Back in the day my friends and I all owned the Repo Man soundtrack way before we saw the film. I’m not even sure if the film actually received release here; if it did it did not last long. The soundtrack turned up in our local small town record store and as it had songs from many of our favourite U.S. punk bands on it it was an essential purchase.
Out in South Auckland it was not easy purchasing anything that was not Top 40 or middle of the road classic rock. If you saw something out of the ordinary, the general rule was that you better purchase immediately as the record probably wouldn’t be available again – its inclusion in Sounds Papakura’s record bins was probably an error due to the store manager smoking too much pot on their break.
Repo Man is one of the greatest films of the 80s, and after watching the newly released Blu-ray version I have to say it has only gotten better with age. The story stars Emilio Estevez as a somewhat alienated LA punk who becomes a car repossessor. Harry Dean Stanton plays his repo man mentor and is amazing.
The plot is primarily about the search for an elusive 1964 Chevy Malibu driven by a lobotomized government scientist. The trunk of the car contains a mysterious object which we never get to see – the plot alludes to it being either a neutron bomb or dead alien bodies but it’s never quite clear. There are also a group of government agents, some UFO fanatics, and a rival repo gang all interested in the car as well.
The film’s universe is that quasi-fantastical milieu that defunct magazines like The Weekly World News and the National Enquirer dealt in – a universe where alien bat babies feature regularly and it’s not uncommon to read about 119-year-old Hitler living with Elvis’ vampiric twin in a split level colonial love nest. This is a world that is gritty and dirty yet anything can happen – especially if it’s somewhat absurd. Spontaneous combustion is a real life problem.
The soundtrack – to borrow a phrase from noted comedy manager Barry Katz – was undeniable. The theme song is by Iggy Pop, followed by Black Flag’s ‘TV Party’ (an updated version referencing the 1984 US TV season); the amazing ‘Institutionalized’ by Suicidal Tendencies – what a song; a couple of Circle Jerks songs including a folk (?) number; a very cool rework of Jonathan Richman’s ‘Pablo Picasso’ by The Burning Sensations (“Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole/not like you”); and one of Fear’s best songs ‘Lets Have A War’.
There are a few clunkers – years later I still don’t get The Plugz… The Plugz are a Mexican flavoured punk band and while they give the soundtrack a bit of LA multiculturalism, which I dig conceptually, the reality is, I just don’t dig them and I really wish they did not have three songs here. Sorry Plugz but three songs is excessive. Hope you enjoyed the royalties regardless.
After watching this film on terrestrial TV and video over the past few decades it’s a treat to see it on Blu-ray. While the film suits the crappy 80s video look this hi-res version is pretty damn nice to look at.
The Blu-ray version also offers some deleted scenes, an amazing if somewhat hair-raising interview with Harry Dean Stanton, and a discussion with the makers of the film on the hows and whys of the films creation. The deleted scenes are presented in nicely odd fashion, as the clips are intercut with the director Alex Cox and Sam Cohen – the real scientist who developed the neutron bomb – discussing the film and the background behind the deleted scenes. The scientist is about a million years old and Alex is half a million and wearing a headband – few people can pull off wearing headbands and Alex unfortunately is not one of them.
Still, bloody good film Alex – if you wish to wear headbands go ahead, who am I to tell you otherwise.
