Dir: Alex Cox
My Rating: 4/5
Repo Man is a great fucking film. Aliens, cars, drugs and punk rock.
Emilio Estevez plays Otto (get it?), a punk kid whose nihilistic jobless life is turned around (sort of) by Bud, a repossession man who takes back cars from people who don't pay their bills. Bud is played by Harry Dean Stanton, who easily delivers the best performance of the film.
Once Otto joins Bud and the rest of Bud's crew, the movie takes some interesting turns. Otto stops hanging out with his punk friends and starts wearing a suit (to look like a detective, so when people approach him they think he will be carrying), he gets himself a girlfriend, into snorting speed and even beaten up a couple of times. All of this would make for a pretty solid movie already, add in an alien subplot and you've got something great.
I don't like all of Alex Cox's movies (Highway Patrolman is really good) but I do like this one.
Side note: Just something I noticed. During the hospital scene we hear a call over the loud speaker for a "Dr. Benway", then just seconds later another call of "Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee put the scalpel down please." or something to that effect. Both of these loudspeaker calls seem to be referencing Naked Lunch/William S. Burroughs. Can't be coincidence, at least, thats the way I figure it.
