Repo Man
Theatrical release poster
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	Tito Larriva Steven Hufsteter
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.

[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 CIA 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
• 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
Allmusic link

The soundtrack features now-classic punk rock tracks by 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. 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.

1. Iggy Pop - "Repo Man" – 5:11
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" – 2:29
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

[edit] Tribute

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.

The title of the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel Reaper Man was an intentional reference to Repo Man^[5]

[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 spiritual 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.^[6][7] On 13 February 2009, Cox announced on his personal blog that shooting had finished and the film was now in post-production.^[8] The bulk of the film was shot in front of a green screen, with backgrounds filmed and composited in during post-production.^[9] 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. Plans for a proper theatrical release have not yet been announced.

At least one celebrity cameo has been announced. Danbert Nobacon (of Chumbawamba) will reportedly have a small role.^[10]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

film portal

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