Repo Man

It happens sometimes, people just explode. Natural causes.

—Agent Rogersz

I don't want no commies in my car. No Christians either.

—Bud

A Cult Classic comedy-sci-fi movie directed by Alex Cox and released in 1984. Known for its predominance of Hey, It's That Guy!'s, comic vignettes, outlandish scenarios, memorable dialogue and well-liked soundtrack, made entirely out of songs from famous Punk Rock bands like Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, Circle Jerks, Iggy Pop and others.

Young LA punk Otto Maddox (Emilio Estevez) has a really bad day: he gets fired from his job at the supermarket, sees his girlfriend cheat on him with his best friend at a party and finds that his ex-hippie parents donated all his money to a televangelist. He meets Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) and becomes a repossession agent. The life of a Repo Man stimulates him a great deal more than the increasingly phony world of LA punks. Through various encounters and a mad rush between competing repo men and the CIA to locate a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu, Otto learns that "the life of a repo man is always intense".

Based on a some true stories Cox picked up when he worked as a repo man. There aren't many aliens, but there's plenty of shrimp!

Alex Cox released a sequel named Repo Chick in 2009.

Not to be confused with Repo! The Genetic Opera or Repo Men. Definitely not to be confused with Reaper Man.

Tropes used in Repo Man include:

• All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence
• Arc Words: A whole big plate of them.
• Artificial Limbs : An obvious, bizarre, and hilarious Shout-Out to Metropolis.
• Brand X: Otto works at Ralph's before he becomes a repo-man, so everything has the generic labels Ralph's used to have.
• Cameo: The Circle Jerks as ... The Circle Jerks if they were a lounge band.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Depending on your perspective a) Miller, b) everybody but Miller, c) everybody and Miller is so far he comes around the other side.
• Church of Happyology: Dioretix
• Cluster F-Bomb
• Cool Car: Subverted, the car that holds everyone's desires is:
  • MacGuffin: a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu with New Mexico plates that's somehow worth $20,000.
    • And opening its trunk makes people vaporize.
  • In the end, it does become rather cool, with A lightning bolt-generating forcefield and the ability to fly (and to possibly traverse time and space). Who wouldn't want those features?
• Cool Old Guy: Bud, at first.
• Gainax Ending
• Hey, It's That Guy! - Otto = Andy from The Breakfast Club, Bud = Brett from Alien, Michael Nesmith is the producer, Olivia Barash was on Little House On the Prairie etc.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: They steal cars ... legally!
• It's Popular, Now It Sucks: In-universe examples.

Lite: I was into these dudes before anyone. Wanted me to be their manager. I called bullshit on that. Managing a pop group is no job for a man.
Otto: (Regarding the "lounge" performance by the Circle Jerks) I can't believe I used to like these guys.

• Just As Planned: When Otto escapes from being tortured, Agent Rogersz casually remarks, "It's all part of the plan."
• Meaningful Name: All of the Repo Men are named after beers.
• Mexican Standoff: In the convenience store late in the film.
• Off-the-Shelf FX: Need a Sickly Green Glow and can't afford CG? Buy some green glow-paint! This actually worked out well, as the CG of the era falls straight into Conspicuous CG nowadays.
• Poke the Poodle: The punks. Even after they shoot a guy.
• Product Placement: The only aversion to Brand X were the Christmas tree air fresheners. The makers sponsored the film.
  • "Find one in every car. You'll see."
• Random Events Plot
• Sickly Green Glow
• Stable Time Loop: Miller's interpretation of reality.
• Stay with the Aliens:

Leila: Otto! What about our relationship?
Otto: (Pauses and looks back) Fuck that.

• Strawman News Media: Played for laughs in many a Funny Background Event.
• Shout-Out: A couple to William S. Burroughs.
  • And in turn, the electronic band Future Sound Of London titled their song "Eyes Pop, Skin Explodes, Everybody Dead" after a line from the movie.
• Theme Naming: Different beers.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Of course "blanks get the job done too" if you don't tell us.
• Unusual Euphemism: Flip You, Melon Farmer!!!
• What Could Have Been: Muhammad Ali was supposed to make a cameo during the film's climax but had to back out due to a prior commitment.