What makes it different from others?

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Yeah I finally watched it. I heard my Dad commend it back a couple of years, after it's late 87 cinema release. Coincidentally it opened up the same day as Hellraiser, which is kind of what these two, smooth talking aluminum salesmen (better known in the field as tin men) bring down on each other after a little vehicular ruckus. Both roles are filled with the right shoes, that of talented Devito, as the ill cautious, and accidental hitter, Tilley and Dreyfuss, overzealous, fired up, BB as the reckless, backer out er, in what is a rental car too. What ensues, is a warring feud of car wreaking and insults, and near punch ups. 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. Look, I did enjoy tin men up to a point. It just didn't live up to my expectations. Not enough things happened for starters, between our rivals, like a consistency of revenge tricks and stunts. There were not enough plot turns, or developments, or things happening in the movie. There was like holding back, where I did feel, short changed. The dialogue, although very good, was too serious to be funny, I only cracked a couple of laughs throughout the movie. What I did like, funnily enough, was Dreyfuss and Devito's reconciliation, where they finally made peace, and Hershey as the woman in the middle, made the right choice, I think. I loved the reconstruction of the period, 1963 (same as in The Wanderers) that was excellent, and I really enjoyed John 'Frasier' Mahoney's performance as tin man legend, Moe, one of BB's mob, as I did enjoy Brad Sullivan, (Slapshot's dirty old man) as the Grill chief of the union. Too the much missed J.T Walsh, a great actor way too soon. Take Tin Man, an entertaining well shot film noir, comedy drama, where if a salesman, you can draw your own verdict. Fine Young Cannibal's string of appearances in this, go together like chips sprinkled with sugar.

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). The two promise revenge on one another and they spend their days trying to prank each other with some help from their friends. 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). Their work, now, is at risk when a commission appears to investigate cases of fraud in their sellings, and it is most likely these guys will be called to testify about what they do, if it's correct or not. But it is in difficult hours like that that the enemy of your enemy is your friend, right? The whole dispute, whether about the sales they do or the pranks these accident resulted, goes to show us a big game with no easy victories, no easy gains but with lots of dishonesty to compensate for the trouble. This was how the minds of the 1980's were looking at the 1960's period, as a place where people took advantage of each other through the simplest things, profit of any kind must be on top of everything. It's never about getting even, it's more about being the king of the game, the winner of all. Levinson is not trying to gives moralistic lessons about that era because he's more concerned about what was funny about all that. Most certainly, he was looking back at that time thinking that this was quite innocent and childish compared to the excesses of the Reaganomics era, period in which this film was made but somehow these two eras seem to be attached here in this nostalgic film. And in the following decades societies have gone way worst than just destroying someone's car... 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. Simply irresistible! 10/10

I think it is among the best movies i've ever seen. It gives me somehow a good feeling every time i watch it. The life of the two characters played by Danny DeVito and Richard Dreyfuss could be the life of any of us. It makes the movie smell like real life. It is a simple story about a simple life of some "special" tin agents struggling for survival in a non friendly political environment. They only want to sell their product. They have many tricks to do that. The two characters are in the same industry but they have turned against each other because of a simple and minor car accident. As the story develops we can look into the life of the two characters. See their friends, their family their problems their happiness. We don't know who is the good guy and who is the bad one. The point is, after the movie we just simple start loving both of the characters just because they are as human as just any of us. There is no action, blood and sex in this movie just the story of some ordinary people but with so much humor, love and sense that you can't miss it!

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. But you're missing something quite special if you let the sound of the film put you off. Two rival salesmen in a tough market play dirtier and dirtier in a childish tit-for-tat game, raising a storm of revenge and recrimination until they drag long-suffering wife Barbara Hershey into their fight, raising the stakes for them all. Crackling with expertly ad-libbed dialogue from actors who are clearly enjoying themselves, it's like a masterclass in flowing, naturalistic dialogue – and it's very, very funny. Richard Dreyfus (he reminds me of Richard Widmark – a reliable character actor who never gets his due) and Danny DeVito are a marvel of casting perfection. 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. I'd recommend you make this one you try and watch, if you can ever find it playing. A rare treat.