The pressure of maintaining a filmmaking career shows on the work of punk filmmaker Alex Cox. Sid and Nancy is a wonderful film, but Repo Man is his masterpiece. As for the rest, there’s not much else to talk about.
A great script, a genuine feeling of LA and a genuine feeling of punk attitude and B-movie love makes this one of the most enjoyable films of the 80s. A great cast, featuring Harry Dean Stanton who appears to be basically playing himself.
It also has great photography, a killer soundtrack (of course) and one of the great endings in cinema.
Alex Cox presented a BBC2 series during the 80s and 90s called Moviedrome, along with Jonathan Ross’ The Incredibly Strange Film Show, Moviedrome was a great influence on me, introducing me to films, filmmakers and styles I wasn’t accustomed to.
Repo Man has some great dialogue too, especially about ‘normal people’. See it, and watch it, again and again.
So, 89 films to go!
Matthew Cooper has written for Emmerdale, Eastenders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs. He was winner of the first ever Lloyds Bank Channel Four Film Challenge and the Oscar Moore Screenplay Prize. His first short film starred a then unknown Ewan McGregor and was picked up by Channel Four when Matthew was 19 years old. He’s been a script writer for hire and filmmaker for hire for over 20 years.