I'm watching Repo Man for the first time in something like forever right now. I forgot how much I loved this movie when it first came out. Maybe it was the year it came out, 1984. I graduated from High School that year and it's punk-rock listening protagonist was kinda familiar to me. Otto was a disenfranchised young guy living in the Reagan era of uber-blandness. Even the food and drink were labeled "food" and "drink". I felt a bond.
It may have been Harry Dean Stanton's best role as well. At least to those of us who love this film. Dry, funny and tough in ways that he rarely was either before or afterwards.
It also features bit roles by Angelique Pettyjohn as one of the Repo Wives and Jimmy Buffett (yeah...that Jimmy Buffett) as one of the Additional Blond Agents at the end of the film. What's that you say? You don't know who Angelique Pettyjohn is? Well maybe this will give you a hint:
That's right. She was Shahna, the green-haired vixen who fought/loved Capt. Kirk in the classic Star Trek episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion". Ahhh...that metallic bikini. I'll never forget it.
Anyway, it's a really great movie. Funny and weird and topical in an sci-fi kinda way. It feels a little dated, but really not too much so. I think if you liked it back in the day you would still enjoy it today. And if you've never seen it...give it a chance one rainy evening. You may find a new favorite.
I still use a bunch of the quotes from it to this day. Here are some of my favorites:
- "What happened to your old lady?" - Otto, "Oh, shit I forgot all about her. She'll take the bus. She's a rock!" - Bud
- "You know kid, usually when somebody pulls shit like that my first reaction is, uh, I wanna punch his fuckin' lights out. But you know something? YOU'RE ALL RIGHT!!!" - Bud
- "You find one in every car. You'll see." - Miller
- "Fuck you, Archie. Just for that you're not in the gang anymore." - Duke
- "Look at 'em, ordinary fucking people, I hate 'em." - Bud
- "What about our relationship?" - Leila, "What?" - Otto, "Our relationship?" - Leila, "Fuck that." - Otto
- " I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees." - Bud
- "Repo man's got all night. EVERY NIGHT!" - Bud
PS - Well, my template doesn't seem to like to show bullet points. I'm too tired to try to fix it. Maybe tomorrow. Sigh.
15 comments:
Wow. I graduated the year after you. I think I've only seen parts of Repo man though. I'll have to go back and watch the whole thing. Funny, your bullets look fine in my reader but now that I'm over here for real to comment, I don't see them anymore. So yeah, it must be the template that doesn't like them or something. Temperamental things!
Teeni - yeah, I've checked it out and it's a specific problem with the "Thisaway blue" template. Crazy, right?
Repo Man is one I've never seen, but I know I should.
i cant even say i remember enough of that movie at this point to even have still said i ever saw it...its been ages...
but i would like to state for the record that im not nearly as old as you....
Avi - it's great. I think you would enjoy it. If not, bill me for the hour and a half that you waste. ;)
Slyde - I could have sworn that you watched it with me and Dave once. And as for your age, let's just say that you are as old as your gums and a bit younger than your teeth. Just like Santa.
ahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa It's a superb film.
I love the "Food" "Drink" "Beer" labels on all the products in the shops.
Apparently the producers tried to get product placement deals but nobody was interested in paying so they got rid of all the labels.
I might have to watch that later, or at the weekend. It's brilliant.
Livesby - My freshman year in college, my roommate and I had two small fridges in our room. One simply labeled "Food"...the other labeled "Drink". All the cool kids got the reference. ;)
A couple of things here. GREAT FILM, although I haven't seen it in ages. I think it came out before 1984. I recall seeing it as a sophmore of junior in college and what would have been 1979-1980.
This film was produced by Mike Nesmith of the Monkey's if I recall correctly.
"Air Freshners", there is one in every car, even on the motorcycle cops ride....wonderful running sight gag for the whole film.
Angelic Pettyjohn.....you know who she was unless you were gay. Many a young adolescent male had booku wet dreams about here and wished they could be marooned on Triskelion. Damn that Captain Kirk was one lucky bastard. Was he ever on a planet that did not have sexy women?
This was also the first time that had the 'crawl' (the credits at the end of the film) come down from the top of the screen, instead of the traditional bottom of the screen moving up. Seemed really cutting edge for the time.
Lotus - Yeah, Nesmith did it. Strange connection...he also had a crazy one-shot TV show a couple of years later called "Doctor Duck's Super Secret All-Purpose Sauce'. Jimmy Buffett was involved in both projects. Hmmm....
And I noticed the reverse credit crawl at the end, but I didn't know this was the first time someone did it. David Fincher was watching, eh?
I want one of those tin foil halter tops.
bobgirrl - I want you to have one of those too. ;)
I always like harry dean stanton is escape from new york.
Jiggs - I like HDS in just about everything. But he DOMINATES in this movie.
One of my all time favorites. The "what about our relationship line" is a classic, but my favorite is:
Leila: "nice friends"
Otto: "Thanks. I made them myself"
Limpy - I love that line too. All the dialogue with Otto and his friends are great.
Debbi: "Duke, let's go do some crimes."
Duke: "Yeah, let's go get sushi and not pay."
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