Over the weekend I watched Alex Cox's Repo Man for the first time and before even seeing it I knew it employed the glowing MacGuffin a la the nuclear briefcase in Kiss Me Deadly (1955), which was later used by Quentin Tarantino in Pulp Fiction. However, like Kiss Me Deadly, Repo Man uses such items as symbolism rather than the simple homage Tarantino uses it for. Cox plays a similar homage to Kiss Me Deadly as he scrolls the closing credits from top to bottom rather than bottom to top and while I wasn't watching the brand new Criterion release of the film, the previously released version from Universal Home Entertainment includes a nearly 30-minute featurette in which Cox and producers Peter McCarthy and Jonathan Wacks contemplate the idea of whether or not the film could be made today. Cox responds by saying you couldn't make a film as political...
- 6/24/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Chicago – One of the many things I love about The Criterion Collection is the even battlefield that it creates within its own archives. A film by Alfred Hitchcock or Akira Kurosawa or Charles Chaplin can sit next to a cult hit like “Repo Man.” I grew up in the era of “Repo Man“‘s growing cult status and it’s amazing to me to see this midnight movie given the same level of respect as films widely recognized as classics. “Repo Man” is a classic in its own way and the people at Criterion recognize that. Fans of the movie, and there are Many, will be more than satisfied.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
“Repo Man” is such a defiantly weird, punk rock movie that its unique nature has made it timeless. The film would be a cult hit if it came out today, nearly three decades after its release. Do you know how few ’80s films,...
Rating: 4.5/5.0
“Repo Man” is such a defiantly weird, punk rock movie that its unique nature has made it timeless. The film would be a cult hit if it came out today, nearly three decades after its release. Do you know how few ’80s films,...
- 4/29/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Columns Festival Roundup The Berlin Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, and the Festival of New Latin American Cinema covered by Howard Feinstein, Peter Broderick, and Beth Cataldo Production Update by Mary Glucksman Legal Affairs Michael Barnes and Kevin Morris on new securities laws and indie fundraising Technology Marc Schiller explores computer services for filmmakers Words Books on cinematic motion, Godard, and environmentally-correct filmmaking reviewed by Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis Short Ends Spring 1993 Table Of Contents Features Whose Crime Is This Anyway? Peter Bowen on true crime and Nick Broomfield’s Aileen Wuornos Reel Values Directors Peter McCarthy and …...
- 3/2/2013
- by t.k.
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: April 16, 2013
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterino
Emilio Estevez is the nihilistic Otto in Alex Cox's Repo Man.
Alex Cox’s (Searchers 2.0) singular science fiction comedy Repo Man remains the quintessential cult comedy film of the 1980s.
The 1984 movie stars the always captivating Harry Dean Stanton (Seven Psychopaths) as a weathered repo man in desolate downtown Los Angeles, and Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club) as the nihilistic middle-class punk he takes under his wing. The job becomes more than either of them bargained for when they get involved in reclaiming a mysterious—and otherworldly—Chevy Malibu with a hefty reward attached to it.
Featuring an ultimate early-eighties L.A. punk soundtrack featuring music from Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, The Circle Jerks, Fear and other, the grungily hilarious R-rated Repo Man still rules (while being a politically trenchant take on President Reagan’s domestic and foreign policy)!
Oh,...
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterino
Emilio Estevez is the nihilistic Otto in Alex Cox's Repo Man.
Alex Cox’s (Searchers 2.0) singular science fiction comedy Repo Man remains the quintessential cult comedy film of the 1980s.
The 1984 movie stars the always captivating Harry Dean Stanton (Seven Psychopaths) as a weathered repo man in desolate downtown Los Angeles, and Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club) as the nihilistic middle-class punk he takes under his wing. The job becomes more than either of them bargained for when they get involved in reclaiming a mysterious—and otherworldly—Chevy Malibu with a hefty reward attached to it.
Featuring an ultimate early-eighties L.A. punk soundtrack featuring music from Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, The Circle Jerks, Fear and other, the grungily hilarious R-rated Repo Man still rules (while being a politically trenchant take on President Reagan’s domestic and foreign policy)!
Oh,...
- 1/28/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
“Let’s go get sushi and not pay.” Many films would kill to have as many quotable lines and memorable scenes as Repo Man has during its 92 minute running time. The 1984 cult classic may not have as large of a following as other cult films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Harold and Maude, and Heathers, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t. In fact, The Criterion Collection is here to remind us why we should pay more attention to this unique film that deftly blends 80′s punk culture, sci-fi weirdness, and Reagan-era politics. Director Alex Cox is most known for his following film Sid and Nancy – a film that documents the ups and down of the real-life rock and roll couple. However, the Oxford law student (yes, you read that correctly) released Repo Man two years prior as his feature length film debut. Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton...
- 1/18/2013
- by Michael Haffner
- Destroy the Brain
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
What is Repo Man all about? The enduring debut of Alex Cox, it’s a melting pot of bizarre ideas, philosophical musings and potent social commentary, yet it’s quite hard to define exactly what the abiding message is. There’s certainly fear of the bomb, echoes of government conspiracy and the Roswell cover-up, talk of revolution in Latin America (one of Cox’s major themes), and a few very funny pops at religion. But aside from bringing together these disparate elements from the fringes of American life, what does it have to say? Perhaps it’s a fairly nihilistic film. In it’s comic juxtaposition of so many contradictory moral and spiritual codes, perhaps it’s fair to say that Repo Man’s anarchic central philosophy is that nothing really matters.
All of its characters are, at their best, amoral and anti-social and it is...
What is Repo Man all about? The enduring debut of Alex Cox, it’s a melting pot of bizarre ideas, philosophical musings and potent social commentary, yet it’s quite hard to define exactly what the abiding message is. There’s certainly fear of the bomb, echoes of government conspiracy and the Roswell cover-up, talk of revolution in Latin America (one of Cox’s major themes), and a few very funny pops at religion. But aside from bringing together these disparate elements from the fringes of American life, what does it have to say? Perhaps it’s a fairly nihilistic film. In it’s comic juxtaposition of so many contradictory moral and spiritual codes, perhaps it’s fair to say that Repo Man’s anarchic central philosophy is that nothing really matters.
All of its characters are, at their best, amoral and anti-social and it is...
- 2/20/2012
- by Robert Beames
- Obsessed with Film
Arguably the defining cult film of the Reagan era, Repo Man, the feature debut of Alex Cox (Sid & Nancy, Walker, Straight to Hell) is a genre-busting mash-up of atomic-age science fiction, post-punk anarchism, and conspiracy paranoia, all shot through with heavy doses of deadpan humour and offbeat philosophy.
After quitting his dead-end supermarket job, young punk Otto (Emilio Estevez) is initiated as a “repo man” after a chance encounter with automobile repossessor Bud (Harry Dean Stanton). An illicit, high-voltage life follows, including an adrenalised search for a mysterious ’64 Chevy Malibu loaded with radioactive – and extragalactic – cargo…
With an iconic soundtrack (Iggy Pop, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies), stunning Robby Müller cinematography, and iconoclastic direction, Repo Man remains one of the great debuts of the 1980s.
Special Director-approved Blu-ray Features:
New high-definition master in the original aspect ratio – 1.85:1 Original mono soundtrack and 5.1 remix, both in DTS-hd Master Audio English Sdh subtitles...
After quitting his dead-end supermarket job, young punk Otto (Emilio Estevez) is initiated as a “repo man” after a chance encounter with automobile repossessor Bud (Harry Dean Stanton). An illicit, high-voltage life follows, including an adrenalised search for a mysterious ’64 Chevy Malibu loaded with radioactive – and extragalactic – cargo…
With an iconic soundtrack (Iggy Pop, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies), stunning Robby Müller cinematography, and iconoclastic direction, Repo Man remains one of the great debuts of the 1980s.
Special Director-approved Blu-ray Features:
New high-definition master in the original aspect ratio – 1.85:1 Original mono soundtrack and 5.1 remix, both in DTS-hd Master Audio English Sdh subtitles...
- 12/28/2011
- by Phil
- Nerdly
NEW YORK -- Just about everyone producer Peter McCarthy has ever worked with, from both behind and in front of the camera, can be found in fleeting parts in his feature directorial debut, "Floundering". Showing up for appearances ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes, they include John Cusack, Ethan Hawke, Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Jo Harvey Allen, Jeremy Piven, Nina Siemaszko, Alex Cox, Dave Alvin, and Ebbe Roe Smith.
McCarthy, who also produced and scripted, explores life in modern-day Los Angeles (specifically Venice) through the eyes of John Boyz (James Le Gros), an unemployed flounderer obsessed with the decaying society around him. Endlessly watching videos of the L.A. riots, he spends his days chronicling his rather meaningless existence, observing the ants wandering around his apartment, spying on an attractive woman down the street and trying to survive. His unemployment has run out, his druggie brother (Hawke) refuses treatment and his money has been seized by the Internal Revenue Service.
John is particularly disturbed by the despicable chief of police, Merryl Fence, and fantasizes about blowing him away. (The chief, mocking him directly from the television screen, dares him to do it.) What John Does instead is kidnap the girl of his dreams and drive her into the desert, where she proves an all-too-willing hostage.
Like many of the films McCarthy has produced, "Floundering" is stylistically audacious, containing numerous fantasy sequences and possessing a stream-of-consciousness structure. Although some of the segments click, more than most don't, and the result is a less than subtle social satire.
Le Gros, who seems to be headed for stardom, brings a shaggy-dog appeal to the leading role, but his character's angst quickly proves wearisome. A strong alternative music score is provided.
FLOUNDERING
Strand Releasing presents a Front Films Production
Writer-producer-director Peter McCarthy
Associate producer Greg Eliason
Director of photography Denis Maloney
Film editors Dody Dorn, Peter McCarthy
Music Pray for Rain
Cast:
John James Le Gros
JC John Cusack
Jimmy Ethan Hawke
Jessica Lisa Zane
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
McCarthy, who also produced and scripted, explores life in modern-day Los Angeles (specifically Venice) through the eyes of John Boyz (James Le Gros), an unemployed flounderer obsessed with the decaying society around him. Endlessly watching videos of the L.A. riots, he spends his days chronicling his rather meaningless existence, observing the ants wandering around his apartment, spying on an attractive woman down the street and trying to survive. His unemployment has run out, his druggie brother (Hawke) refuses treatment and his money has been seized by the Internal Revenue Service.
John is particularly disturbed by the despicable chief of police, Merryl Fence, and fantasizes about blowing him away. (The chief, mocking him directly from the television screen, dares him to do it.) What John Does instead is kidnap the girl of his dreams and drive her into the desert, where she proves an all-too-willing hostage.
Like many of the films McCarthy has produced, "Floundering" is stylistically audacious, containing numerous fantasy sequences and possessing a stream-of-consciousness structure. Although some of the segments click, more than most don't, and the result is a less than subtle social satire.
Le Gros, who seems to be headed for stardom, brings a shaggy-dog appeal to the leading role, but his character's angst quickly proves wearisome. A strong alternative music score is provided.
FLOUNDERING
Strand Releasing presents a Front Films Production
Writer-producer-director Peter McCarthy
Associate producer Greg Eliason
Director of photography Denis Maloney
Film editors Dody Dorn, Peter McCarthy
Music Pray for Rain
Cast:
John James Le Gros
JC John Cusack
Jimmy Ethan Hawke
Jessica Lisa Zane
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 11/4/1994
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- ''Easy Rider'' with training wheels sums up ''Roadside Prophets, '' a neo-'60s, road movie that had its world premiere here at the Virginia Festival of American Film. This Fine Line vehicle will undoubtedly win some appeal among festheads but is unlikely to made any inroads past that limited circuit.
Former flower children who have not done much blossoming in subsequent years may groove on its ''cool, man'' vibes and the blessedness, man, of toking on a communal pipe and blissing out on bad folk rock which may be a groovy thing, man, especially, man, if it helps a lot of the paisley people forget they're 40-ish, man.
But, man, this trip backward in philosphical time is not much of a cinematic trip for anyone. Brainy counterculturalists who get a high out of the twisted turns and slants that picaresque odysseys can invoke about America will be disappointed by the generally dimwitted and puerile episodes of this tripped-up trip.
Although there are numerous minor differences here from ''Easy Rider, '' suffice it to say, they're filmic fellow travelers. This time our Captain America is Joe (John Doe), a blue-collar biker from San Pedro, Calif., who heads out on the highway to bury the ashes of a chump from the plant with whom he shared a brewski at Shipwreck Joey's strip joint where the dimbulb expostulated on the greatness of the El Dorado bar in Nevada before he got electrocuted by a video game.
While it's kind of perversely poetic and wonderful to bury a guy in a Las Vegas gin joint, Joe's not actually much of a poet, or a rebel, or much of anything else. In writer-director Abbe Wool's narrative, he's merely a sartorial figure: a blue-collar Marlboro man (he smokes the hard pack) with a pair of big, non-reflective shades. Other than his fashion statement, he doesn't have much to express or even much of an opinion on anything.
On-the-road stories are fueled by their lead character's personality, the slant they give to their travels. Through their idiosyncratic eyes, the viewer can get a new take on things. But other than an aversion to the cycle helmet law, Joe's outlook doesn't go much beyond appreciation for a ''couple brews, a warm bed and some TV.''
Wool attempts to address this personality and philosophical deficiency by the creation of a comic sidekick character. On this trek, it's Sam (Adam Horovitz), a shrill dweeb who has a thing for Motel 6s and sports a comic helmet (not a football helmet, though, like ''Easy Rider'').
On their way to El Dorado they encounter an array of desert-life loners, who spout a high stream of nonsense, some amusing. Unfortunately, these roadside prophets' pronoucements pale in complexity compared with, say, Burma Shave signs.
They are played by such '60s types as Timothy Leary, Arlo Guthrie and David Carradine, playing caricatures of themselves.
Wool shows a flair for sardonic dialogue and a talent for creating surreal narrative synapses.
Unfortunately, ''Prophets'' is generally a heap of '60s spare parts welded onto a loose story frame, alternately distinguished and diminished by the cliches of the genre: the revving of the engines, the roaring of the rock music and then the winding out to the cool-on-the-cycle shots of Marlboro Joe backdropped by the red mountain majesties of the Southwest.
ROADSIDE PROPHETS
Fine Line
Producers Peter McCarthy, David Swinson
Screenwriter-director Abbe Wool
Director of photography Tom Richmond
Production designer J. Rae Fox
Costume designer Prudence Moriaty
Casting director Vickie Thomas
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Joe Mosely John Doe
Sam Adam Horovitz
Othello David Carradine
Salvadore Timothy Leary
Harvey Arlo Guthrie
Sheriff Quentin Durango Barton Heyman
Labia Mirage Jennifer Balgobin
Casper John Cusack
Running time -- 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Former flower children who have not done much blossoming in subsequent years may groove on its ''cool, man'' vibes and the blessedness, man, of toking on a communal pipe and blissing out on bad folk rock which may be a groovy thing, man, especially, man, if it helps a lot of the paisley people forget they're 40-ish, man.
But, man, this trip backward in philosphical time is not much of a cinematic trip for anyone. Brainy counterculturalists who get a high out of the twisted turns and slants that picaresque odysseys can invoke about America will be disappointed by the generally dimwitted and puerile episodes of this tripped-up trip.
Although there are numerous minor differences here from ''Easy Rider, '' suffice it to say, they're filmic fellow travelers. This time our Captain America is Joe (John Doe), a blue-collar biker from San Pedro, Calif., who heads out on the highway to bury the ashes of a chump from the plant with whom he shared a brewski at Shipwreck Joey's strip joint where the dimbulb expostulated on the greatness of the El Dorado bar in Nevada before he got electrocuted by a video game.
While it's kind of perversely poetic and wonderful to bury a guy in a Las Vegas gin joint, Joe's not actually much of a poet, or a rebel, or much of anything else. In writer-director Abbe Wool's narrative, he's merely a sartorial figure: a blue-collar Marlboro man (he smokes the hard pack) with a pair of big, non-reflective shades. Other than his fashion statement, he doesn't have much to express or even much of an opinion on anything.
On-the-road stories are fueled by their lead character's personality, the slant they give to their travels. Through their idiosyncratic eyes, the viewer can get a new take on things. But other than an aversion to the cycle helmet law, Joe's outlook doesn't go much beyond appreciation for a ''couple brews, a warm bed and some TV.''
Wool attempts to address this personality and philosophical deficiency by the creation of a comic sidekick character. On this trek, it's Sam (Adam Horovitz), a shrill dweeb who has a thing for Motel 6s and sports a comic helmet (not a football helmet, though, like ''Easy Rider'').
On their way to El Dorado they encounter an array of desert-life loners, who spout a high stream of nonsense, some amusing. Unfortunately, these roadside prophets' pronoucements pale in complexity compared with, say, Burma Shave signs.
They are played by such '60s types as Timothy Leary, Arlo Guthrie and David Carradine, playing caricatures of themselves.
Wool shows a flair for sardonic dialogue and a talent for creating surreal narrative synapses.
Unfortunately, ''Prophets'' is generally a heap of '60s spare parts welded onto a loose story frame, alternately distinguished and diminished by the cliches of the genre: the revving of the engines, the roaring of the rock music and then the winding out to the cool-on-the-cycle shots of Marlboro Joe backdropped by the red mountain majesties of the Southwest.
ROADSIDE PROPHETS
Fine Line
Producers Peter McCarthy, David Swinson
Screenwriter-director Abbe Wool
Director of photography Tom Richmond
Production designer J. Rae Fox
Costume designer Prudence Moriaty
Casting director Vickie Thomas
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Joe Mosely John Doe
Sam Adam Horovitz
Othello David Carradine
Salvadore Timothy Leary
Harvey Arlo Guthrie
Sheriff Quentin Durango Barton Heyman
Labia Mirage Jennifer Balgobin
Casper John Cusack
Running time -- 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 10/31/1991
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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