Undescribable Perfection

Perfect cast and a good story

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

If you ever saw the TV show "Chuck" in the fourth season, then you MUST see this movie to understand why Harry Dean Stanton guest starred in this TV show.

Made by a then-29 year old British UCLA film school graduate named Alex Cox, the endearingly loopy sci-fi punk cult comedy "Repo Man" is a true original. It combines many interesting details and clever gags with a satirical sensibility. Cox dots the landscape with an amazing ensemble of eclectic faces and fills the soundtrack with some very catchy tunes. He also films his quirky story in some of the less aesthetically pleasing areas of Los Angeles, giving it the perfect look. His characters are compelling, especially Bud (Harry Dean Stanton), the career repo man who has his own way of doing things. There's some very funny dialogue and even some priceless, philosophical moments courtesy of wacked-out yardman Miller (Tracey Walter).Emilio Estevez is just fine as Otto, an unambitious young man who is conned into repossessing a car by Bud. Soon desperate for money, he agrees to go to work with Bud and his gang. Otto, who's rather conservative for the kind of world he lives in, starts to find enjoyment in this new profession. Meanwhile, a Chevy Malibu with a "Kiss Me Deadly" style secret in its trunk, being driven by a nutty scientist (the memorable Fox Harris), becomes a hot ticket item.What's so great about "Repo Man" is the fact that it's utterly unpredictable. One is never really sure where it's going to be going from scene to scene. Presented by ex-"Monkey" Michael Nesmith (who'd previously done the cool time travel adventure "Timerider"), it avoids being overly political although it does have some things to say about mindless consumerism (products in the movie are labelled simply "food" or "beer"), honour, and the nature of the universe.Stanton delivers one of his all time best performances. He and Estevez are well supported by such players as Walter (whose "plate of shrimp" speech is a gem), the cute Olivia Barash, Sy Richardson, Susan Barnes, Harris (who's a real hoot), Del Zamora, Eddie Velez, Zander Schloss, Jennifer Balgobin, Dick Rude, Miguel Sandoval, the lovely Vonetta McGee, and Richard Foronjy. The Circle Jerks have a great cameo in a night club.Everything finishes with a wonderfully far-out resolution that is perfect for the material. It's definitely the sort of thing you don't forget. Those film fans jaded with more conventional storytelling need to really give this one a look.Eight out of 10.

Harry Dean Stanton is perfectly cast as Bud, who mentors punk Otto in the ways of the repo man, which usually involves drugs, alcohol and car chases. Throw in an alien in the back of a trunk of a Malibu that vaporizes people and you have one of the great oddities from the 1980s. Repo Man isn't just some offbeat relic from an era that churned out so much cult cheese, it's a brilliantly shot, nihilist comedy that holds up perfectly today. It's also a brilliant debut for director Alex Cox, whose career quickly took a nosedive and never recovered. There hits a point in the last act that throws out any pretense of narrative and goes for broke. It's almost screwball in the way Cox throws everything at the wall and hopes it sticks and most of it does. It's all the characters running amok and while some of it doesn't make a lick of sense, it's all so bonkers you'll have either given up by this point or submitted to just go along with it. Repo Man is a one of a kind classic.

Otto is working at the grocery when he loses his temper and quits. Befriended by a Repo Man, Otto sees vehicle repossession as a kind of modern buccaneering. He is attracted by the adventure and the 'who gives a damn' attitude of the other Repo men. At the same time a package is taken from a government lab that has strange effects on anyone who sees it. It is hidden in a car which the government lists for repossession with a hefty reward.The first thing you realise, is how wonderfully bonkers the whole film is. And if you don't like the opening scene with the iconic smoking boots, turn it off, because you'll hate the rest of the film.Cox has never bettered this movie, and the movie is all about anarchy, heavily influenced by the punk scene in the UK during the late seventies and early eighties.The first two acts are brilliant. Estevez exudes cool as Otto, and again, he's never been better in anything else. The support are just as bonkers, and it goes along nicely Leftfield, with subliminal images harking back to earlier narrative, and the whole generic food thing going on is all very sanitised.And then the final act comes, and it loses its momentum ever so slightly, because it just gets too bizarre, and because of this it falters.But all in all, its a wonderful study of suburbanites, waiting for something special to happen