Despite being inundated with and adjusted to the massive amounts of violence 80s and 90s kids like myself were allowed to witness on screen (another episode), I was a sensitive kid who scared easily and couldn’t last a drop of horror.
One scene that terrified me was when, in some seemingly random film, a police officer walked to the back of a car, lifted the trunk lid, and screamed in terror as he was vaporized in a red flash, leaving only his smoking boots behind.
My dad changed the channel, and I never found out what that scene was about.
Until now. Decades later, I know that officer burns up in the opening sequence of Repo Man.
(YouTube clip below by Movie Clips)
But the film is a comedy, not a horror show. And with all the spectacular trimmings of 1984 (like young Emilio Estevez), Repo Man is a strange and wonderful beast.
A science fiction tale with a hardcore punk rock soundtrack, it gives the middle finger to consumerism. Like a lost Cohen brother’s caper, it embraces a wacky plot and sometimes surrealist nature. And the end product punches far above its $1.5 million budget.
Critically acclaimed on its release and held by many online as a verifiable cult classic, I was surprised I had never heard of this film until the 2020s.
And it’s the brainchild of noted punk rock movement observer writer/director Alex Cox (Sid and Nancy), a director who was later allegedly blacklisted by Hollywood (another story).
But let’s cut the hype. Is Repo Man a good movie?
The Plot of Repo Man
To avoid spoilers, I’ll take it straight from the film’s Wikipedia page:
“Set in Los Angeles, the plot concerns a young punk rocker, Otto Maddox (Emilio Estevez), who is recruited by a car repossession agency and gets caught up in the pursuit of a mysterious Chevrolet Malibu that might be connected to extraterrestrials.”
The Rest of the Main Cast Includes:
- Harry Dean Stanton as Bud
- Tracey Walter as Miller
- Olivia Barash as Leila
- Sy Richardson as Lite
- Richard Foronjy as Arnold Plettschner
- Vonetta McGee as Marlene
- Susan Barnes as Agent Rogersz
- Fox Harris as J. Frank Parnell
- Del Zamora as Lagarto Rodriguez
- Tom Finnegan as Oly
- Eddie Velez as Napoleon “Napo” Rodriguez
- Zander Schloss as Kevin
- Jennifer Balgobin as Debbi
- Miguel Sandoval as Archie
- Dick Rude as Duke
- Helen Martin as Mrs. Parks
- Luis Contreras as Mr. Humphries’ Security Guard
- The Untouchables as Scooter Gang
- The Circle Jerks as Nightclub Band
(You can watch the trailer below on YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers)
The Good Things:
Estevez’s Performance, +2 Points
Emilio Estevez pulls off the arrogance, sarcasm, and hint of youthful vulnerability needed to play the main character, Otto.
Otto has the who-gives-a-shit attitude to ask his sort-of girlfriend for sexual favors in the middle of her workplace in broad daylight without flinching. But later, he struggles to close his briefcase, fearful and surrounded by mean-mugging relatives of a woman whose car he came to repossess.
But Estevez never overplays it. As Otto struggles to gain a foothold in his world, he’s a straight lens for all the crooked characters that fill out the film, be it the punks, repo agents, or a lobotomized scientist.
And that brings us to the link between his performance and….
Colorful Characters, Subcultures, +4 Points
Repo Man builds lively, authentic characters because they fit into realistic subcultures.
Otto is a disaffected youth, a punk with a fake ID. But even with his nasty attitude, you almost can’t blame him.
He hates his job at a store, where he’s harassed over petty things like the spacing of the cans he’s price tagging.
His girlfriend unapologetically ditches him for his best friend because they are disloyal miscreants, aspiring criminals without morals.
His parents are wacky enough to have fallen out of the film Better Off Dead – oddball hippies who smoke pot and donate his graduation present to a televangelist.
With no prospects for a future and full of angst, it’s no wonder Otto falls in with the repo men – a group of outsiders with a strong camaraderie.
As mentors to Otto, you have Bud (played gloriously by Harry Dean Stanton) and the other repo agents working in the yard.
With shades of Shelley Levene of Glengarry Glen Ross, Bud is a curmudgeon who takes his craft of graft very seriously.
Believing himself principled and dignified in his work, Bud cannot see the hypocrisy of reciting his honorable repo code while snorting drugs.
(Clip below on YouTube by Movie Clips).
Bud is proud that, while the ordinary man spends his life avoiding tense situations, the repo man puts himself in dangerous situations. So you can see the mentor/mentee attraction between him and a frustrated Otto.
Another standout character from the repo yard is Miller (Tracey Walter), an eccentric mechanic who speaks about cosmic unconsciousness, aliens, and time machines – all while a stoic, skeptical Otto is content to listen.
And the CIA spies, repo rivals, and Roswell scientists add a more believable quirk to the mix.
(Clip below by Movie Clips on YouTube)
Wacky Glue Makes for Continuity, +3 Points
A sarcastic glue holds the ship together despite the bits of offbeat dialogue or unhinged events.
Miller’s prophesizing, the rantings of a lobotomized scientist, a mysterious G-woman with a metal hand – it all fits the freewheeling tone of the film.
According to Wikipedia, writer/director Alex Cox encouraged the actors to improvise in some scenes. This may be why so many lines feel off the cuff yet work perfectly.
Making Fun of Itself, +2 Points
**Spoiler Alerts Here**
Repo Man pokes fun at societal conventions and consumerism, like when punk rocker Duke asks his girlfriend Debbie how she feels about settling down together because “everyone does it” just before giving up on the idea and robbing a liquor store instead.
But when it goes wrong, and a shootout ensues, we get the death of Duke, who unexpectedly gets philosophical before he goes out. Duke blames society for his fate, only for Otto to tell him it’s crap and that he’s just a white suburban punk like him.
It’s a funny moment but also demonstrates the thematic strength of Repo Man: It skewers 80s Regan society while also quashing the notion that the angst against it has neither a definitive source nor solution.
Loose Cool Things, +2 Points
Punk legend Iggy Popp created the pumping, on-point title track, and the soundtrack features the likes of the Circle Jerks and Suicidal Tendencies.
When Bud and Otto go to the store for drinks, the cans say “drink” on them. When Otto gets food from his parents’ fridge, it only reads “food.”
I don’t know if this is to avoid the copyrights of name brands or a product of the film’s budget.
Still, it feels like an intentional comment on our consumerism – stripped of its packaging, a drink is “drink,” and food is just “food.”
The plot mostly resolves by the film’s end but not entirely, and the ending is very punk rock, not bothering to put all its broken parts and pieces back together.
But without spoiling it, it’s an ending that very much works and deserves applause.
Fun Fact: I’ve heard rumors that, in a bizarre moment of life imitating art, the Chevy Malibu used in the movie was stolen, and production had to stop until it was, thankfully, located.
The Not-as-Good Things:
Aged Jokes, -2 Points
The only drawback to this movie is that, like other comedies from prior decades, some of its humor doesn’t age so well.
While the sci-fi elements are timeless and the characters’ monologuing intriguing, Otto’s thefts gone wrong aren’t that comical by today’s standards. He gets beaten up, shot at, or falls into a car chase with Bud. Still, these scenes lack clever one-liners, out-and-out shocking behavior, or deadpan delivery.
But the pacing is crisp; so they don’t last long enough to drag the movie down.
Go Watch Repo Man
Total Arbitrary Points Score: 11 Points
Repo Man is a fun time for fans of quirky 80s movies, cult movies, or films with dark humor.
With its cast of miscreant punks, overly dedicated repossession men, CIA agents, and Roswell scientists all after a Chevy Malibu full of aliens, you won’t see another movie that can tie all that together while adding a strong “fuck you” to “the man” here and there.
Repo Man is directed by Alex Cox and is rated R.
Enjoyed this Post?
Thank you so much. If you’d like to get a ping when I have a new article, you can join my newsletter below.
Disclaimer:
The factual information about the film in this review was gathered through online sources, such as Wikipedia, IMDB, or interviews. Misrepresentations and errors are possible but unintentional.
