‘Tucker,’ ‘Ed Wood’

Has anyone noticed how alike “Tucker” and “Ed Wood” are? Both are stories of failure made bearable by the boundless optimism of its lead character. Both are loving re-creations of a period in our history when dreams were still possible. Both have a meeting with an icon of its protagonist--Howard Hughes in “Tucker” and Orson Welles in “Ed Wood.” And both had a transcendent supporting performance by Martin Landau as a lost man who at the end of his life found a family and someone to believe in him.

STEVE BARR

Culver City