Tin Men: SE

The cutthroat world of aluminum (sic) siding salesmen is dealt with here, although nowhere near as offensively as those land agents in GlennGary, Glen Ross. And perhaps in that regard the film isn’t as dynamic as it could be.

The scene is Baltimore 1963. Two rival aluminum siding companies vie for territory while their salesmen attempt whatever type of clever ruse they can to get their foot in the door with homeowners. By chance, agents of each company crash their prized Cadillacs into each other and what should have been a simple negotiation spirals out of control into a tempestuous orgy of vengeance against the other’s vehicle.

"I wonder if he’s married...?"

However, not satisfied, one of these guys decides to seduce the other’s wife, but in so doing opens a can of worms that manages to affect everyone’s lives around them.

The attention to detail among the beautiful cars and clothes of the era is nothing short of incredible in this 1987 film, but while there’s plenty of eye-candy, the storyline itself is a little lacking. I found my mind wandering off more than once which is never good. However, the film is still well worth investigation and does have some funny moments among the ordinary nature of the story. Played admirably by Danny DeVito, Richard Dreyfuss and Barbara Hershey, the tale has a sad resonance beneath that unfortunately doesn’t quite allow these talented actors to shine.

As noted, the authenticity is spectacular here and will cause wincing when original Caddys are being pounded with crowbars or repeatedly backed into because the cars here are truly beautiful. All fins and chrome and each a mile long (and no doubt guzzling four litres per mile). But beautiful as they are, they aren’t quite enough to gloss over a rather ordinary tale.

Most of this film is quite suitably transferred, but I suspect the print wasn’t as perfect as it may have once been. There are occasional vertical scratches on screen as well as a faint grain that appears now and then, particularly in the night shots. The colour palette is just off bright and slightly washed out, which seems to suit the period of the film, but is still disappointing.

Blacks are true, although shadow detail isn’t good, while flesh tones all seem natural enough. There is also occasional wobbling and jittering going on, although this is most pronounced in the closing credits and therefore not too distressing. And lastly, there’s a big watermark on screen at 1:14:18 which is particularly noticeable in that it’s against blue sky.

The standard and effective Buena Vista Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is just fine here. While the surrounds don’t have a lot to do, they do kick in in some suitable scenes like the frequent crowded dance hall settings. They also carry a lot of the music for the film, which has been scored by the Fine Young Cannibals, who do a fairly good job of it. There does seem to be a lot of reference to the song Good Thing, however, and this song is performed ‘live’ by the band themselves. There are also a wide variety of performers of the era in overdubbed tracks that really help set the jazzy/seedy feeling of the film.

Overall the film sounds authentic and original and the sound package here is quite good.

For a Special Edition, there aren’t all that many extras included. The first, though, is the complex and convoluted audio commentary which features no less than eight cast and crew from the film, including director Barry Levinson, producer Mark Johnson and Richard Dreyfuss, Barbara Hershey and Bruno Kirby.

Next is but a single deleted scene that runs for a total of 6:07 with context and an involuntary audio commentary from Levinson. This has been salvaged from Levinson’s personal video copy and it’s fuzzy and soft-edged and washed out as hell. Still, it’s worth a cursory look, although I can’t see folks revisiting it too often.

Little Castles is an hilarious inclusion that runs for 28:50. This is a short film that explores the beauty of Formstone, a similar product to the aluminum siding our protagonists try to flog in the movie. This is an older film worth watching for the sincerity of folks who have it on their houses and the humourous periodical delivery of the filmmakers.

Finally, the trailer brings us home with a 4:3 artefacty presentation running for 2:30.

For anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes of selling anything, this is an interesting film, as it is for fans of the period or fans of big ol’ Cadillacs. While the story is alright and has its better moments, it didn’t really grab me, regardless of how good the authenticity of the piece is. And as far as 'Special Editions' go, there aren’t all that many extras, although the Formstone doco is almost worth the tag alone.

Other than that I felt the performers getting a bit frustrated at not having anything to work with here and that too has washed into the overall feeling of the film.