Barry Levinson.
Diner, Tin Men and Rain Man all have a similar touch, even though they are different movies, they are made by the same artist.
DeVito with his extremely limited range, again lands himself in a movie that totally welcomes his character.You would like to have seen just how Fraziers dad (Mahoney) injured his leg, but for some reason it is not detailed here.
TIN MEN is certainly among the dozen or so movies that I have watched more than a dozen or so times, so I have no claim to being objective about critiquing it.
Beyond the obvious praise it's due for its period detail and its terrific supporting comedic cast and the balancing act Levinson achieves between its overall tragic arc and its genuinely funny script, what keeps me coming back to this movie time after time are its many "perfect" moments, most of which come courtesy of Barbara Hershey.
Certainly more--a lot more--is needed for a great movie, and whether Tin Men has all the other elements in place is a question I'll leave to the professional critics.
Tin Men. 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.
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.
Although this is a drama of days long gone, Director Barry Levinson instills a brilliant sense of comedy here, tragic comedy of life."Tinmen" is the term for aluminum siding film-flam salesmen, there are some fun scenes at the beginning with John Mahoney, showing how they gain a customers trust before selling them on aluminum siding which they don't need.Richard Dreyfus is B.B. Babowsky, who runs Gibraltar Aluminum.
The costumes and sets are funny and kitsch, way before "Mad Men" was a popular show.Danny DeVito as Tilly steals the show at the latter part of the film, he is being stalked by the IRS as well as the "Home Improvement Commission", which seems a take on the McCarthy era of censorship.Set in Baltimore, this film is really a forgotten gem from the late 80's.
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).
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).
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.
The idea of a film depicting the cutthroat antagonism between two aluminum siding salesmen must have been alarming to the people at Touchstone Pictures, who no doubt insisted on certain commercial concessions, including a strictly gratuitous appearance by the pop group Fine Young Cannibals (out of place in the early '60s setting), and the casting of two high-profile names in the title roles (an allusion to the heartless hero of Oz).
Danny DeVito and Richard Dreyfuss portray the disreputable rival salesmen who become mortal enemies after a minor fender bender dings their new Cadillacs.
Tin Men is a funny film that really focuses on the theme of man vs.
However, the movie felt just a tad long despite it being under two hours.This film, which is directed by Barry Levinson, is about two tin men who are both aluminum-panel sellers.
After a fender-bender, these two men becomes ultimate rivals and do anything to create havoc with each other.This film is well-acted thanks to the strong leads by Danny DeVito and Richard Dreyfuss.
Personally, I felt the film is at it's best when we see problem after problem occurring to DeVito's character, whose life goes sharply downhill over the course of the film.Overall, Tin Men is a solid film that talks about what happens when fate pit two rivals against each other.
Danny Devito and Richard Dreyfuss are both very good in their roles, and they manage to be both funny and believable at the same time.
Dreyfuss, the real eager vengeful beaver, ups the revenge, when he makes a move on Devito's wife, Nora (the always great Hershey, who like her co stars and some others were enjoying the fruits of their careers thanks to Touchstone video) Of course, he falls in love with her, and as for Devito's reaction, you could say it was like that of Ruthless People.
This is the second of Levinson's Baltimore trilogy.The term "tin men" referred to aluminum siding salesmen who were just a cut under car salesmen and just above con artists.
Barry Levinson thrusts us into the middle of a rivalry between two of the more devious of aluminum siding salesmen, played by two of the most nervous-angst actors in the business: Danny DeVito and Richard Dreyfus.
(Of course the biggest mystery of the film is how Hershey ended up with DeVito in the first place but that could be the subject of a PhD dissertation.) The cars owned by the salesmen are important enough to also be characters.
But looming in the background is the US Housing Commission who are starting to become wise to their practices.A very enjoyable film overall, completely unpredictable, with fantastic performances by the three leads DeVito, Dreyfus, and Hershey.
Richard Dreyfuss and Danny De Vito, who work for two different aluminum siding companies as salesman, like to "run into" each other, and are very proud of their respective Cadillacs.Each are unscrupulous salesmen, and would do anything to achieve their goals, and I mean anything.
This movie dialogue is great, the scams they pull and the scams Dreyfuss pulls on DeVito's wife are so funny.
By far an underrated comedy with a slight accent of dark humor, DeVito don't need any introducing such greatness career as comedian, those smart lines are already recognized by the viewers even when we talking to himself, in opposite tendency by Richard Dreyfuss an serious actor, none the less a smart screemplay suggest an attractive and endless possibilities to create a dense atmosphere to the picture to evolve by in own means, leting us to an pleasant journey with, a wise plot and sub plot with many secondary characters with the same amount, pity is a forgotten gem from the real cinephile, which deserves a second chance.Resume:First watch: 1993 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.5.
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.
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.
I'm not a particular fan of any of the players, and I never have liked Barbara Hershey, but they all fill their parts beautifully here - especially Danny DeVito, whose pitch-perfect Baltimore accent has never been equaled on film, not even a Waters film.
Director Barry Levinson returns to his beloved Baltimore with 'Tim Men', a film about two salesmen at war in the early 1960s.
Thinking about it this is a good movie to show to aliens who are interested in what it`s like to be human* It`s not as crazy as it sounds after all everyone is motivated by if not love then at least a need for a sexual partner , everyone is motivated by greed , and alas everyone can be motivated by hate , without doubt the most destructive impulse within the human condition
Who wants to watch a movie about TIN salesmen?
I don't think Richard Dreyfuss or Danny DeVito are that funny.
As for Danny DeVito: he plays the same role each time and is good at those kinds of roles, but he's missing humor..
This movie did prove one thing, Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito cannot act.
TIN MEN (1987) **1/2 Richard Dreyfuss, Danny De Vito, Barbara Hershey, John Mahoney, Michael Tucker, Jackie Gayle, Seymour Cassel, Matt Craven, Bruno Kirby.
Second in filmmaker Barry Levinson's affectionately nostalgic 'Baltimore Trilogy  circa 1964, about two feuding aluminum siding salesmen (the film's title is their trade's nickname) Dreyfuss and De Vito in a grudge war after a fender bender involving their Cadillacs, leading to De Vito's wife, Hershey, being used as a sexual pawn in their immature fracas.Fine period detail and production values, a game cast, and witty repartee especially by Gayle and his constant bewilderment on the tv series 'Bonanza'..
Classic levinson film, about 2 men, who want to do get something more out of themselves and life as they know it.
it was so much fun for me to check out a barry levinson film (diner, rain man, good morning vietnam, sleepers) that i have never seen before!
this is a story about two middle aged men, who played by richard dreyfuss, and danny devito wonderfully, who unexepectedly meet up, when there car's crash into eachother.
great movie if you love dreyfuss and devito..
It's not the wackiness or the dark humor, there's an oppressive tone to this movie that doesn't quite fit with the story.That said, I loved Barbara Hershey in her role as DeVito's unhappy wife.
Tin Men is one of my favourite movies for 6 reasons: 1 It's set in a small world inhabited by Aluminium siding salesmen trying to sell cladding to cover up the characteristic Baltimore brick Clook and with the backdrop of a 'Home Improvement Commission' set to break all of the salesmen's scams.
1963 Baltimore is perfect and Richard Dreyfus, Danny deVito, and Barbara Hershey as the leads are perfection.
The Fine Young Cannibals, heading by the unmistakable voice of Roland Gift singing 'Good Thing' is also brilliant.Things to watch - when Tilly (deVito) has made what he thinks is his comeback sale and they go to the bar and FTC are singing,- the atmosphere shots in the bar of all the punters is one of my favourite movie moments.
- The sales scene near the beginning of the film where we learn about the industry - the growing feud between the two main protagonists - Tilly appearing before the commission - the diner lunches that Tilly's team have when they keep going on about TV (Bonanza and other shows).I think this is Barry Levinson's best work..
Oddball, retro films like this never make the all-time top 100 lists  like one of its characters, "Tin Men" comes across as a bit of a small guy, not one of life's winners.
Scenes such as those in the diner where the rival groups of tin men chew the fat in their own unique and entertaining ways, show pale imitators how it's done: shame on all modern Hollywood scripts that pad out a weak story by having actors babble a great deal of nonsense, very fast (Lethal Weapon 4, anyone?).I hate films about salesmen: that isn't what this is.
"Tin Men" has rounded characters in a believably drawn world (in which a man's car might just come higher up the list than his wife) and a story that's really just about human beings who laugh, fail, make mistakes and don't always triumph at the end  shot and scripted with a light touch.
Tin Men (Barry Levinson, 1987) is a nifty examination of the American Dream, focusing on a pair of aluminum-siding salesmen in early-'60s Baltimore who engage in an escalating campaign of retribution after their Cadillacs collide.
It flirts with the hustlers' romanticised image of themselves, but also shows the reality: they're just a bunch of fraudsters, flogging the American Dream.Tin Men is a subtle, masterfully-crafted little film, boosted by strong performances from the leads (rough edges and fluffed lines intact), nice supporting turns - including Barbara Hershey as DeVito's put-upon wife - and writer-director Barry Levinson's terrific ear for dialogue.
His script is realistic but finely-honed and, years before Tarantino provided his own post-modern take on eatery conversation (and some five years after Levinson's own Diner), offers several servings of pop-culture-savvy squabbling that complement the movie's more ambitious elements.There's one excellent exchange in which DeVito tells his friends he'd never seen Dreyfuss before the crash, only to find that pal Stanley Brock won't let it lie.
Herein, after buying a brand new Cadillac, Richard Dreyfuss (as Bill "BB" Babowsky) backs his car into Danny DeVito (as Ernest Tilley).
Fighting over Barbara Hershey (as Nora) is complicated because she and DeVito were initially nearing divorce, and Dreyfuss decides he likes her more than he thought.
The setting is very well done, but the story is not engaging.****** Tin Men (3/6/87) Barry Levinson ~ Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito, Barbara Hershey, John Mahoney.
So, I was not surprised at all, when the Fine Young Cannibals CD, "The Raw and the Cooked" released after this film- went all the way to the top (it contained 2 songs from this film) That said, I LOVE the storyline, the acting, Richard Dreyfuss is adorable, looks wise and character wise.
If you wanna kick back, relax, and really have a great laugh, this is the movie for you.Set around 1962, the title, Tin Men, refers to aluminum siding salesmen.
A wonderfully funny movie, Dreyfuss and De Vito play their parts so well, taking two fairly unscrupulous characters and making them somewhat likable.
Overall, terrific performances by Barbara Hershey, Richard Drefus, Danny De Vito and, above all, the British-born actor, John Mahoney, make this film a treat at every viewing.
These boys (which is what they are) even in this time frame, Richard Dreyfuss and Dann DeVito (who usually are unbearable, even then) are American saps, which makes this film quite enjoyable.
Best performance = Hershey, Dreyfuss, or DeVito.
Tin Men. A bit of weird film when I think about it, just about two guys having a bit of a fight but not actually doing much except seeing each other.
Basically Richard Dreyfuss as Bill 'BB' Babowsky and Danny DeVito as Ernest Tilley accidentally crash into each others cars.