| "A repo man is always intense... but only a fool gets killed for a car.” |
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Repo Man
DVD/APPROX. 93 MINS/1984/USA R18+
DVD/APPROX. 93 MINS/1984/USA R18+
9
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With the poor man’s Dennis Hopper (Harry Dean Stanton) and the Sheen who was smart enough (?) not to use the name (Emilio Estevez) in the
starring roles, I don’t think anyone ever expected much from this film when it first came out. I mean, Estevez as the punk Otto just seems a little
too tanned and clean for mine but you know what, the little fucker almost pulls it off. Personally I get the feeling Charlie would have done it better
but then there’s a perverse thrill in seeing a clean cut white boy pretending to be punk, I mean hell that’s basically what most of them were doing
in LA at the time anyway. Otto is a disgruntled kid from the burbs whose hippie parents are glued to the electric fireplace and have given away
Otto’s college fund to one of them bible waving tv evangelist types. Not that Otto was gonna make it to college but now he’s gonna have to work
for his beer money. He bumps into Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) who’s a repo man and suddenly finds himself getting paid to steal cars. When Otto
finds out what Bud is his first reaction is to pour his beer on the floor. That there should tell you he ain’t a real punk!
Meanwhile a mad scientist is driving around with something in the boot – we never quite find out what it is, it could be dead aliens, it could be a
neutron bomb, it could be Henry Rollins solo country albums, we’re never told – we just know that whenever anyone opens the boot, they’re burnt
to a crisp. (definitely Rollins albums) While the secret service led by a blonde woman with a steel hand chase him, Otto is bumping uglies with a gal
who believes its aliens in the boot and he soon gets drawn into the whole mess. All the secret service guys have nice blonde hair too – it’s a sort
of visual running gag, the other running gag is that all the liquor stores Bud and Otto visit get robbed by Otto’s old punk mates. In fact at one
stage, Otto’s mates even end up with the scientist’s car which by now is being sought by everyone including the repo men. There’s a vast array of
weird characters, punks, repo men, secret service, the Circle Jerks doing a great little lounge act (now that was visionary) and somehow Otto gets
the car, only to lose it again and the car is glowing by now and no one can touch it. Except… the one man, who doesn’t drive – Miller (Tracey
Walter) who’s the odd job man/part time philosopher at the repo yard. He climbs in, invites Otto to join him, takes off into the air and you sit on
your couch going, What The Fuck?
This movie makes no sense at all. Whether it was supposed to or not, I don’t know. According to the doco with it, there was a neutron bomb in
the boot (though I'm still backing the Rollins C&W albums theory). I think Cox was trying to say something but I don’t think he even knew what.
Regardless, it’s funny, the soundtrack kicks arse, the actors play it relatively straight (well, for an 80s movie, they’re straight) lines like, “the more
you drive the less intelligent you are.” (Miller to Otto)
And “Bullshit you’re a white suburban punk just like me.” (Otto to his mate as he lay dying – gunned down in a robbery gone bad) add to the
whole thing. I mean here’s a buddy movie where everyone double crosses everyone else, where those shitty little punk kids stay clean and listen
to lounge music, where the TV evangelist takes your money, where the revolutionaries are repo men chicanos, where the sixties hippies are
burnouts and sex is a quick fuck in the back of the car. Here is a movie that knew even in 1984 that the whole of the 80s was doomed to failure.
Repo Man is a great movie, it deserves it’s cult status, it just doesn’t make any sense but then that’s the 80s to a tee isn’t it?
starring roles, I don’t think anyone ever expected much from this film when it first came out. I mean, Estevez as the punk Otto just seems a little
too tanned and clean for mine but you know what, the little fucker almost pulls it off. Personally I get the feeling Charlie would have done it better
but then there’s a perverse thrill in seeing a clean cut white boy pretending to be punk, I mean hell that’s basically what most of them were doing
in LA at the time anyway. Otto is a disgruntled kid from the burbs whose hippie parents are glued to the electric fireplace and have given away
Otto’s college fund to one of them bible waving tv evangelist types. Not that Otto was gonna make it to college but now he’s gonna have to work
for his beer money. He bumps into Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) who’s a repo man and suddenly finds himself getting paid to steal cars. When Otto
finds out what Bud is his first reaction is to pour his beer on the floor. That there should tell you he ain’t a real punk!
Meanwhile a mad scientist is driving around with something in the boot – we never quite find out what it is, it could be dead aliens, it could be a
neutron bomb, it could be Henry Rollins solo country albums, we’re never told – we just know that whenever anyone opens the boot, they’re burnt
to a crisp. (definitely Rollins albums) While the secret service led by a blonde woman with a steel hand chase him, Otto is bumping uglies with a gal
who believes its aliens in the boot and he soon gets drawn into the whole mess. All the secret service guys have nice blonde hair too – it’s a sort
of visual running gag, the other running gag is that all the liquor stores Bud and Otto visit get robbed by Otto’s old punk mates. In fact at one
stage, Otto’s mates even end up with the scientist’s car which by now is being sought by everyone including the repo men. There’s a vast array of
weird characters, punks, repo men, secret service, the Circle Jerks doing a great little lounge act (now that was visionary) and somehow Otto gets
the car, only to lose it again and the car is glowing by now and no one can touch it. Except… the one man, who doesn’t drive – Miller (Tracey
Walter) who’s the odd job man/part time philosopher at the repo yard. He climbs in, invites Otto to join him, takes off into the air and you sit on
your couch going, What The Fuck?
This movie makes no sense at all. Whether it was supposed to or not, I don’t know. According to the doco with it, there was a neutron bomb in
the boot (though I'm still backing the Rollins C&W albums theory). I think Cox was trying to say something but I don’t think he even knew what.
Regardless, it’s funny, the soundtrack kicks arse, the actors play it relatively straight (well, for an 80s movie, they’re straight) lines like, “the more
you drive the less intelligent you are.” (Miller to Otto)
And “Bullshit you’re a white suburban punk just like me.” (Otto to his mate as he lay dying – gunned down in a robbery gone bad) add to the
whole thing. I mean here’s a buddy movie where everyone double crosses everyone else, where those shitty little punk kids stay clean and listen
to lounge music, where the TV evangelist takes your money, where the revolutionaries are repo men chicanos, where the sixties hippies are
burnouts and sex is a quick fuck in the back of the car. Here is a movie that knew even in 1984 that the whole of the 80s was doomed to failure.
Repo Man is a great movie, it deserves it’s cult status, it just doesn’t make any sense but then that’s the 80s to a tee isn’t it?
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