Repo Man (1984)

[Winston T. Boogie]

Title: Repo Man (1984)

Tagline: It’s 4 a.m. Do you know where your car is?

Genre: Comedy, Science Fiction

Director: Alex Cox

Cast: Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, Tracey Walter, Olivia Barash, Sy Richardson, Susan Barnes, Fox Harris, Tom Finnegan, Del Zamora, Eddie Velez, Zander Schloss, Jennifer Balgobin, Dick Rude, Miguel Sandoval, Vonetta McGee, Richard Foronjy, Bruce White, Sue Kiel, Helen Martin, Angelique Pettyjohn, Con Covert, Biff Yeager, Ed Pansullo, Jon St. Elwood, David Chung, Cynthia Szigeti, Jonathon Hugger, Dale Reynolds, Dolores DeLuce, Luis Contreras, Alex Cox, Michael Nesmith, Steve Mattson, Thomas Boyd, Charles Hopkins, Kelitta Kelly, Varnum Honey, Dorothy Bartlett, Sharon Gregg, Jac McAnelly, Jimmy Buffett, Shep Wickham, Gregg Taylor, Jon Fondy, Keith Miley, Michael Bennett, Brad Jamieson, Janet Chan, Logan Carter, Laura Sorrenson, George Sawaya, Connie Ponce, Bob Ellis, Quentin Gutierrez, Richard Furukawa, 'Earthquake' Hesson, Keith Morris, Greg Hetson, Chuck Biscuits, Earl Liberty, Clyde Grimes, Chuck Askerneese, Kevin Long, Jerry Miller, Rob Lampron, Josh Harris, Herman Askerneese, Kim Williams, Michele Person, Wally Cronin, Monona Wali, Cosmo Mata, Rodney Bingenheimer, Jorge Martínez, Melanie Schloss, Nancy Richardson

Release: 1984-02-20

Runtime: 92

Plot: A down and out young punk gets a job working with a seasoned repo man, but what awaits him in his new career is a series of outlandish adventures revolving around aliens, the CIA, and a most wanted '64 Chevy.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

In a bit of truly weird news, Alex Cox is in preproduction on Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer (that second bit of the title is too cute by half) to return us to the wacky world of repo men...now transported into the future, our present. This is a continuation of Otto's adventures (no longer played in this sequel by Emilio Estevez) picking up right where the original film ends apparently.

The original film is a true cult classic. Not sure what a sequel would entail.

 

[dpippel]

Oof. I've got some serious doubts about a sequel, particularly since part of what makes the first film SO good is the cast, and I don't think that's something Cox can duplicate today. No Harry Dean Stanton?? No sale.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Oof. I've got some serious doubts about a sequel, particularly since part of what makes the first film SO good is the cast, and I don't think that's something Cox can duplicate today. No Harry Dean Stanton?? No sale.

Yes, the cast here is probably a rather large issue. Back in 1984 there was this wonderful group of character actors that made casting a picture like this pure joy. Now, we do not have those options. So, who knows who will fill out the cast. Otto is being played by Kiowa Gordon, I am not familiar with him. Harry is no longer with us, so obviously no chance of him being available.

The original film sort of captured lighting in a bottle, it had a magic to it. Really hard to try to go back to that. Especially now, when cult filmmaking seems to have not been a thing for decades now.

 

[dpippel]

Harry is no longer with us, so obviously no chance of him being available.

Yeah, that was my point in mentioning him specifically.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Yeah, that was my point in mentioning him specifically.

Well, in truth he is "available" if his estate says it is alright through the magic of AI...just ask Peter Cushing.

 

[Jeffrey D]

WTF? A Repo Man2? Say it ain’t so! The original is great. This would be an epic fail.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

This is definitely not a picture I ever thought would get a sequel. Particularly now decades later and I mean, I don't know has Alex Cox ever made a sequel to one of his films?

I suppose maybe he is doing it for fun but he's got a heavy lift to find the magic of the original again.

 

[dpippel]

Well, it looks like Cox has been directing quite a bit of dreck since Sid & Nancy. In fact, he's already done a film that leveraged his reputation from Repo Man - 2009's Repo Chick. Let's just say that the reviews are not kind.

To quote a well-known fictional galactic smuggler, "I've gotta bad feeling about this."

 

[Jeffrey D]

Sid & Nancy is great- Oldman and Webb nailed the parts. The commentary track on the Criterion disc is one of my favorites to listen to- the one with the actors, and those who were on the scene at the time of the chaos- Cox wasn’t included on this track.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I guess the one thing I can say is, this is not a cash-in because I don't think there is any cash to be made on a Repo Man sequel.

I suppose if a streaming service wants it (I don't think he has sold the film yet and is attempting to get someone to pick it up now) it could find a home. I don't know if I want to see it or I just want my love for the first film not to be impacted in any way by a sequel.

 

[TravisR]

With at least forty years between entries, a sequel (if it's bad) will be completely forgotten in a couple of years anyway. A bad sequel isn't going to take anything away from the original so I don't really care if they make another one.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

With at least forty years between entries, a sequel (if it's bad) will be completely forgotten in a couple of years anyway. A bad sequel isn't going to take anything away from the original so I don't really care if they make another one.

Yes, I mean, if Alex wants to make it, by all means. I guess the decision it leaves me with is. to watch or not to watch.

The original still stands as a wonderful film, so I agree the sequel does not matter to some degree. If I watch it though, and I am somewhat tempted to, the thing is it will probably enter my thoughts when I see Repo Man again.

Repo Man is just one of those films that needs no sequel. From a time when films still could be made as stand alone features. I wonder what Mr. Cox has in his head for a story here.

 

[Lord Dalek]

But we already HAVE a sequel.

 

[Worth]

Well, it looks like Cox has been directing quite a bit of dreck since Sid & Nancy. In fact, he's already done a film that leveraged his reputation from Repo Man - 2009's Repo Chick. Let's just say that the reviews are not kind.

To quote a well-known fictional galactic smuggler, "I've gotta bad feeling about this."

The last decent thing he did was Highway Patrolman in 1991. It’s a shame, as he started out so strong with Repo Man and Sid and Nancy - even Walker was interesting, if something of a misfire.