Repo Man

I put this eighties cult classic right up there with Blazing Saddles (1974) and Dr. Strangelove (1964) as one of the best satires ever to hit the silver screen. No exaggeration: this is one bizarre and one very funny flick. Seeing it again after almost twenty years, I gotta say, it lost nothing.

Emilio Estevez stars as Otto Maddox, a head-strong and slightly naive ex-supermarket stock clerk and sometime punk rocker. He's kicking a can down the street when up pulls Bud, "a repo man," played with a fine degeneracy by Harry Dean Stanton, who asks him if he wants to make ten bucks. (Otto's reply is memorable but not printable here.) When he learns that Bud just wants him to drive a car and not...uh, never mind, he bargains it to twenty-five bucks. When he finds out that Bud repossesses cars for the "Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation," he is sorely offended. But when he realizes how intense the life is (and how bleak his other employment opportunities), he becomes a repo man himself.

Meanwhile there's J. Frank Parnell (Fox Harris wearing a demonic grin and weird black and empty frame glasses) driving a "hot" '64 Chevy Malibu. "You don't want to look in the trunk, Officer," he tells a cop who pulls him over on a desert highway. By the way, the map under the opening credits shows the action of this film beginning somewhere on old Route 66 in New Mexico, suggesting alien mecca Roswell territory perhaps, but most of scenes were clearly shot in LA, and the desert scene just mentioned was also probably shot in California as evidenced by the Joshua Trees in the background.

What director and scriptster Alex Cox does is combine urban ghetto realism with bizarro sci-fi shtick. He adds a fine punk soundtrack including the title song from Iggy Pop with a brief appearance by the Circle Jerks, and wow are they appropriate, but you have be a punker or a 15-year-old to really visualize their moniker. The supporting players, Sy Richardson as Lite, a black cat repo ace, and Tracey Walter as Miller, a demented street philosopher, really stand out. I also liked the black girl repo person with attitude (Vonetta McGee).

The real strength of the movie, aside from probably the best performance of Estevez's career, is in the street scene hijinks, the funny and raunchy dialogue, and all those sight gags. My favorite scene has Otto coming home to find his parents smoking weed on the couch zombie-like in front of the TV listening to a Christian evangelist while he scarfs down "Food" out of a blue and white can from the refrigerator. I mean "Food" is on the label, period. The Ralphs plain wrap (remember them) are all over the sets, in the convenience store, at the supermarket, bottles of plain wrap whiskey and plain wrap "Tasteetos," plain wrap beer and plain wrap cigarettes.

Some other good shtick: the dead rat thrown in the car with the woman that doesn't accomplish its purpose; the money in the presents that Otto throws out the window busted open by the tires of another car for us to see and drool over; the "I left a book of matches" line that diverts Otto's idiot friend pumping gas; the pepper spray; Miller by the ashcan fire contemplating the disappeared from the future and "the lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything" (trippy, man); and the punk criminal act of "Let's go get sushi and not pay." And Otto's clean pressed white dress shirt and the tie--I love the tie--as Lite tells him, "Doing my job, white boy."

See this for the authentic eighties street scenes and for my UCLA Bruin buddy (by way of Oxford) director Alex Cox who dreamed the whole thing up. Only an Englishman could really see America authentically.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

Alex Cox probably knew what he was doing with Repo Man, but it was probably something he concocted while in the basement of a young punk rocker with a lot of dirty second-rate comic books and a lot of booze. How it comes out on the screen makes it a kind of bizarre outcast in the realm of science-fiction comedies, because it's not entirely a comedy (there's some moments that feel like they SHOULD be more dramatic, like the dynamic between Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez for the most part, or the scenes with secret-service-type alien chasers). In fact science fiction seems to be looming over the heads of everyone like it's some sort of half-goofy half-conspiratorial quagmire, all leading up to a Chevy Malibu that has a certain 'quality' about it. Much of the story's tangents don't even seem to make too much sense, and the structure feels like it's been put together in cheap (hence the comic-books). But Cox is always working with a mind-set for what's unexpected with absurdities and, oddly enough for such a punk-rock movie, quirkiness.

Estevez plays Otto, a perennial punk-rocker who has a 'f*** you' attitude to practically all authority figures, which keeps him usually unemployed. Enter in Stanton with his job as a repo-man, with cars getting taken away by "dildoes who don't follow the rules", and so he joins up as he's got no prospects at all. As he learns how to go about getting car after car, a suspicious wormy guy in glasses is driving around a peculiar car that has a trunk that's similar to something out of the Ark of the Covenant, only more alien-like. So then, as Cox's rude and crude attitude goes, we get the secret-service guys, the bizarre punks who are all about causing disorganized chaos and robberies, ill-tempered Hispanics, a far-out guy at the repo place named Miller, and meanwhile there's always wackiness around the corner. The characters are more or less the main thing Cox works with here, as almost everyone here is an eccentric, or an oddball, or a total off-his-rocker loon (or just, you know, with their 'secrets'). And Otto himself is a prototype of the typical 80s kid, with no respect but not necessarily stupid either.

And around these characters a lot of crazy things go on, or lines of dialog, and they either work or they don't. The only problem is that Cox isn't always focused with everything from scene to scene, and there's a mid-section that just comes off even too weird for me. But I didn't mind this for the most part; there's almost a sense in the narrative that it's supposed to be sloppy and mismanaged, and through this there's more inventive qualities than one might find in a more prestigious flick with more money. Add on to this one of the great 80s soundtracks, and an ending that gives a big laugh with a big raised-eyebrow, Repo Man is a shaggy dog story, a rebellious-youth pic, and an urban take on the old tale of aliens coming to Earth (for what reason I still can't tell). A minor work of ingenuity that is understandably with its cult audience.

I first watched 'Repo Man' around 1985 or 1986 and it knocked me out. I've watched it many times since and it STILL knocks me out! Alex Cox has made quite a few strange movies since this, mostly excellent (check out 'Three Businessmen' sometime), a few not so good, but this is gonna be the movie he will always be remembered for. It's a black comedy, a science fiction movie, a buddy film, a punk rock movie, it's all kinda things. There has been nothing quite like it made before or since! Emilio Estevez has made some really bad movies in the 80s and 90s but he is excellent as disenfranchised surburban punk Otto, and the legendary Harry Dean Stanton ('Cool Hand Luke', 'The Rebel Rousers', 'Two-Lane Blacktop', 'Alien', 'Paris, Texas',etc.etc.) gives one of his most memorable performances as Bud, the repo man who tries to be his mentor. The supporting cast are all first rate, especially Tracey Walter (Miller) and Sy Richardson (Lite), two actors who never became household names but who still generate knowing smiles and nods from cult movie fans everywhere at the mere mention of their names. Also keep an eye out for an almost unrecognizable Miguel Sandoval ('Get Shorty', 'Blow'). Cox would use him in most of his subsequent movies, most notably his absurdist classic 'Three Businessmen'. 'Repo Man' also has a celebrated soundtrack by Iggy Pop, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies and others. The Circle Jerks also perform in a memorable sequence. This movie is a cult classic which looks as good now as it did back in the 1980s. I love it. Highly recommended!

This is NOT a film that the average film viewer will love. Many will be alienated because of the film's strong language and rather amoral characters. Many will be alienated because the film is so strange and,....well, strange! But, if you have a high tolerance for these factors, then you'll no doubt have a great time watching this cult classic. Just be prepared--this is PROBABLY NOT a film for grandma and the kiddies! In addition to very harsh language, there is drug use, sex (though you don't see anything) and violence galore.

The film almost defies description, though I'll try. Emelio Estevez stars as a rather low-key guy who falls into the job of repossessing cars. And, once he takes the job, he finds that the subculture is bizarre. In fact, the people he works for are the most motley crew of freaks you could imagine. And, into the midst of this group of freaks comes a plot about stolen alien corpses and a car trunk that vaporizes anyone who opens it!! Heck, I won't even bother continuing...suffice to say it's just weird.

Overall, while the acting and script occasionally fall flat, the film is funny, twisted and never fails to surprise--particularly the hallucinogenic ending! In addition, the film has a great sound track--one of the best I've heard. It's full of punk music AND retro 50s rifts that I particularly loved. Who would have thought I would have liked music from the likes of Iggy Pop and The Plugz?! Plus, if you really like the tunes, you can buy the special edition which comes with the movie on DVD and a music CD as well.

By the way, as you are watching here are a couple interesting things to note. The food in the movie is all in generic-style containers and say 'food', 'beer' and the like. Also, note when the one punk is dying--listen to his death speech--it's a classic!

"Repo Man" was one of the films that came out in 1984 that, in a way, revolutionized film story telling, as we knew it. We are given a hint about what's coming right on the opening sequence when the Chevy Malibu, driven by the spooky Frank Parnell, is stopped on a highway.

Alex Cox, the innovative director of "Repo Man", made a film that mixes a lot of movie genres with a satisfying result. That's why when it was discovered, it became a huge cult movie. It was one of the films that had midnight screenings for its many fans that flocked to have a great time and who identified themselves with the movie.

The best thing in the film is the interaction between Bud and Otto. Harry Dean Stanton has always play cool parts and this movie is no exception. Emilio Estevez gave, what might be, his best movie performance as the young punk that gets to meet a world he never knew existed. All the players gave their best to Mr. Cox and the result is a film that, in some ways, might baffle at first, but once the viewer gets into it, he will be hooked.

Iggy Pop's music is an excellent partner for the action. Alex Cox is an innovative director, as he proves with "Repo Man".