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Richard Dreyfuss | Bill 'BB' Babowsky |
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Danny DeVito | Ernest Tilley |
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Barbara Hershey | Nora Tilley |
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John Mahoney | Moe Adams |
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Richard Portnow | |
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Matt Craven | |
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Brad Sullivan | |
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Bruno Kirby | |
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Seymour Cassel | |
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Alan Blumenfeld |
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Stu Linder | Editor |
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Barry Levinson | Director |
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Peter Sova | Director of Photography |
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Mark Johnson | Producer |
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Mark Johnson | Production |
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Barry Levinson | Writer |
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Stu Linder | Editing |
"The American Dream Changes. The People Who Sell It Don't."
It is 1963. Ernest Tilley (Danny DeVito) and Bill "BB" Babowsky (Richard Dreyfuss) are door-to-door aluminium 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 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. Each vows to get even.After they smash glass on each other's cars, 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, Tilley tells him to keep her. Tilley wants her to leave him.Exhausted by their rivalry, the two men decide to play a game of pool to decide who should get her. BB loses, but he does not honour the bet. He has fallen in love for the first time.A newly formed Maryland Home Improvement Commission charged with uprooting corrupt sales practices in the home-improvement industry subpoenas both men and takes away their licenses. Reconciled to their fate, Tilley and BB begin sharing ideas for a new business.
DVD : 2002-04-02