Finally, after looking at three foreign black-and-white films, we get a real killer movie. Alex Cox’s 1984 Repo Man. A movie about space aliens, car chases, and punk rock music. Repo Man is in many ways the quintessential punk rock film. It has a music theme written and performed by Iggy Pop, it was made on a parsley budget of 1.5 million, and it cares little what major audiences think of the film.

This punk rock attitude mostly works in the film’s favor. The aesthetic of the movie feels entirely DIY and the characters are all oozing with attitude and grit. This all makes the film a joy to watch and rewatch, even if the plotting and third act can be tough to follow at times.

Reagonomics

Repo Man is in many ways a film of its time. Released in 1984, Repo Man came out in a definitively Republican America. While the American economy was booming for the wealthiest Americans, others felt left behind by Reagan’s hard stance on education and The War on Drugs. This resulted in a divided America with the dissension taking up much less space in pop culture than Reagan’s supporters.

The film centers on a young jobless high school dropout. The central villain in Reagan’s scare tactics campaign. Emilio Estevez plays Otto, the rebellious teen, who eventually picks up a job as a car repo man. A job that feels closer to a reverse Robin Hood than a noble nine-to-five. Otto jacks cars from owners who are overdue on their bills to propel capitalism and line his pockets in the process.

Left Unsaid

For how in your face Repo Man, there are a lot of subtleties left unsaid. The ethics of working as a repo man are mentioned briefly by Otto, before being swiftly abandoned once the commission rate is explained to him. Otto, like everyone else, is just trying to make a living. And if that living comes at the cost of a few delinquent car owners, so be it.

The film does an odd trick though by portraying most of the jacked cars as high-end vehicles belonging to seemingly wealthy individuals. This reinforces the film’s major themes of consumerism and greed. In this alternate version of Los Angeles, people are buying cars they can’t afford to keep up appearances with neighbors they don’t like. Consumerism here is a prop. A house of cards holding up an unstable economy.

Greed is Good

Several scenes reinforce this theme of greed and consumerism. Most notably when Otto visits his parents and asks them for a bit of money promised to him. His parents are enthralled by a televangelist, barely able to look away from the screen when they inform him he can’t have the promised money. It’s all been sent to the TV preacher in order to further his ministry.

It’s another on the nose parallel to our world and the world of the 1980’s. Those with the least amount of money give away all they have to those who have plenty. In this case, it’s an easy parallel for a grifter and swindler. But other examples like the millionaire behind on his car payment are also prevalent throughout the film.

The Truth Is Out There

Outside of the vagrant working of capital consumerism, there is another narrative happening in Repo Man. A group of extra-terrestrial beings residing in the trunk of a Chevy Malibu. This Malibu also comes up for Repo with a $20,000 bounty. An astonishing figure that creates a violent war to obtain the repo.

This plot thread culminates in a series of story beats that wrap up as soon as they begin. It’s here where you can really start to see the budget limitations and DIY nature of the film. Everything happens so fast and is treated with little gravitas. There’s a shootout in a convenience store, Otto is captured and tortured by a government agent with a metal hand, and the Malibu gets stolen multiple times by various parties. It all happens so fast that it’s almost impossible to keep straight during an initial viewing. But Repo Man cares a lot more about its’ themes than it does its plot.

Alex Cox

Repo Man is Alex Cox’s first movie and certainly his most well-regarded. After this, he made a biographical film about Sex Pistols star Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen that performed poorly but later found a cult audience. He then followed that up with Walker. A colossal box office bomb, grossing only 300 grand on a budget of 6 million. After this Alex was relegated to independent and microbudget films. An area that he fit into rather perfectly.

The success of Repo Man shouldn’t be viewed as an outlier, but rather a thesis on Cox’s later work. This film is about how greed is bad. How consumerism corrupts everyone it touches and it’s delivered with such sincerity and punk rock attitude that it’s almost impossible to think the creator would go on to have a huge Hollywood career. Alex Cox released a masterpiece because he made it on his own terms. Anything bigger or flashier would miss the point.

Turn Back Time

Repo Man is an amalgamation of genres and themes rolled into a DIY package. The film may be remembered for its humor, aesthetic, and capitalism themes, but it should also be remembered as a love letter to DIY. This small little project made by a first-time director on a parsley budget reached an underserved niche in pop culture.

This isn’t anything new now. There is a podcast, YouTube channel, and blog for every small underground niche you can think of. But it wasn’t always that way. In the 80’s punk was relegated to zines and underground clubs. But Alex Cox was able to find that audience and create a masterpiece in the process. It’s a lot easier to reach a niche audience now, but Alex Cox did it the hard way. And made a lasting impression on cinema with his punk rock alien car chase movie.