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October 25, 2024

REPO MAN — SHOCKTOBER!

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ColeSmithey.comAlex Cox caught lightening in a bottle in 1984 with a snarly little L.A.-set independent movie that became a cult classic thanks to the success of its soundtrack (featuring Iggy Pop).

This kooky time-capsule political satire uses LA's hardcore punk scene for its churning dystopic social milieu that our 18-year-old Otto (Emilio Estevez) traverses while getting sucked into becoming a repo man. 

Reaganomics hangs in the smoggy air like a bad fart.

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Harry Dean Stanton plays Bud, Otto's father-figure who schools Otto in the code of the repo man as they scout repos in the less glamorous neighborhoods of LA.

"A repo man spends his life getting into tense situations."
"Repo man is always intense."

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Such dialogue seems written in stone, especially when the film's theme-carrier, Miller (Tracey Walter) busts out with philosophical gems like, "The more you drive, the less intelligent you are."

 What did he just say?

Now you've got me thinking.

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Otto eats generic food at his parents house. His tweet tweet arf arf folks have given their life savings away to a televangelist. So much for college.

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Otto's future looks bleak unless he can repo a certain 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu with a $20,000 reward, and a Neutron bomb-related MacGuffin in the trunk, a nice hat-tip to the plot-driver in the 1955 Cold War thriller "Kiss Me Deadly."

Screen Shot 2024-10-25 at 1.10.35 PM

Endlessly watchable, "Repo Man" stands up as an inspired artistic expression amid dark social and political repression.

Here's a great excuse to kick it.

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Rated R. 92 mins.

5 Stars

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