THE INTENSE LIFE OF ALEX COX
The director of Repo Man Tells as little
as possible to the IRS
www.pscweb.com/repo
www.alexcox.com

CA: First of all, I love your web site, alexcox.com. What do you think of the Internet and its possibilities as far as art and communication are concerned?

AC: The Internet seems best of all as a means of political communication. It was one of the only places one could find opposition to the bombing of Serbia; it is at the forefront of opposition to the new American war against Colombia.

CA: It's been said that where there is a great capacity for good there is a great capacity for evil. Do you think this holds true for the Internet?

AC: I try not to think in these simplistic terms. Good is invariably used as a synonym for "people who think like us"; evil are those who disagree, such as the president of Yugoslavia.

CA: You refer to yourself as an Anarcho-Socialist, what do you mean by that?

AC: Anarchist in that that is the only morally justifiable system, offering the most freedom. Socialist because I think utilities such as water, telephone, the railway, the airways, are too societally important to be allowed to fall into the hands of private companies. State ownership - as in the US Government's ownership and subsidy of Amtrak - is the only sensible alternative.

CA: How would you balance the non-government stance of the anarchist and the hands on stance of socialism?

AC: With difficulty.

CA: What kind of title would you give the emerging Internet society?

AC: Self-regarding.

CA: What do you think of the English Monarchy?

AC: Very little; another bunch of rich gangsters, no?

CA: That said, why do you think people are so willing to be lead by gangsters? What is the basis for the fascination?

AC: They are not asked if they want to be led or not. They are presented with a fait accompli, enforced by guns and money.

CA: Where did you company name, Commies from Mars Associates, come from?

AC: A comic book.

CA: Your editorial on the site talks about the Digital Millennium and Sonny Bono Copyright Acts and how they have extended copyright terms for corporate owned works from 75-95 years. Do you see anyway that artists can break the bonds of corporate servitude, not just for the money but for the dignity?

AC: Artists might have to fight against the notion of intellectual property rights since they are inevitable ceded to the aformentioned multinationals. Alternately they would have to fight in unison to retain them.

CA: Do you see artist ever organizing in such a manner that they could overcome the corporate stranglehold on their work?

AC: This remains to be seen.

CA: Speaking of artists dignity, what's happening with the writers credit on FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS? On the ever fallible Internet Movie Database, the film lists Terry Gilliam and Hunter Thompson as the writers and your writers credits have the film listed as yours. What's up?

AC: Ask the IMD where they get their information. They will probably correct it, or give you an answer why.

(for more info on this go to http://www.pscweb.com/repo/ and check it out under, "What's happening with FEAR AND LOTHING...")

CA: I noticed while looking at your films that Rudy Wurlitzer did the script for WALKER. He also did the script for another under the radar film, TWO LANE BLACKTOP. Have you ever seen it and what did you think of it.

AC: It's really good. Very funny. It has aged brilliantly, mainly thanks to the character of GTO and the performance by Warren Oates.

CA: Oates was fabulous and Harry Dean Stanton had a marvelous cameo as the gay hitchhiker Oates picks up as well. Was this the first thing you ever saw Stanton in?

AC: First time I learned HD's name was in THE MISSOURI BREAKS. I am sure I'd seen him previously.

CA: At the time it came out, Walker was a great education to me about how fleeting fame can be. Here's a man who was a hot topic in his time who has all but disappeared in ours. Can you think of any politicians that will probably happen to from our time?

AC: Clinton, Bush, Gore, Blair.

CA: If you could make a film about a political celebrity from the past ten years, who would it be?

AC: George Bush Sr.

CA: What do you find noteworthy about him that you would want future generations to know about?

AC: That he ran the US Government for eight years while pretending to be vice president and managed to conceal that he was a) running the show and b) fluent in Mandarin.

CA: Let's talk about the new release of Repo Man. What do you think of the DVD format?

AC: Good, no?

CA: It was an eclectic film, mixing aliens, atoms and automobiles to form an anti nuclear message. How did you come to include such a strange mix of culture and counter culture?

AC: Those were my interests at the time. Mainly nuclear war, actually, but also patterns of synchronicity. I was never very keen on cars.

CA: You've made quiet a few film/shorts/docs about important political subjects, but Repo Man, this quirky pop film about punks and nuclear threat seems to have made the biggest mark in the market for you, why do you think that is?

AC: Good producers, good soundtrack, fortunate production circumstances.

CA: What do you think of the worlds fascination with aliens? Where do you think the need to believe in the unprovable originates?

AC: Unscrupulous media barons such as Rupert Murdoch; the CIA and US Airforce and their need to conceal "black" aviation projects behind a cloak of mumbo-jumbo.

CA: What about the world's fascination with nuclear war?

AC: It would be odd if people were not fascinated by this subject.

AC: Otto has no morality. He is a blank page. He will do anything.

CA: Where did you meet Harry Dean Stanton?

AC: At a pizza restaurant in Los Angeles in 1979. I was trying to persuade him to act in my student film (he didn't).

CA: What made you decide to cast him in Repo Man?

AC: Dennis Hopper wasn't available.

CA: The tag line "it's 4am, do you know where your car is?" is funny on so many levels, especially in relation to the way American's feel about their cars and children. Repo Man makes a mockery of, well of many things, but definitely of American parenting, was that intentional or just a bi-product of the artistic process?

AC: It was all intentional.

CA: Speaking of nuclear power, you've written several Godzilla comics for Dark Horse. How did that come about?

AC: They wrote and asked me if I'd write some. So I did...

CA: Are you a Godzilla fan?

AC: Yes. Though I am a bigger fan of King Kong!

CA: What has King Kong got that Godzilla hasn't?

AC: A hairy (sorry that's all that came through cyberspace...ED)

CA: I noticed that on your favorite film list on your web site there aren't many recent films. What is, say, your favorite film of the last five years, in the English language?

AC: Don't have one.

CA: What's going on with your new project, A Hard Look? Is it TV or film?

AC: It's a documentary about the EMMANUELLE films for Channel 4.

CA: And finally, what do you feel is your proudest accomplishment?

AC: WALKER.

REPO MAN
Directed by Alex Cox
Starring: Emilio Estevez
& Harry Dean Stanton
Anchor Bay Entertainment

   I don't think any other generation willfully produced as many cult films as the 80's, and REPO MAN is one of the finest. Set in Los Angeles, REPO MAN follows the soulless life of white suburban punk Otto (Emilio Estevez). Otto doesn't care about anyone but himself. He is the cartoon cut out of societies worst nightmare; an unfeeling punk full of anger with a cruel sense of humor and time on his hands. On a late night/early morning walk after an unsuccessful party where he finds his girl in bed with another punk after he goes to get her a beer, he meets up with Bud (Harry Dean Stanton). Bud sucks him into the life of a repo man like a black hole sucks up matter, teaching him the Repo Code and telling him, "The life of a repo man is intense."

   The movie takes off from there in a collogue of cars, governmental cover-up, alien invasion, and nuclear threat. All the action is driven by one of the first band heavy soundtracks. It features The Circle Jerks and Black Flag to name a few, as well as a driving (forgive me) "Repo Man Theme" written by Iggy Pop. Otto meets a girl, the girl is looking for a guy who's driving a '64 Chevy Malibu that the government wants that may or may not contain alien bodies or a neutron bomb or something, something that incinerates anyone who takes a gander in the trunk. Cox's disdain for cars and American parenting ooze through out the entire film. The tagline, "it's 4 am, do you know were you car is?" hints at a society already in the throws of materialism so deep it can't see the demise of childhood. The fear and fascination with the force of the atom is also a strong theme. The Chevy combined with its deadly cargo becomes the symbol of all that is dangerous and unknown on the highways of Los Angeles. And it's a symbol that everyone wants to get their hands on.

   Once the Chevy comes over the wire with a $20,000 reward it becomes the Holy Grail of every repo man in LA, especially Otto and Bud, and also their enemies, the Rodriguez brothers. The driver of the Chevy, J.Frank Parnell (the now deceased Fox Harris) is a sly man who may or may not have invented the neutron bomb and had a lobotomy.

   As the characters rush through the insanity all around them, the Chevy is stolen, reclaimed and stolen by repo men, white punks on dope and repo men again until it begins to take on a ghostly parlor. The ending is something you have to see.

   One of the great unsung performances in the film is given by Tracey Walter who gets to utter lines like, "John Wayne was a fag," and "the more you drive the less intelligent you are." He is the zen master mechanic of repoed cars and it is his zen status which allows him to go where no man has gone before.

   Over the course of the film there are so many quotable lines and memorable scenes it's no wonder this is a cult favorite. I especially love the robbery of the mini mart, and of course the unforgettable, "let's get sushi and not pay" line. The interlacing of coincidence is mindboggling and so unbelievable that the film becomes believable on some psychic level.

   REPO MAN is a roaring good time, full of nostalgia and cult references like the paging of Dr. Benway in the hospital, and is cleaver in a fun way as only a pre-Bruckheimer world could be.

   The DVD is completely restored to the original cut by Alex Cox. The film had been chopped to hell for TV and other light viewing venues, but is present in all its offensive glory here.

   Extras on the CD include the usual trailers and bios, but there is a fab commentary track, unfortunately minus Stanton and Estevez. Present are director Alex Cox, producer Michael Nesmith (that Monkey guy) and actors Sy Richardson (Lite), Zander Schloss (Otto's geeky friend Kevin) and Del Zamora (Lagarto). The commentary is lively and full of fun facts and inside jokes that make the movie a little funnier, if that's possible. My favorite was that Ralph's Grocery had donated all of that plain wrap food to the shoot, including the "beer." The re release of REPO MAN is available on video and two DVD styles, plain and fairly cheap, and collectible and expensive. All have the great restored version of the film and are worthy.

Carlye Archibeque