OK film fans, time to swing the pendulum back into the light. I'm not going to promise kittens, rainbows and unicorns, but I think it's safe to say we won't be visiting skid row in this post. Or at least not in the traditional manner. Last night I had a fun conversation about 80's films that primarily focused on my favorite genre, teensploitation. We volleyed back in forth starting with some of the more widely known films and then moved on to some lesser known gems, like Spring Break, and of course a favorite of mine that we've already discussed, Hot Dog The Movie. It got me thinking about other gems from the 80's and how, in my opinion, it truly was the Golden Age of Teen Films. The range of the genre is far greater than any decade before or since. Every conceivable genre was exploited, from musicals to war films and everything in-between.
Repo Man, written and directed by Alex Cox, who would make the underrated Sid and Nancy the following year before falling into obscurity, comes out of left field with its unconventional style, acting and humor. In his fourth film but first leading role, Emilio Estevez stars as Otto, a teen punker who is tricked into helping Bud (film deity Harry Dean Stanton) repo a car. Liking the rebellious, individualistic nature of the job, he agrees to learn the ropes from Bud and the eclectic cast of outsiders that work at the "Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation." Otto soon learns that "the life of a repo man is always intense." He enjoys the drug use, real-life car chases and the thrill of hot-wiring cars.
There script truly shifts into cult status when we hit the 2nd plot point that leads us into a bizarre third act. The feds put out a $10,000 reward for a Chevy Malibu (wait for itwe see in the film's opening, (and this is where it starts to get surreal) because it is connected to the possibility that alien beings have visited the Earth. The reward makes it the jackpot every repo man in LA is looking for. Add in a great subtext commenting on the cultural, spiritual and financial repression ushered in by "Reaganomics" (love those 80's generic labels!), discussions on time travel and plenty of punk music and you have the perfect indie film that thumbs its nose at every formulaic notion dictated by commercial studio ideology. They even managed to throw in a jab a Scientology that was way over my head at the time (Dioretix vs. Dianetics). And I love every second of it.
When this film came out my friends and I probably saw it a half dozen times in the theater. For years afterward I would use it as a bellwether indicator for how cool you were. If you didn't get the "plate of shrimp" or "John Wayne was a fag" comment I would randomly use, I just assumed you were square. Plus, it has one of the greatest pieces of advice ever doled out on film by a fried out ex-hippie, "The more you drive the less intelligent you are."
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