Repo Man (1984)

Immature punk rocker meanders through a post-capitalist wasteland, struggling to find meaning in a soulless, consumerist existence. Also, there are aliens, maybe. Delightfully surreal and with just a pinch of pathos, Repo Man is one of those quintessentially 80's movies.

Repo Man is one of a select band of films which is regarded as an indisputable cult movie. Probably the main reason for this is that it does that thing that so many cult offerings do and that is to mash-up genres, in this case we have a post-modern comedy with sci-fi elements. The humour takes pot shots at many things such as advertising, conspiracy theorists and religion, while the sci-fi revolves around something dangerous and glowing in the boot of an old car, in a definite nod to the film-noir classic Kiss Me Deadly (1955). So, it is a film of many disparate elements for sure. It is notable for being British director and one time 'Moviedrome' presenter Alex Cox's debut film. It has to go down as his best effort really, seeing as it is the one where his idiosyncrasies are held together in a self-contained whole the most effectively. It is, however, a wilfully bizarre movie. After losing his job a young punk begins work as a repo man. Soon thereafter a reward is placed by shady government people for retrieval of a 1964 Chevy Malibu which has something in the trunk that fries anyone unfortunate enough to look at it.The story isn't really the main selling point, it's no more than a framework in which Cox uses to put together a selection of his odd-ball ideas. The screenplay is well-written though with interesting lines sprinkled throughout and the film is full of fun sight gags such as the fact all products in the movie have generic labelling or the fact that all watches have no hands. We even have a career best performance from a young Emilio Estevez as Otto, the disaffected punk youth central character, it really reminds you of what he was capable of given the right material, while Harry Dean Stanton gets a rare lead role as a world-weary repo man and needless to say he is excellent value. Topping things off, the movie benefits from a punk soundtrack, often with a spaghetti western edge, it's a score which gives the movie both attitude and sense of time and place which only serves to elevate it further. Repo Man is a very fun, yet very off-beat, movie. One of the touchstone cult movies of the 80's.

Young punk Otto (Emilio Estevez) becomes a repo man after helping to steal a car, and stumbles into a world of wackiness as a result.Films like these are why I have always preferred Emilio Estevez over Charlie Sheen. While Sheen has some great films, including "The Chase", when it comes to the crazy movies of the 1980s, Emilio is where it's at. Between this and "Maximum Overdrive", he is the master.This film is even better than many ult films, because it has the distinction of being honored by the Criterion Collection. How often do cult films get recognized by the defining label of classic film? Other than "RoboCop", I cannot think of another example.

The cult film. We all have at least one. Truly loving an obscure or absurd film is like being in a secret society. It has its own lingo, and sometimes even its own dress code. Somehow I've managed to avoid 'Repo Man', one of the ultimate cult films, for nearly thirty years. So when I stumbled upon a VHS copy while on a recent thrift store sojourn, I thought it was well worth ninety nine cents to see what the fuss was about. Turns out not much.I really wanted to like this film, even thought for a few minutes that I would love it, but ultimately its nothing more than a proto 'Dude, where's my car?' with more four letter words and less narrative clarity. In short; I hated it. With its heavy satire, punk rock soundtrack and absurd story, I can definitely understand why it became a cult classic. I'm just not ready to drink the Kool-Aid.