'Repo Man' Is Coming to Greenwich

From Greenwich Library.

Librarian Ed Morrissey’s new monthly film series is devoted to bringing patrons classic cult movies from Hollywood, Europe and the rest of the world. On Thursday, January 15 at 7 p.m., Cult Films will screen the universally acclaimed Repo Man. Special guest speaker Everett Perdue will discuss the film’s back story and its impact on audiences then and now. Both film buffs and ingénues are welcome.

In Repo Man, an aimless young punk Otto (Emilio Estevez) takes a job with Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) repossessing cars after learning that his hippie parents have given the money for his education to a crooked televangelist. One day Otto, other repo men and government agents race all over Los Angeles to find a certain Chevy Malibu, which may or may not have dead aliens from outer space in the trunk. This wild, almost surreal comedy-thriller by writer-director Alex Cox never lags in its pacing.

Entertainment Weekly ranked the film seventh on their list of “The Top 50 Cult Films” for its gritty depiction of an LA subculture and its unconventional (hard to define) genre. Is Repo Man sci-fi, punk rock or comedy? This color film is rated R for violence and language, and is 92 minutes long.

In the course of the series, Morrissey will cover a wide sweep of genres, comedies, crime noir, horror, thrillers, musicals, spaghetti westerns, Hitchcock, Fellini and more. It’s these so-called fringe or over the top movies that Greenwich Library Cult Films, through the Library’s extensive catalog, intends to expose to a much wider and appreciative audience.

Patrons interested in cult films should visit www.greenwichlibrary.org/CultFilms.aspx to read some of Ed’s deep dives into the world of cult films in his blog, and for a complete list of upcoming films in this new series.

Up next: mark your calendars for the 1963 Bond film From Russia with Love on Thursday, February 19 at 6:30 p.m.

This series is open to all at no charge and will be held in the Meeting Room. For more information contact Ed Morrissey at emorrissey@greenwichlibrary.org or call (203) 622-7918. Don’t forget, thousands of film titles are available in the Library’s DVD collection, and online through the Library’s new hoopla service.