Tucker: The Man and His Dream

We invented the 'free enterprise' system, where anybody, no matter who he was, where he came from, what class he belonged to - if he came up with a better idea about anything, there's no limit to how far he could go. I grew up a generation too late, I guess, because now the way the system works, the loner, the dreamer, the crackpot who comes up with some crazy idea that everybody laughs at, that later turns out to revolutionize the world - he's squashed from above before he even gets his head out of the water because the bureaucrats, they'd rather kill a new idea than let it rock the boat! If Benjamin Franklin were alive today, he'd be thrown in jail for sailing a kite without a license!

The Big Three automakers use government influence to crush a competitor. Based on a true story. ... 'Preston Tucker produced just fifty cars before his company was shut down by the federal government on the basis of trumped-up SEC violations. Although he was subsequently vindicated, the legal battle cost him his savings, and he died several years later. ...' –MissLiberty.com

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by George Lucas, this is a love letter from these two great film entrepeneurs to the American entrepeneur. Preston Tucker was an actual inventor who designed a car in the 1940s to challenge the big three automakers. This film dramatizes his struggle to bring his product to market and the political/big business combination that puts a stop to his efforts.

... as soon as the money starts coming in, Tucker does build his dream car. That's when the trouble starts. The last thing the Big Three automakers want is a competitor, so they pull political strings to get the SEC to go after him. ... It's also a compelling illustration of the tendency of big government to operate on behalf of entrenched companies to the disadvantage of new entrants.