Repo Man (1984)

Young punk Otto becomes a repo man after helping to steal a car, and stumbles into a world of wackiness as a result.

Director:

Alex Cox

Writer:

Alex Cox

Stars:

Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, Tracey Walter

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Bud
Emilio Estevez	...	Otto
Tracey Walter	...	Miller
Olivia Barash	...	Leila
Sy Richardson	...	Lite
Susan Barnes	...	Agent Rogersz
Fox Harris	...	J. Frank Parnell
Tom Finnegan	...	Oly
Del Zamora	...	Lagarto
Eddie Velez	...	Napo
Zander Schloss	...	Kevin
Jennifer Balgobin	...	Debbi
Dick Rude	...	Duke
Miguel Sandoval	...	Archie (as Michael Sandoval)
Vonetta McGee	...	Marlene

Storyline

Frustrated punk rocker Otto quits his supermarket job after slugging a co-worker, and is later dumped by his girlfriend at a party. Wandering the streets in frustration, he is recruited in the repossession of a car by a repo agent. After discovering his parents have donated his college fund to a televangelist, he joins the repossession agency (Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation) as an apprentice "repo man". During his training, he is introduced into the mercenary and paranoid world of the drivers, befriended by a UFO conspiracy theorist, confronted by rival repo agents, discovers some of his one-time friends have turned to a life of crime, is lectured to near cosmic unconsciousness by the repo agency grounds worker, and finds himself entangled in a web of intrigue concerning a huge repossession bounty on a 1964 Chevy Malibu driven by a lunatic government scientist, with Top Secret cargo in the trunk.

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Plot Keywords:

car trunk | radioactivity | punk rocker | black comedy | los angeles california | 

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Taglines:

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.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Alex Cox

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

2 March 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

El reclamador

Filming Locations:

Los Alamos, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$95,300, 4 March 1984, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$3,569,083

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,750,080

Company Credits

Production Co:

Edge City

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lee Ving was considered for the role of Bud. His band Fear still appears on the soundtrack.

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Goofs

When Otto first enters the Helping Hands building, Marlene is on the phone. The camera then cuts to her and she is holding a pen instead of the phone.

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Quotes

Reverend Larry: I DO want your money, because god wants your money.

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Crazy Credits

Credits scroll down instead of up

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Alternate Versions

The dubbed dialogue of the TV version (e.g. "melon farmer" as an insult) has achieved cult status in its own right.

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Connections

Spoofs 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

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Soundtracks

TV Party
Written by Greg Ginn
Performed by Black Flag
Courtesy of Unicorn Records

User Reviews

A punk rock, science fiction b-movie comedy of the highest order!

By the time I got around to seeing this movie, I was prepared for something great. One of the best movies I'd ever seen. I wasn't really disappointed.

'Repo Man' is so original, so funny, so weird and so frequently brilliant that it just can't be ignored. It also has aged fairly well. It looks pretty good in 2004 for a cheap cult film of the 80s.

I can't really say much about the storyline without giving it away, but what I will say is a young punk kid is taken in to the weird, wild world of repo men, who all take speed and keeping the repo man honour is more important to them than to mafia bosses.

It also features a brilliant soundtrack with the likes of punk rock icons Iggy Pop, The Ramones and The Circle Jerks.

A brilliant film, recommended to anyone.