Used Cars is an early comedy cult classic by the team of writer Bob Gale and director Robert Zemeckis. This film is also produced by John Milius and Steven Spielberg. All of these people I have just mentioned are some of the most talented(and successful)to have worked on films in Hollywood and are responsible for several blockbusters and classic movies. Kurt Russell is on top of his game as Rudy Russo, a crooked, but charming used car salesman that is about to expand his skills to a greater calling, politics. Used Cars is a very wild and raunchy comedy, but with heart, great writing and great characters. The cast is outstanding in this and has some really hilarious and excellent performances by Kurt Russell, Jack Warden doing double duty as the feuding Fuch brothers, Frank McRae, plus Lenny and Squiggy and Grandpa Munster. Used Cars is very original and smart comedy that is totally unhinged and balls out. Used Cars is a great comedy that I discovered later on and in my opinion this is one of Kurt's best films and in my opinion, this film and Kurt's family comedy classic Overboard. are just as good. However,both films are very different and Used Cars was strictly made for adults.

Rudolph 'Rudy' Russo (Kurt Russell) sells used cars in a almost failed shop owned by Luke Fuchs (Jack Warden). In this shop they sell wrecked cars, with the stripping painting and other horrible things but Russo has a dream: make a good publicity of the shop, sell all the damaged cars to make money and run for a Senate's chair. Luke's brother Roy (also played by Warden) also has a used car shop right in front of his and he also has a plan: To buy his brother shop and moved out to it since the City Hall has planned a project that's gonna made him close his spot.In "Used Cars" the rivalry between car salesman's and their weapons to attract more clients is a very funny thing. Russo is a talented guy who uses of deceiving and smart moves to sell a used car but he's not selling so much lately. After Luke's death things got worse and he knows that Luke's brother wants to take over his business He hides Luke's corpse, saying to all even to Luke's estranged daughter (Deborah Harmon) that he's traveled to Florida and starts to run with the things on the shop making awkward and funny commercials. Along with Jeff (Gerritt Graham, one of the most funny actors I've seen. Great performance he has here) another salesman and a mechanical (Frank McRae) they produce with a couple of friends some of the weirdest commercials ever, interrupting a football game or President Jimmy Carter's speech, leaving the audience in a total state of shock.In real life we would probably hate these characters because all they do is lie to obtain a sale. But writers Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis (who directed the movie too) saw a great opportunity to make a very intelligent and funny movie about salesman who don't care about anything except themselves. One moment that you can die laughing is when Jeff is trying to sell a big car to an big family. He tells to the family to make a test-drive and meanwhile he puts his dog Toby under the car and puts something on the wheels. Then the car passes by and he starts to cry, says that they killed his dog and convinced the family to buy the car. This scene is very funny because the dog wasn't killed and he acted so ridiculously funny, it's such a smart dog. There's a war between Russo and Roy about who's gonna win the possession of the shop; the publicity lies and many other things. This is one the first films directed by Robert Zemeckis ("Back to the Future", "Cast Away", "Contact") and it's so strange not seeing any visual effects here. By the end of the movie I couldn't believe that this is one of his works. And it's a great film, very underrated and surprisingly funny. 10/10

I just finished seeing USED CARS for maybe the sixth or seventh time, and the first time on DVD. This outrageous and diabolically funny movie from the two Bobs, Zemeckis and Gale, died at the box office in 1980, steamrollered by AIRPLANE, but thanks to cable, VHS, and now DVD, it's alive. . .IT'S ALIVE!!! USED CARS is a movie for everyone who has ever felt they just got suckered by an auto dealer (which probably means 99.9 percent of the United States). Kurt Russell, cast against type, plays a sleazy used car salesman with an eye on the Mayor's office and, as the film progresses, an unfortunate streak of genuine goodness. As mentioned in the wonderful, hilarious commentary on the DVD, the two Bobs were thinking Bill Murray, but Russell does them proud. Gerrit Graham (of PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE) is Russell's salesman sidekick, and gets one of the movie's best gags (which I won't spoil for you, but it involves a very smart dog, a rock, and a station wagon full of kids). The always welcome Jack Warden gets to play not only the owner of Kurt Russell's car lot, but the owner's realllly oily brother, who owns the lot across the street and can't wait for his sibling to kick the bucket. Warden has a field day (and, as stated in the commentary, this was Warden's first R-rated movie, so he takes advantage of it and cusses up a hilarious storm). Everone else in the cast is just great, from Frank McRae's manic mechanic to Deborah Harmon (from Second City) as Jack Warden's daughter to Al Lewis (yep, Al Lewis!) as a peripatetic Judge to David L. Lander and Michael McKean as technical masterminds who patch in to a Presidential Broadcast. Familiar faces are everywhere in USED CARS; you will see future Director Alfonso Arau, Woodrow Parfey, Joe Flaherty, Dub Taylor, Wendie Jo Sperber, Marc McClure and even Dick Miller in the cast. Everyone gets to have lots and lots of fun.And. . .acres and acres of Bad Leisure Suits! The two Bobs did a lot of research for USED CARS, soliciting stories from many actual car salespeople, so when you watch the film bear in mind that these are the stories they could get away with showing--imagine what they COULDN'T use! This is a laugh riot, the kind of comedy that will have you roaring. Now, it's not for everyone--the humor gets pretty raunchy. Definitely not for kids.And there is a boatload of special features on the DVD release: hilarious commentary by the two Bobs and Kurt Russell (I wish more DVDs had commentary in which the principals enjoy what they are doing so much!), deleted footage (some of which is infamous), original advertising for USED CARS, radio spots, a TV spot for the actual car dealer who let them use his lot to film, and much more.This one's a keeper. USED CARS is a funny, funny film. Not Disney funny, but STRIPES, WHERE'S POPPA and BLAZING SADDLES funny. Be careful when you drink your soda during USED CARS: you'll find yourself doing a classic "spit-take"!

The movie is a screamer. It has all kinds of inside jokes but the one that caught my eye was when "Lenny & Squiggy" uplink the commercials to the satellite.During the early '80's, many cities had HBO transmitted via microwave to the subscribers home. It didn't take long for the techno-pirates to figure out how to build a pirate antenna. The antenna that L&S was using as an uplink was one of these pirate antennas! A lot of the scenes for the movie were filmed at a used car lot in Mesa AZ.I saw this at a local drive-in but had to tape it when it came on HBO. I now have the DVD as the commentary alone is worth the price.