Bullet Points: Repo Man

I have mentioned in the past how writing for Bulletproof Action has afforded me the opportunity to discover movies I had previously never heard of. But writing for Bulletproof Action has opened up other opportunities…

Take 1984’s Repo Man for example. I was well aware of the existence of Repo Man but in more than a quarter century since its release, Repo Man was a movie I never watched, until now…

• Punk’d: Life is not good for Otto (Emilio Estevez, Judgment Night). Otto loses his stock boy job at the supermarket, he catches his girl Debbi in bed with his punk rock friend Duke and he finds out that the money his dad set aside for him after he graduated high school was given to a televangelist. Otto finds himself looking for work and wandering the streets of Los Angeles and that’s about the time…

• Opportunity Knocks: Bud (Harry Dean Stanton, Escape from New York) happens upon Otto and offers him an opportunity to make some money. By default, Otto repossess his first car and is soon introduced to the world of repossession agents more specifically the Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation. Bud teaches Otto his personal “Repo Code” a strict set of guidelines Bud has adhered to over the years. Bud also advises Otto to dress like a detective, because people will think he’s packing if he’s dressed like a detective and less likely to get physical. Meanwhile, Lite (Sy Richardson, Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects) another repo man who is teaching Bud the ropes is legit packing heat, as Otto finds out when he goes on a job with Lite and Lite opens fire on some delinquents who take a shot at them. Another of Lite’s more unorthodox methods is throwing a “dead rat” in a car to get the driver to freak out, exit the car and make said car ripe for the repo picking.

• Burying the Lead: As fascinating as the world of repo men is, there’s one major plot piece that I have yet to mention… there’s a former government employee driving around in a 1964 Chevy Malibu with something top secret in the trunk… something that if looked upon will make a person spontaneously combust. The Malibu has a lot of people interested including a government agency and a group of UFO enthusiasts. Otto first gets mixed up in this world, when he meets Leila one day while on the job… Leila (Olivia Barash, Tuff Turf) needs a ride to the United Fruitcakes Outlet and not one to pass up the opportunity to help an attractive girl, Otto is happy to give her a ride (in more ways than one, if you know what I mean). But Otto will soon have a professional connection to this out of this world story when a $20,000 bounty is put out on the 1964 Chevy Malibu.
• Hot Car: With $20,000 on the line it seems like everyone is suddenly interested in the 1964 Chevy Malibu. Otto and his fellow employees of the Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation, plus rival repossession agents The Rodriguez Brothers, Leila and the United Fruitcakes, the mysterious government agency, Otto’s old punk rock running buddies (Duke, Archie and Debbi) and even Reverend Larry the televangelist! I won’t spoil the finish, but I can say that the finale is as quirky and unique as the rest of the film.

Director Alex Cox’s Repo Man shares some traits with The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. Both films really can’t be pigeonholed into one genre, they are neither fish nor fowl. And like Buckaroo, Repo Man offers its viewers a unique viewing experience and one that makes you wonder what the hell the writer (also Alex Cox) was on when the story was conceived.

Full disclosure, I was on caffeine when I conceived these Repo Man Bonus Bullet Points…

• Monkee Business: Repo Man was the second film executive produced by Michael Nesmith, who music and classic TV fans will remember as a member of the group The Monkees. I would like to mention that Nesmith’s first film as an executive producer was 1982’s Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann.
• Familiar Faces: Eddie Velez from The A-Team’s fifth and final season plays Napo, one of the Rodriguez brothers… Helen Martin plays Mrs. Parks, an elderly woman who is behind on her car payments. Martin is probably most known for her work on TV’s 227, but I’ll never forget her as the “hat pin” lady from Death Wish… Last but certainly not least is Tracey Walter (Batman) who plays Miller the groundskeeper at Helping Hand and the one character that may understand what is in the trunk of the Malibu.
• Not So Familiar Face: It wasn’t until I was doing some research for this post that I realized that Archie, one of the punks that Otto used to run with, was played by Miguel Sandoval. Sandoval would later appear in films like Clear and Present Danger and Ricochet. But I’ll always remember him as the traitorous Hector Vasquez in Death Wish V: The Face of Death.
• The Name Game: In 1991, after years of portraying Demolition Smash in the World Wrestling Federation, Barry Darsow was repackaged as the Repo Man (a Matt Spector favorite)… In 2009, Alex Cox directed Repo Chick… And in 2010, Jude Law and Forest Whitaker starred in Repo Men.