Interest in punk rock also provided the impetus for the satire Repo Man, a moderate critical success, which went on to become a cult favorite.
Alex Cox’s punky sci-fi satire
The Premise
Angry young man Emilio Estevez gets recruited into the repossession business by ageing beatnik Harry Dean Stanton, but things get complicated when he picks up a Chevy Malibu with something in the trunk.
The movie adheres to its own bizarre rhythms and outsider humor, but its anti-establishment message is delivered with energy, due to the hardcore punk soundtrack, including a theme song by Iggy Pop.
It’s managed to find a much wider audience over the years than anyone could have anticipated.
The movie features the impressive directing debut of Alex Cox, a Brit who studied film at UCLA and took a job with a car repossession company, when he was unable to find film work after graduation.
Grade: B (**** out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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A sci-fi thriller which takes a wacky look at a particular L.A. subculture, Repo Man is a zany farce with lunatic characters, including a TV evangelist who preaches against “godless Communism abroad and liberal humanism at home.”
As a neo-surreal fable, it’s inhabited by failed punk rockers and car-repossession men who behave as if they were the knights errant of capitalism–or creatures from outer space
The innocent Otto (Estevez), who is wandering through this semi-mythological world is a suburban earring-wearing punk who somehow can’t make it with his peers. He tries to detach himself from his customers, but he keeps getting emotionally involved.
After several mishaps, Otto winds up working as a “repo man” for the Helping Hands Acceptance Company, a seedy outfit whose veteran employee is Bud (Harry Dean Stanton).
Seldom sober, Bud assumes responsibility for Otto’s “education.” He’s the kind of fast-talker, who has a line of wisdom for every situation encountered. “A repo man’s life is always intense,” he says after a near-fatal accident on the highway, or “The more you drive, the less intelligent you get.” “Ordinary fucking people, I hate ’em,” says Bud, in what’s seems to be the ethos of the movie.
Joining the duo is Leila (Olivia Barash), a pretty female cultist who’s convinced that a 1964 Chevy Malibu contains the bodies of four aliens in its trunk. “We must find it right away, or they could turn into moosh,” she says with desperation, anticipating the climactic ending of Chevy Malibu’s ascension to heaven.
Situated between Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Used Cars, Repo Man boasted a touch of the more popular movie, Ghostbusters, without the latter’s big budget, A-list stars, and special effects.
The soundtrack, which is full of witty sight gags, is as dense with bizarre non-sequiturs as that of an Altman film.
It’s noteworthy that punk rock remained the inspiration for Cox’s next movie, Sid and Nancy (1986), a bizarre tale about the doomed love affair between Sex Pistols’ singer Sid Vicious and an American groupie.
Cast
Harry Dean Stanton as Bud
Emilio Estevez as Otto Maddox
Tracey Walter as Miller
Olivia Barash as Leila
Sy Richardson as Lite
Vonetta McGee as Marlene
Richard Foronjy as Arnold Plettschner
Credits:
Directed, written by Alex Cox
Produced by Jonathan Wacks, Peter McCarthy
Cinematography Robby Müller
Edited by Dennis Dolan
Music by Steven Hufsteter, Humberto Larriva
Production company: Edge City Productions
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date: March 2, 1984
Running time: 92 minutes
Budget $1.5 million
Box office $3.7 million
