Repo Chick
March 2, 2013 3:59 PM Subscribe
Repo Man is one of the most beloved cult movies of all time. But did you know that director Alex Cox made a couple of sequels? Well, he didn't. Except he sort of did...
Cox wrote a graphic novel, Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday, that chronicles the further adventures of Otto, the punkish protagonist portrayed by Emilio Estevez in the original film. The book is described as an "unofficial sequel" to the film, and Cox wrote it after his attempts to make a film sequel bogged down due to conflicts with Estevez.
In 2009, Cox directed Repo Chick, a very strange little movie that Cox described as "not a sequel, but it is set in the same environment—in the same economic crisis, only worse." Shot with a paltry budget, employing actors superimposed into a world made up of little plastic toys, Repo Chick may not enjoy the acclaim of the original film, but it is at least as weird as Repo Man. (And you know how everybody's into weirdness right now...)
Cox wrote a graphic novel, Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday, that chronicles the further adventures of Otto, the punkish protagonist portrayed by Emilio Estevez in the original film. The book is described as an "unofficial sequel" to the film, and Cox wrote it after his attempts to make a film sequel bogged down due to conflicts with Estevez.
In 2009, Cox directed Repo Chick, a very strange little movie that Cox described as "not a sequel, but it is set in the same environment—in the same economic crisis, only worse." Shot with a paltry budget, employing actors superimposed into a world made up of little plastic toys, Repo Chick may not enjoy the acclaim of the original film, but it is at least as weird as Repo Man. (And you know how everybody's into weirdness right now...)
I always imagine Straight to Hell exists in the same alternate reality as Repo Man.
K-A-R-L's Disco Wiener Haven.
posted by humboldt32 at 4:06 PM on March 2, 2013 [9 favorites]
K-A-R-L's Disco Wiener Haven.
posted by humboldt32 at 4:06 PM on March 2, 2013 [9 favorites]
Love the man. Love Repo Man, love his film critisism, love a couple of his other films.
You couldn't pay me to read the comic or watch any film of his after The Revengers Tragedy though. Sometimes it's like that.
Plate of shrimp.
posted by Artw at 4:12 PM on March 2, 2013 [6 favorites]
You couldn't pay me to read the comic or watch any film of his after The Revengers Tragedy though. Sometimes it's like that.
Plate of shrimp.
posted by Artw at 4:12 PM on March 2, 2013 [6 favorites]
Repo Chick may not enjoy the acclaim of the original film
that's one way of putting it
great post, though
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:25 PM on March 2, 2013
that's one way of putting it
great post, though
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:25 PM on March 2, 2013
FOOD
posted by cjorgensen at 4:28 PM on March 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by cjorgensen at 4:28 PM on March 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
For a while there, Cox was one of the best independent directors in America. Repo Man, Sid & Nancy, Walker and Straight to Hell is as good a streak as any director has ever had---every one demonstrating a really interesting vision of how society works and how film can flourish in the gaps between the representation and the thing itself (including things that scuttle away from representation, like class, money, and power). Three Businessmen is also way interesting, albeit a little obvious in its Buñuel influence. In my perfect world, Cox is recognized as the father of "structuralist cinema" of the sort produced by Todd Haynes, Charlie Kaufman, and (occasionally) Michael Winterbottom.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 4:39 PM on March 2, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 4:39 PM on March 2, 2013 [6 favorites]
If we're going to talk about this movie then first you're going to have to excuse me while I fold my pants.
posted by sendai sleep master at 4:49 PM on March 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by sendai sleep master at 4:49 PM on March 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
Also, this is my "I just remembered hearing that Harry Dean Stanton was in that recent movie that was Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt at a comeback" face. Stare into this face deeply.
posted by sendai sleep master at 4:52 PM on March 2, 2013
posted by sendai sleep master at 4:52 PM on March 2, 2013
Repo Man gets a Criterion release on April 16.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 5:02 PM on March 2, 2013 [10 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 5:02 PM on March 2, 2013 [10 favorites]
My million dollar idea involves turning Repo Man into a musical a la Spamalot. "Plaaate, or shriiiimp, or plate of shriiiimp..."
posted by waraw at 5:05 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by waraw at 5:05 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'll have to check this out. Repo Man is a fine feature film. I wish I was young enough to be high on my parent's couch, drinking Dr. Peppers and watching Repo Man again - those were the days.
posted by PuppyCat at 5:10 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by PuppyCat at 5:10 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Man, the soundtrack...
posted by Artw at 5:14 PM on March 2, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:14 PM on March 2, 2013 [5 favorites]
FOOD
Put it on a plate, cjorgensen. You'll enjoy it more.
posted by bondcliff at 5:15 PM on March 2, 2013 [6 favorites]
Put it on a plate, cjorgensen. You'll enjoy it more.
posted by bondcliff at 5:15 PM on March 2, 2013 [6 favorites]
Now I'm trying to imagine what the contemporary equivalent soundtrack would be like. Fucking awful, I'd guess, even of Chumbawumba have split up.
posted by Artw at 5:18 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:18 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Speaking of Walker, a film about an American trying to take over a Central American country, I saw this film in a theater in San Jose, Costa Rica. The audience reactions there were a little different than what you might expect here. Quite interesting shift in point of view.
posted by njohnson23 at 5:19 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by njohnson23 at 5:19 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
This post has me feelin' 7-Up
posted by stargell at 5:31 PM on March 2, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by stargell at 5:31 PM on March 2, 2013 [5 favorites]
item, I saw Walker & Highway Patrolman at the Texas Theatre when Cox was there. I went into the evening thinking he may have been a guy that got lucky a couple of times. After all, why isn't he still making great films? I was quickly disabused of that notion. He was funny, very smart, as well as generous and super-friendly. Highway Patrolman (which I wasn't aware before that weekend) was great and may now be my favorite Alex Cox film.
posted by ericthegardener at 5:36 PM on March 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by ericthegardener at 5:36 PM on March 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
The special effects reel makes me want to see it, actually. I don't know why.
posted by lumpenprole at 6:21 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by lumpenprole at 6:21 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
ericthegardener, you're right---I shouldn't have forgotten the completely awesome Highway Patrolman, yet another of Cox's great Marxist explorations of how "Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please." Also notable for one of the lowest cuts-per-minute number of just about any film made in North America in the last thirty years.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 6:38 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 6:38 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
When I saw Repo Man I was 15. I truly thought it was mainstream and to this day find it weird that people consider it a cult film. Back then I couldn't understand why every movie was not like that? Years later Emilio Estevez was scouting around for locations for Rated X and all I could think was how far he had fallen AFTER Repo man.
posted by mrgroweler at 6:44 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by mrgroweler at 6:44 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
favorite movie ever, except for maybe big lebowski. really looking forward to the criterion blu ray.
"i wasn't singin', guy!"
posted by joeblough at 6:44 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
"i wasn't singin', guy!"
posted by joeblough at 6:44 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Goddamn dipshit Rodriguez gypsy dildo punks! I'll get your ass!
posted by porn in the woods at 6:45 PM on March 2, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by porn in the woods at 6:45 PM on March 2, 2013 [5 favorites]
I blame society...
Bullshit! You're just a white middle-class punk.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:52 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Bullshit! You're just a white middle-class punk.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:52 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Plate of shrimp.
Weird. I was just thinking that.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:05 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Weird. I was just thinking that.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:05 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
You eat a lot of acid in the 60's, Church?
posted by davelog at 7:19 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by davelog at 7:19 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
"Gypsy dildo punks!" is still my current curse at other lousy drivers.
posted by jetsetsc at 7:34 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by jetsetsc at 7:34 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I swear a Repo Chick trailer was recently linked on metafilter (in the past week) but I can't find the thread now.
posted by jepler at 7:41 PM on March 2, 2013
posted by jepler at 7:41 PM on March 2, 2013
I can't believe I used to like these guys.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:49 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:49 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
These Repo Chick VFX look like the best CD-ROM title that never was.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:12 PM on March 2, 2013
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:12 PM on March 2, 2013
I can't believe one of the Monkees produced Repo Man. I need to see it again, it's been at least 20 years.
posted by Red Loop at 8:35 PM on March 2, 2013
posted by Red Loop at 8:35 PM on March 2, 2013
Bud: Credit is a sacred trust, it's what our free society is founded on. Do you think they give a damn about their bills in Russia? I said, do you think they give a damn about their bills in Russia?
Otto: They don't pay bills in Russia, it's all free.
Bud: All free? Free my ass. What are you, a fuckin' commie? Huh?
Otto: No, I ain't no commie.
Bud: Well, you better not be. I don't want no commies in my car. No Christians either.
this film validates the 80's
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:54 PM on March 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
Otto: They don't pay bills in Russia, it's all free.
Bud: All free? Free my ass. What are you, a fuckin' commie? Huh?
Otto: No, I ain't no commie.
Bud: Well, you better not be. I don't want no commies in my car. No Christians either.
this film validates the 80's
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:54 PM on March 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
Five pound blocks of cheese...bags of groceries...
posted by smrtsch at 9:02 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by smrtsch at 9:02 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Repo Man is a movie I really need to rewatch again.
Repo Chick is a movie. I liked the plastic toys.
posted by Mezentian at 9:06 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Repo Chick is a movie. I liked the plastic toys.
posted by Mezentian at 9:06 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I looove Repo Chick, Revengers Tragedy, Walker, and Repo Man, in about that order. I find Straight To Hell unwatchable (but oh man that soundtrack album!). Haven't seen any others.
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 9:14 PM on March 2, 2013
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 9:14 PM on March 2, 2013
Bullshit! You're just a white middle-class punk.
Yeah, but it still hurts.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:42 PM on March 2, 2013 [7 favorites]
Yeah, but it still hurts.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:42 PM on March 2, 2013 [7 favorites]
I always imagine Straight to Hell exists in the same alternate reality as Repo Man.
Straight To Hell is best stumbled upon by mistake, preferably whilst under the influence of something. It doesn't hold a candle Repo Man on a cinematic level ... but it is a wonderful mess of fun and fucking around.
Because Repo Man truly is a brilliant chunk of cinema. Great script, killer cast -- something that made the mid-80s actually bearable. And Walker wasn't half-bad either. Alienated a lot of folks for its magic realism, virulently anti-American political slant ... but, like Repo Man, it's one of those rare movies that I really can watch again and again. And it's currently available on good ole Youtube ...
posted by philip-random at 10:02 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Straight To Hell is best stumbled upon by mistake, preferably whilst under the influence of something. It doesn't hold a candle Repo Man on a cinematic level ... but it is a wonderful mess of fun and fucking around.
Because Repo Man truly is a brilliant chunk of cinema. Great script, killer cast -- something that made the mid-80s actually bearable. And Walker wasn't half-bad either. Alienated a lot of folks for its magic realism, virulently anti-American political slant ... but, like Repo Man, it's one of those rare movies that I really can watch again and again. And it's currently available on good ole Youtube ...
posted by philip-random at 10:02 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Philip-random, I agree entirely. Straight to Hell as a movie is a mess. I really dig it for the music and the musicians. Repo Man is brilliant.
Thanx for the Walker link.
posted by humboldt32 at 11:11 PM on March 2, 2013
Thanx for the Walker link.
posted by humboldt32 at 11:11 PM on March 2, 2013
Let's go do some crimes.
posted by zardoz at 12:20 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by zardoz at 12:20 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Get some sushi an not pay?
I try to do a couple crimes a day, just to keep shit real.
I'm always reminded of the examples of anarchy given in Anarchy in the UK. One of the examples is "give the wrong time". It sounds dumb, like you are Sid Viscous and you get stopped by a stranger asking the time, and you stop and check your watch just like any other schmoe and helpfully check your watch instead of like shouting curses at him. Then you insidiously add or subtract a few minutes, maybe the guy is late for a meeting, causing further breakdowns of the social order.
Fuck the man, I'm off to the store to eat some grapes.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:38 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
I try to do a couple crimes a day, just to keep shit real.
I'm always reminded of the examples of anarchy given in Anarchy in the UK. One of the examples is "give the wrong time". It sounds dumb, like you are Sid Viscous and you get stopped by a stranger asking the time, and you stop and check your watch just like any other schmoe and helpfully check your watch instead of like shouting curses at him. Then you insidiously add or subtract a few minutes, maybe the guy is late for a meeting, causing further breakdowns of the social order.
Fuck the man, I'm off to the store to eat some grapes.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:38 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Lets go get sushi and not pay.
posted by doublesix at 1:38 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by doublesix at 1:38 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
John Wayne was a fag!
(I've just found that was a call back to Midnight Cowboy...)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:59 AM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
(I've just found that was a call back to Midnight Cowboy...)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:59 AM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
"Vended food contains all the necessary nutrients for survival. Taste damn good too, by golly. And plus, on any given evening, the machine that last night gave you cheetos might dispense instead... Doritos. Yohos. Oreos. Tosquitos. Or Lorna Doones."
posted by ZipRibbons at 4:07 AM on March 3, 2013
posted by ZipRibbons at 4:07 AM on March 3, 2013
Let's go do some crimes.
I am to misbehave.
Let's go be bad guys.
My head canon is now that Straight To Hell, Repo Man and Firefly exist in the same 'verse.
posted by Mezentian at 4:51 AM on March 3, 2013
I am to misbehave.
Let's go be bad guys.
My head canon is now that Straight To Hell, Repo Man and Firefly exist in the same 'verse.
posted by Mezentian at 4:51 AM on March 3, 2013
Well, he didn't. Except he sort of did...
Two hemispheres fundamentally at odds
posted by flabdablet at 6:11 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Two hemispheres fundamentally at odds
posted by flabdablet at 6:11 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
FOOD
Put it on a plate, cjorgensen. You'll enjoy it more.
I'll just eat it out of the can, thank you.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:45 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Put it on a plate, cjorgensen. You'll enjoy it more.
I'll just eat it out of the can, thank you.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:45 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh and just for you information Pablo Picasso was actually 5' 4'' though I'm still pretty sure he was never called an asshole.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:48 AM on March 3, 2013
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:48 AM on March 3, 2013
Previously. Good to see it again, though. I love me some Alex Cox. Even Straight to Hell.
posted by chavenet at 9:04 AM on March 3, 2013
posted by chavenet at 9:04 AM on March 3, 2013
When I first visited LA (in the early 90s), I was surprised and delighted to find that Ralphs actually sold generic BEER.
The last of Cox's movies I saw was Death and the Compass, which I remember only as incoherent and exhausting. But now I'm curious about Revengers Tragedy.
posted by mubba at 9:10 AM on March 3, 2013
The last of Cox's movies I saw was Death and the Compass, which I remember only as incoherent and exhausting. But now I'm curious about Revengers Tragedy.
posted by mubba at 9:10 AM on March 3, 2013
*Fffffft*...We're sending bibles to El Salvador.
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:17 AM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:17 AM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
southland tales! (or, perhaps, nowhere ;)
posted by kliuless at 10:49 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by kliuless at 10:49 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
He did a lot of acid. Back in the hippie days.
posted by biscotti at 2:14 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by biscotti at 2:14 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Like everyone of a certain age, I loved Repo Man, but Cox has, I think, steadily lost it by degrees since then.
I can't think of him now without thinking of that scene with Hunter S Thompson in (I think it was) Breakfast With Hunter, where Thompson just completely loses it with Cox and his partner when they're talking about making a Fear and Loathing movie (which Terry Gilliam eventually ended up making) and they want to do the famous Great Wave bit as an animation. Despite the fact that Thompson was being an asshole, as he so often was, I agreed with him completely, and just as he seemed to do, lost some of my respect for Cox's creative vision right then.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:15 PM on March 3, 2013
I can't think of him now without thinking of that scene with Hunter S Thompson in (I think it was) Breakfast With Hunter, where Thompson just completely loses it with Cox and his partner when they're talking about making a Fear and Loathing movie (which Terry Gilliam eventually ended up making) and they want to do the famous Great Wave bit as an animation. Despite the fact that Thompson was being an asshole, as he so often was, I agreed with him completely, and just as he seemed to do, lost some of my respect for Cox's creative vision right then.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:15 PM on March 3, 2013
Let's go do some crimes....
"..."
Oh man, we were watching this again on late nite cable TV many years ago, and they cut out the sushi punch-line just so they could fit more commercials into the time slot. It felt kinda post-modern in way.
posted by ovvl at 4:01 PM on March 3, 2013
"..."
Oh man, we were watching this again on late nite cable TV many years ago, and they cut out the sushi punch-line just so they could fit more commercials into the time slot. It felt kinda post-modern in way.
posted by ovvl at 4:01 PM on March 3, 2013
Lots of guys like to watch their buddies fuck. I know I do.
Also, Henry Rollins' Black Flag on the soundtrack.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:06 PM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
Also, Henry Rollins' Black Flag on the soundtrack.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:06 PM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
TV PARTY TONIGHT!
posted by Artw at 5:12 PM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:12 PM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
I love how the characters were named after beers: Miller, Bud, Lite ...
posted by Melismata at 5:34 PM on March 3, 2013
posted by Melismata at 5:34 PM on March 3, 2013
waow. repo man is historically awesome. but I had never known about Walker so thank you all for this thread - that film is very, very, very Herzog and it is great.
posted by dorian at 8:34 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by dorian at 8:34 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
You shithead. I'm glad I tortured you.
posted by nacho fries at 10:11 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by nacho fries at 10:11 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Kickstarter: Alex Cox directs BILL THE GALACTIC HERO
It'll probably never happen... It'll probably be awful if it does... I threw my money at him. Fuck it, I owe him that.
posted by Artw at 5:11 PM on March 24, 2013
It'll probably never happen... It'll probably be awful if it does... I threw my money at him. Fuck it, I owe him that.
posted by Artw at 5:11 PM on March 24, 2013
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posted by ZipRibbons at 4:01 PM on March 2, 2013 [4 favorites]