Cult Classics: Repo Man (1984)
Reason #41144 why it pays to listen to secondary audio commentary tracks. Late bloomer Harry Dean Stanton hit his stride in 1984 with the back-to-back release of two master classes: Repo Man and Paris, Texas. Director/sportsophobe Alex Cox dismissed the actor’s suggestion that he shoot Emilio Estevez a sign similar to the one a catcher flashes his pitcher. The filmmaker recalls the actor having a thrombo: “I’ve worked with the greatest directors of all time. Francis Ford Coppola. Monte Hellman. You know why they’re great? Because they let me do whatever the fuck I wanted!” All Cox wanted was to unwind his whacked-out saga of the one-eyed space alien-cum-doctor who pulled into Los Angeles with the last shot of Kiss Me Deadly radiating in the trunk of his 1964 Malibu. When rival repossession agents make off with the Chevrolet, it’s up to extreme anti-authoritarian Otto (Estevez) and the merry band of tweakers at the Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation to get it back. Driving around at night and snorting speed off the glove box door to keep awake has never looked more appealing than in this anarchic, pitch-black comedy. — Scott Marks