Repo Man (film)

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This article is about the 1984 movie. For the unrelated 2010 science fiction thriller, see Repo Men.
Repo Man
Repo-Man-Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Alex Cox
Produced by Peter McCarthy
Michael Nesmith
Gerald T. Olson
Jonathan Wacks
Written by Alex Cox
Starring Harry Dean Stanton
Emilio Estevez
Music by Tito Larriva
Steven Hufsteter
Cinematography Robby Müller
Editing by Dennis Dolan
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s)
  • March 2, 1984 (1984-03-02)
Running time 92 minutes
Country United States
Language English

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 Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez.

Contents

Plot [edit]

Otto Maddox (Emilio Estevez), a young punk rocker living in Los Angeles, gets fired from his boring job as a supermarket stock clerk. He learns that his burned-out, pot-smoking, ex-hippie parents have donated the money they promised him for finishing school to a crooked televangelist. Depressed and broke, Otto wanders the streets, until he falls in with Bud (Harry Dean Stanton), a seasoned repossession agent, or "repo man", working for the "Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation" (a small automobile repossession agency). Although Otto is initially disgusted by the concept of repossessing cars, his opinion changes rapidly when he is quickly paid in cash for his first "job". Otto joins the agency as a repo man himself.

Otto soon learns that, as Bud had told him, "the life of a repo man is always intense." He enjoys the fast life style, the drug use, the real-life car chases, the thrill of hotwiring cars and the good pay. His old lifestyle seems boring by comparison.

Otto meets a girl named Leila (Olivia Barash), who tells him that a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu from New Mexico contains four dead but still dangerous space-aliens in its trunk. Otto doesn't believe her, but the next day he reads that a reward of $20,000 is offered for the Malibu. Otto, Leila, a secret government agent, and rival Mexican repo men, the Rodriguez Brothers (Del Zamora and Eddie Velez), all compete with each other to find and deliver the Malibu, which is being driven around Los Angeles by a scientist (Fox Harris), who originally stole the aliens from Los Alamos National Laboratory and drove to California, slowly losing his sanity on the way due to the radiation emitted by the aliens.

Cast [edit]

Reception [edit]

Repo Man was well received by critics and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1984.[1][2][3] It currently holds a 97% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[4] The film 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".[5] Entertainment Weekly ranked the film #7 on their list of "The Top 50 Cult Films".[6]

Awards [edit]

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films[7]

Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

  • Won - Best Screenplay

Mystfest

  • Nominated - Best Film

American Film Institute Lists

Soundtrack [edit]

Repo Man: Music from the Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released 1984
Recorded 1980-1984
Genre Punk rock, hardcore punk, soundtrack
Length 37:20
Label MCA
Producer Peter McCarthy and Jonathan Wacks
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars [10]

The soundtrack features songs by various punk rock bands such as The Plugz, Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies, Iggy Pop and others. The film score was created by Tito Larriva and Steven Hufsteter of The Plugz.

  1. Iggy Pop - "Repo Man" – 5:12
  2. Black Flag - "TV Party" – 3:50
  3. Suicidal Tendencies - "Institutionalized" – 3:49
  4. Circle Jerks - "Coup d'État" – 1:59
  5. The Plugz - "El Clavo y la Cruz" – 2:56
  6. Burning Sensations - "Pablo Picasso" – 4:01
  7. Fear - "Let's Have a War" – 2:28
  8. Circle Jerks - "When the Shit Hits the Fan" – 3:11
  9. The Plugz - "Hombre Secreto (Secret Agent Man)" – 1:46
  10. Juicy Bananas - "Bad Man" – 4:59
  11. The Plugz - "Reel Ten" – 3:09

Sequels [edit]

Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday [edit]

Main article: Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday

According to the documentary A Texas Tale of Treason,[11] Cox wrote a sequel to Repo Man which, though filming started, was never finished.

Chris Bones saw the script on Cox's website and asked, and received, permission to adapt the script into a graphic novel. The book, Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday,[12] was released in March 2008 by Gestalt Publishing.[13]

Repo Chick [edit]

Main article: Repo Chick

On December 3, 2008, a sequel was reported to be going into development with the working title Repo Chick. The story would be set against the backdrop of the 2008 recession and the resulting boom in repossession that extends far beyond cars and homes.[14][15] On 13 February 2009, Cox announced on his personal blog that shooting had finished and the film was in post-production.[16] The bulk of the film was shot in front of a green screen, with backgrounds filmed and composited in during post-production.[17] Universal sent Cox a cease-and-desist, since Cox does not possess the rights to do an official sequel, but he ignored it, as his film uses none of the characters from the original. The film premiered on September 8 at the Venice Film Festival. It was released to DVD in the UK on February 7, 2011, and the following day in North America.

References [edit]

  1. ^ "The 10 Best Movies of 1984". Film.com. Retrieved May 21, 2010. 
  2. ^ "The Best Movies of 1984 by Rank". Films101.com. Retrieved May 21, 2010. 
  3. ^ "Most Popular Feature Films Released in 1984". IMDb.com. Retrieved May 22, 2010. 
  4. ^ "Repo Man Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 21, 2010. 
  5. ^ Boucher, Geoff (August 31, 2008). "The 25 best L.A. films of the last 25 years". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-08-31. 
  6. ^ "Entertainment Weekly's The Top 50 Cult Movies". AMC Filmsite.org. Retrieved May 21, 2010. 
  7. ^ "Repo Man: Award Wins and Nominations". IMDb.com. Retrieved May 21, 2010. 
  8. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs Nominees
  9. ^ AFI's 10 Top 10 Ballot
  10. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r85082
  11. ^ A Texas Tale of Treason at the Internet Movie Database
  12. ^ "First Look: 'Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday'". Entertainment Weekly. February 11, 2008. Retrieved 2010-10-23. 
  13. ^ Smith, Zack (February 27, 2008). "Alex Cox: The Comic Book Sequel To Repo Man". Newsarama. Retrieved November 5, 2008. 
  14. ^ Production Weekly
  15. ^ Slashfilm
  16. ^ "BLOG". Alex Cox. Retrieved 2009-03-30. 
  17. ^ Alex Cox - BLOG

External links [edit]

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