Repo Man (film)
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| Repo Man | |
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Alex Cox |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Peter McCarthy Michael Nesmith Gerald T. Olson Jonathan Wacks |
| Written by | Alex Cox |
| Starring | Emilio Estevez Fox Harris Dick Rude Harry Dean Stanton Tracey Walter |
| Music by | Steven Hufsteter Humberto Larriva |
| Cinematography | Robby Müller |
| Editing by | Dennis Dolan |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  March 2, 1984 |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
| Gross revenue | $129,000[1] |
Repo Man is a 1984 cult film directed by Alex Cox. It was produced by Jonathan Wacks and Peter McCarthy, with executive producer Michael Nesmith, and stars Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Otto Maddox (Emilio Estevez), a young punk rocker living in mid-1980s Los Angeles, is fired from his menial supermarket stock clerk job. At a party, he finds his girlfriend having sex with his best friend. He soon finds that his pot-smoking, ex-hippie parents have donated the money they promised him for finishing school to a televangelist, supposedly to supply Bibles to El Salvador. Depressed and broke, Otto falls in with Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) a seasoned repossession agent, or "repo man", working for the disingenuously named "Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation", a small-time automobile repossession agency. While repelled by the concept at first, Otto's opinion is rapidly changed when he is paid cash for his first "job."
Otto soon learns that "the life of a repo man is always intense." He enjoys the drug use, real-life car chases, the thrill of hotwiring cars and good pay. His old punk rock lifestyle seems boring by comparison, and he begins to develop a rapport with his fellow repo men as well. When he returns to a punk club to see a lounge act (played by real-life hardcore punk band Circle Jerks), he is amazed at how terrible they now seem.
Soon, Bud, Otto and competing repo men all over town are searching for a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu from New Mexico; this vehicle, unknown to them, contains something mysterious and dangerously powerful in its trunk, also sought by a strange female FBI agent, Agent Rogersz (Susan Barnes) and her staff.
[edit] Cast
- Jennifer Balgobin as Debbi
- Olivia Barash as Leila
- Susan Barnes as Agent Rogersz
- Harry Dean Stanton as Bud
- Emilio Estevez as Otto Maddox
- Sy Richardson as Lite
- Tom Finnegan as Oly
- Richard Foronjy as Otto Plettschner
- Fox Harris as J. Frank Parnell
- Helen Martin as Mrs. Parks
- Vonetta McGee as Marlene
- Sy Richardson as Lite
- Dick Rude as Duke, Punk
- Miguel Sandoval as Archie
- Zander Schloss as Kevin the Nerd
- Eddie Velez as Napoleon 'Napo' Rodriguez
- Tracey Walter as Miller
- Del Zamora as Lagarto Rodriguez
[edit] Reaction
Repo Man was voted as the eighth best film set in Los Angeles in the last 25 years by a group of Los Angeles Times writers and editors with two criteria: "The movie had to communicate some inherent truth about the L.A. experience, and only one film per director was allowed on the list".[2] Entertainment Weekly ranked the film #7 on their list of "The Top 50 Cult Films"[3] and ranked it #3 on their "The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since '83" list.[4]
[edit] Awards
1985 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (Saturn Awards)
- Won - Best Supporting Actor (Film) — Tracey Walter
- Nominated - Best Writing — Alex Cox
[edit] Soundtrack
| Repo Man (Original Soundtrack) | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Soundtrack by Various Artists | ||
| Released | 1984 | |
| Genre | Soundtrack | |
| Length | 37:20 | |
| Label | MCA | |
| Professional reviews | ||
The soundtrack features now-classic punk rock tracks by Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies, Iggy Pop and others. Producer Mike Nesmith has a small cameo role (a mock TV commercial taken from his video production Elephant Parts).
It was meant to capture an angry spirit and features a collection of punk bands of the time.
- Iggy Pop - "Repo Man" – 5:11
- Black Flag - "TV Party" – 3:50
- Suicidal Tendencies - "Institutionalized" – 3:49
- Circle Jerks - "Coup d'État" – 1:59
- The Plugz - "El Clavo y la Cruz" – 2:56
- Burning Sensations - "Pablo Picasso" – 4:01
- Fear - "Let's Have a War" – 2:29
- Circle Jerks - "When the Shit Hits the Fan" – 3:11
- The Plugz - "Hombre Secreto (Secret Agent Man)" – 1:46
- Juicy Bananas - "Bad Man" – 4:59
- The Plugz - "Reel Ten" – 3:09
- Tributes:
Indie rock label American Laundromat Records announced plans to release a tribute to the film in 2008 with some of their favorite artists covering songs on the soundtrack. At the suggestion of Cox himself, the tribute included the bonus track "Burning Down The House" by Talking Heads. The song was supposed to appear in a scene of the original film but the scene was cut due to song clearance issues.
[edit] Sequels
A semi-sequel titled Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday was written by Cox in the early 1990s, but the project was never able to progress to production. Cox made the screenplay freely available, and this was eventually adapted as a graphic novel in March 2008. The novel is published by Gestalt Publishing and is illustrated by Chris Bones and Justin Randall and follows the screenplay nearly word-for-word.
On December 3, 2008, a true sequel was reported to be going into development with the working title "Repo Chick". The film will be produced by David Lynch. The story will be set against the backdrop of the present economic downturn, and a boom in repossession that extends far beyond cars and homes.[5][6] On 13 February 2009, Cox announced on his personal blog that shooting had finished and the sequel was now in post-production.[7]
At least one celebrity cameo has been announced. Danbert Nobacon (of Chumbawamba) will reportedly have a small role.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ "Repo Man (1984)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=repoman.htm. Retrieved on 2008-12-07.
- ^ Boucher, Geoff (August 31, 2008). "The 25 best L.A. films of the last 25 years". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-ca-25films31-2008aug31,0,70218.htmlstory. Retrieved on 2008-08-31.
- ^ "The Top 50 Cult Films". Entertainment Weekly. May 23, 2003.
- ^ "The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since '83" list". Entertainment Weekly. September 3, 2008. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20221982_22,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-04.
- ^ Production Weekly
- ^ Slashfilm
- ^ "BLOG". Alex Cox. http://www.alexcox.com/blog.htm. Retrieved on 2009-03-30.
- ^ http://www.danbertnobacon.com/news.html
[edit] External links
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Repo Man |
- Repo Man at Allmovie
- Repo Man at Box Office Mojo
- Repo Man at the Internet Movie Database
- Repo Man at Metacritic
- Repo Man at Rotten Tomatoes
- Repo Man Film Tribute page to the film
- Repo Man page on Alex Cox website
