Repo Man [DVD] - Classic Cult Film for Movie Collectors & 80s Sci-Fi Fans - Perfect for Home Theater Nights & Retro Film Screenings

This film's creative vision has held its own with the passing decades; written and directed by Alex Cox (whose later film debacles have not boded well). Even the sound of Men In Black was clearly inspired by Iggy Pop's thumping theme song, and superb soundtrack by Tito Larriva and Steven Hufsteter (available on Repo Man: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). The opening scenes are perfection: menace drifts down forlorn western highways in a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu, from Los Alamos National Laboratory, along New Mexico's evil Route 666, to Los Angeles, California. In the Chevy's trunk, Dr. J. Frank Parnell has stashed stolen space-aliens, who are emitting toxic radiation. After a curious cop looks inside the trunk, the space-creatures irradiate him. The Chevy departs; on the highway, all that remains of the unfortunate fellow are his boots, wafting smoke.There's an anti-greed element: generic brands dominate, while Repo Men deal in the messy aftermath of acquisitiveness. Our hero, Otto Maddox (Emilio Estevez is perfectly deadpan) returns to his dismal home, to eat out of a generic can marked "FOOD." His mother tells him to put the glop on a plate so he'll, "enjoy it more." His stoned couch-parents are transfixed by a T.V. evangelist to whom they donated all their money. Otto is drifting, hopeless, another bit of human flotsam & jetsam washed up on the outskirts of LA, whose shining skyscrapers loom on the distant horizon. Fired as a stock clerk from a supermarket, he winds up helping Bud (the great Harry Dean Stanton) collect a car, and his life is reinvented by the excitement of car chases in LA's surreal storm drains, drugs, and decent commissions.Meanwhile, the Chevy Malibu has arrived from New Mexico, with dead but dangerous space-aliens rolling around in its trunk. Leila (Olivia Barash), Otto's casual go-to-girl, worries that the aliens will turn into "mush." He drops her off at her job at the aptly named United Fruitcake Outlet. Although skeptical, Otto sees a $20,000 reward offered for repossession of the Chevy Malibu. He and his rivals, the brothers Lagarto and Napoleon "Napo" Rodriguez (Del Zamora and Eddie Velez), are pursued by secret government agents while they search for the rogue Malibu. Jimmy Buffet plays one of the Rep Wives. In quiet moments, Otto confers with the repo-junkyard guy Miller (the wryly evocative Tracey Walter), throwing a copy of "Dioretix" onto burning garbage. Like Bud, Miller shares wisdom with young Otto, describing the confluence of Cosmic Unconsciousness, the Bermuda Triangle, UFOs, abducted humans, Flying Saucers, and Time Machines. Miller says he only rides the bus, and doesn't want to learn to drive, declaring, "The more you drive, the less intelligent you are."Bud is wounded in a Sam Peckinpah spoof, and placed in a hospital whose intercom system blares, "Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee, please return the scalpel." He absconds with the toxic Chevy, while ice-cubes rain from the sky, driving it back to the repo car-lot. Government agents are flung back from the car, while it flares green and sparks with electricity. But Miller simply walks up to the car, and says he is going for "a little spin." Otto replies, "But you don't know how to drive!" Miller beckons Otto to join in in a joy-ride, and the car allows Otto in. The car rises from the ground, zooms hilariously back and forth over LA. Otto exclaims, "Whoa, this is intense." Then the luminescent Chevy accelerates, flying to the stars... Enjoy!