In the early '60s, Bill Babowsky (Dreyfuss) and Ernest Tilley (DeVito) are competing, high-pressure aluminum-siding salesmen. Both are willing to do anything, no matter how underhanded, to close a sale. When their cars collide, so do their abrasive personalities, and it soon escalates into all-out war.
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Babowsky even goes so far as to sleep with Tilly's wife Nora (Hershey). Tilly, however, tells him he's glad to be rid of his wife. Then something unexpected happens. Babowsky falls in love with Nora, and she with him.
The two men reach a truce when a government commission cleans up the industry and revokes both their sales licenses for their dirty tricks.
Best part of story, including ending:
It's fun to watch all the dirty tricks the two men perpetrate on each other and their prospective customers.
Best scene in story:
When Babowsky phones Tilley to tell him he slept with Nora, he doesn't get the reaction he expected. Tilley, on the other hand, is first ecstatic, but eventually it all sinks in, and he's not so sure anymore.
Opinion about the main character:
Babowsky reforms somewhat, at least as far as Nora is concerned, but not totally. That's good. It wouldn't be as believable otherwise.