From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the person who repossesses property, see Repossession. For the professional wrestler, see Barry Darsow. For the X-Men episode see Repo Man (X-Men episode).

Repo Man
Repo Man DVD Cover
Directed by	Alex Cox
Produced by	Jonathan Wacks Peter McCarthy
Written by	Alex Cox
Starring	Emilio Estevez Harry Dean Stanton
Music by	The Plugz
Cinematography	Robby Müller
Editing by	Dennis Dolan
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	March 2, 1984
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.5 million USD
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Repo Man is a 1984 cult film directed by Alex Cox, produced by Michael Nesmith, and starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton.

Contents 1 Plot 1.1 Taglines 2 Featured cast 3 Reception 3.1 Awards and nominations 4 Recurring themes and references 5 Soundtrack 5.1 Tributes 6 Cultural references 6.1 Video games 6.2 Music 7 External links

Otto Maddox (Emilio Estevez), an alienated young punk rocker living in mid-1980s Los Angeles, is fired from his menial, supermarket stock clerk job for talking back to his boss. Shortly afterwards, he finds out that his pot-smoking, ex-hippie parents have donated his entire savings account to a popular, but sleazy, televangelist. Leaving home and broke, Otto gets a job almost by accident with the disingenuously named "Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation," a small-time automobile repossession agency, where he is mentored by Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) a seasoned repo man who teaches the often hazardous profession.

Soon, Bud, Otto and competing repo men all over town are searching for a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu from New Mexico, ludicrously overvalued at $20,000; this vehicle, unknown to them, contains something mysterious and dangerously powerful in its trunk, also sought by a strange female FBI agent, Agent Rogersz (Susan Barnes) and her staff. The film draws on the experiences of Alex Cox, who worked briefly as a repo man in Los Angeles, but soon deviates into the surreal with aliens, the CIA, televangelism, punk rocker thieves and other strange characters and situations, all amid a long string of hilarious running gags and almost-impossible coincidences.

• ...It's 4 A.M., do you know where your car is?
• Meet Otto. He's a clean-cut kid in a dirty business. He's a Repo Man. He steals cars legally. Now, he's out to repossess a '64 Chevy Malibu...with an amazing reward of $20,000, but Otto is not alone. There are others who want the car and will do anything to get it. The risks are great, because hidden in the trunk is something so incredible it could destroy them all. We'll give you a hint... it glows in the dark.

Actor	Role
Jennifer Balgobin	Debbi
Olivia Barash	Leila
Susan Barnes	Agent Rogersz
Harry Dean Stanton	Bud
Emilio Estevez	Otto Maddox
Tom Finnegan	Oly
Richard Foronjy	Otto Plettschner
Fox Harris	J. Frank Parnell
Helen Martin	Mrs. Parks
Vonetta McGee	Marlene
Sy Richardson	Lite
Dick Rude	Duke, Punk
Miguel Sandoval	Archie
Zander Schloss	Kevin the Nerd
Eddie Velez	Napoleon 'Napo' Rodríguez
Tracey Walter	Miller
Del Zamora	Lagarto Rodrigues

1985 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (Saturn Awards)

• Won - Best Supporting Actor (Film) — Tracey Walter
• Nominated - Best Writing — Alex Cox

• References to "plates", "shrimp", or "plate of shrimp" throughout.
• In the hospital scene, a "Dr. Benway" and a "Mr. Lee" are paged. Both are characters from novels by William S. Burroughs.
• "Dioretix", a pun on L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics and the term diuretic.
• The dangerous glow emitted from the trunk of the Chevy Malibu may be a homage to the bright, glowing contents of the mysterious box in the 1955 film Kiss Me Deadly directed by Robert Aldrich. A similar device can be seen in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.
• Food and beverages throughout the movie appear in generic white containers with blue-lettered labels reading among others, "Beer", "Drink", "Dry Gin" and "Food (Meat Flavored)". This style of labeling was actually used by Ralphs grocery in southern California for their generic products.
• Pine-scented car deodorizers shaped like evergreen trees are placed in most cars. These items were one of the few sponsored items in this movie and hundreds of these deodorizers were donated to the filmmakers for this movie, without scent. Miller, the mechanic-philosopher, also noted the pervasive presence of the scented pine tree deodorizers in repossessed cars, telling Otto, "You'll find one in every car. You'll see." (One even appears on a policeman's motorcycle.)
• Many of the "repo men" of Helping Hand are named after popular beers or allude to beer: Bud, Oly, Lite, Miller.
• Quite a few Los Angeles-based punk rock musicians cast in roles large and small include: Dick Rude and Keith Morris (with his band, The Circle Jerks) as well as The Untouchables (as the scooter guys). Also cast is Los Angeles club maven, Rodney Bingenheimer (aka "Rodney on the ROQ") in a cameo appearance as a club owner. Bingenheimer's name is spelled "Benegenheimer" in the credits. The Circle Jerks perform as a very poor lounge act (the source of Otto's lament, "I can't believe I used to like these guys!") as they grind out a slow, "swinging" lounge version of the normally raucous When the Shit Hits the Fan. Circle Jerks bassist Zander Schloss is seen in an acting role as a friend of Otto's who works with him at the supermarket.
• Posters for "Harry Pace for City Council" in the background throughout the film. Alex Cox has said that "Harry Pace" was an indirect reference to "happy face." Leila (played by Olivia Barash) wears happy face pins. Otto is wearing a smiley face pin when he spots the Chevy Malibu.
• The scene when Agent Rogersz and Leila torture Otto appears to be a reference to the Milgram experiment.
• As Bud and Otto pursue repossession opportunities throughout the seedier parts of Los Angeles (at all hours of the day and night), their path seems to continually follow or intersect with that of Otto's punk friends. On more than one occasion, Bud and Otto will visit a convenience store just after (or during) a robbery committed by Duke, Archie and Debbi.
• In the party scene at a local bar where we see the Repo Men's wives, several of the wives are played by drag queens.

Repo Man (Original Soundtrack)
Soundtrack by Various Artists
Released	1984
Genre	Soundtrack
Length	37:20
Label	MCA
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link

The soundtrack features now-classic punk rock tracks by Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies, Iggy Pop and others. 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. "Repo Man" performed by Iggy Pop – 5:11
2. "TV Party" performed by Black Flag – 3:50
3. "Institutionalized" performed by Suicidal Tendencies – 3:49
4. "Coup d'Etat" performed by The Circle Jerks – 1:59
5. "El Clavo y la Cruz" performed by The Plugz – 2:56
6. "Pablo Picasso" performed by Burning Sensations – 4:01
7. "Let's Have a War" performed by Fear – 2:29
8. "When the Shit Hits the Fan" performed by The Circle Jerks – 3:11
9. "Hombre Secreto (Secret Agent Man)" performed by The Plugz – 1:46
10. "Bad Man" performed by Juicy Bananas – 4:59
11. "Reel Ten" performed by The Plugz – 3:09

American Laundromat Records has announced plans to release a tribute CD featuring some of their favorite bands covering tunes from the original motion picture soundtrack. A 2008 release date is scheduled.

• In the popular PlayStation Portable title: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories which takes place in the year 1984, there is a business racket in which you can invest in titled: "Loan Sharking Ventures." The likeliness of the venture, it's mission names, and objectives are a direct parody/homage of the film itself.

As well, at the point in which you achieve "High Roller" status (through upgrades or purchase) for that particular business, an outfit (entitled: "Repo Man Outfit") is rewarded to you for use in your safe house -which features a spot on likeliness to Emilio Estevez's attire later on in the film (dress shirt; with crunched-up forearms, striped thin tie, slacks, and Italian shoes).

• Californian rock band The Aquabats! are admitted fans of the movie; a sample of dialogue from the film is featured in their tribute song, 'CD Repo Man', and the quote "Eyes melt, skin explodes, everybody's dead" is included in the lyrics to the song 'Chemical Bomb'. In addition, they've been known to play clips of the film, among other movies, during their live shows.

• Repo Man at the Internet Movie Database
• Repo Man page on Alex Cox website
• Repo Man fan site
• Repo Man information site