MM26: The Lattice of Coincidence - 80’s Yuppies vs. Punks
Added 2024-06-26 11:00:12 +0000 UTCWill & Hesse are joined by producer Chris to look at two thematically related films: 1984’s Repo Man directed by Alex Cox, and 1985’s After Hours directed by Martin Scorsese. Two slightly surreal comedies both dealing with moving between “square” and “underground” cultures, one set in NYC depicting a yuppie descending into a purgatory populated by downtown artist types, and one set in LA depicting a punk ascending into the legitimate world of legalized car theft. Two hilariously strange and strangely beautiful bangers dripping in Reagan-era satire and anxiety.
Comments
I listened to this episode in a DMV and the guy next to me killed himself
KingGrandpa
2025-05-02 18:57:51 +0000 UTCIt's the two spectrums of young adulthood- college vs no college
justDave
2025-04-06 11:28:32 +0000 UTC"...if you're a Cox sucker." Thank you, Hesse. No one laughed but I heard that and appreciated it lol
Valerie
2024-07-11 11:45:23 +0000 UTCNo.
Michael Miller
2024-07-04 23:24:08 +0000 UTCDuring the After Hours trailer at 8:56 the song Last Train to Clarksville by the Monkeys is playing. Mike Nesmith was the singer-guitarist for the Monkeys. He was also the executive producer of Repo Man. It’s all connected!!
Michael Miller
2024-07-04 23:23:18 +0000 UTCAnother outstanding season of MM, I just love this shit. Please keep these coming and can we perhaps look into some sort of Felix-led Gamer Grindset…?
Dirch Frode
2024-07-04 11:05:17 +0000 UTCI've always read the J Frank Parnell character as an allusion to Jack Parsons.
glenn mohre
2024-07-03 11:46:49 +0000 UTCRewatched Repo Man before listening, then encountered an IRL repo man same day. The coincidence is freaking me out like friggin plate of shrimp.
Brent
2024-07-02 23:27:18 +0000 UTCY’all rock. So many cool movies to check out, and this may be my favorite episode. In bleak times this series is a welcome source of (semi)wholesome content. Keep it up!
Isaac Suárez
2024-07-02 02:14:42 +0000 UTCAfter Hours is the best example of how NYC is actually Hell and everyone there is either a demon or being tortured by demons
MCL
2024-07-01 22:48:13 +0000 UTCThis really made me want an episode that is just the boys talking about various insane distances they've walked late at night in NYC and the stories that led to them doing so.
Bryan Jennings
2024-07-01 13:40:56 +0000 UTCIs Chris not aware that Criterion has put out Walker and it’s very easy to get?
Chris T
2024-06-30 13:32:30 +0000 UTCYes! Came here to point this out. Figures MSJ would beat ne to the punch, but I'll just pedantically add that "Before the Law" shows up as a parable within The Trial, told to Josef K by a priest. And yeah, that whole exchange, from the bouncer telling Paul that he can come in "but not now" through the bouncer's response to Paul's attempted bribe--that he'd take the money "only so that you do not feel you've left anything untried"--is virtually verbatim from the exchange with the man guarding the open door to the law.
Phil Hostak
2024-06-29 18:14:09 +0000 UTCRepo Man is the prequel to Falling Down?
David Lee
2024-06-29 13:51:20 +0000 UTCi saw on cox’s blog that he’s coming on the show soon? if that ends up happening it would be very cool
Henry
2024-06-28 18:48:30 +0000 UTCMovie Mindshrek has potential
Tim O'
2024-06-28 01:14:26 +0000 UTCGoddam it yer making me sad remembering how I USED to live downtown in the toy district, next to the L.A. River. My actual warehouse loft was also the exterior of Rolling Stone Magazine from "Almost Famous" and had also been where Weird Al got run over by a boulder in "UHF". Now it's a fancy restaurant. Now I'm stuck in Highland Park fighting landlords all day.
The Children of Jack Acid
2024-06-28 00:03:56 +0000 UTCYeah these are the only 📽📽 I've seen from this season
Christian Johnson
2024-06-27 22:54:17 +0000 UTCRepo Man started a conversation about "generic" labeling that I have not yet found the source of. So... did Public Image Limited steal their idea for an album called "Album" with generic packaging from Repo Man, and all the generic cans and products that show up in that movie? The PiL album "Album" came out only a year after Repo Man did, so the timing would be right. Yet then again, the L.A. punk band Flipper came out with a similarly themed album title with similar (in its own way) generic labeling in 1982 with "Album" AKA "Generic Flipper." The concept is pretty similar, so... maybe Repo Man copied the idea from them? Or maybe PiL skipped Repo Man entirely and THEY stole from Flipper?
The Children of Jack Acid
2024-06-27 22:20:59 +0000 UTCGreat season. Hats off to everyone involved ✌️
JLV90
2024-06-27 21:57:01 +0000 UTCIf anyone would like a discreetly yet totally above board and absolutely legal file of THREE BUSINESSMEN or (a Cox film not mentioned yet highly recommended) HIGHWAY PATROLMAN, you can find me on Bluesky as Rohmersimpson. Just DM me on there and we'll sort it out. Federal agents and snitches are also welcome. All are welcome in the bosom of cinema, even the pigs and the squares.
Rohmer Simpson
2024-06-27 21:56:34 +0000 UTCCan we all agree that Marcy’s husband was actually David Lynch? The singular obsession with “The Wizard of Oz” tracks and “Surrender Dorothy” in David Lynch voice would be incredible
David James
2024-06-27 21:04:46 +0000 UTCyeah this website is dogshit and it's not clear how you rent the film or even if you can. sorry fam
Rohmer Simpson
2024-06-27 18:54:46 +0000 UTCJustWatch lists a site called SpamFlix as offering THREE BUSINESSMEN for a cheap rental. It’s a good film - very low key compared to Cox’s better known movies but still has a bit of mischief about it, and it builds to the greatest dad joke in cinema history. That said, “Spam Flix”? Proceed with caution?? https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/three-businessmen
Rohmer Simpson
2024-06-27 16:28:24 +0000 UTCEyes Wide Shut is like what if Paul tried to ascend to New York high life rather than descend to the low lifes. The #1 rule still applies: don’t smoke pot with women, they only smoke that shit that makes you paranoid and anxious.
Tvvvv
2024-06-27 14:03:55 +0000 UTCThe elliptical resolution of Paul’s journey, being deposited in front of his office building, was suggested by Michael Powell (who was married to Thelma Schoonmaker).
Rohmer Simpson
2024-06-27 13:34:10 +0000 UTC“I’ll probably get blamed for that.” - that’s what Lee Harvey Oswald said when he saw JFK’s head explode
Rohmer Simpson
2024-06-27 13:18:08 +0000 UTCGood film!
Rohmer Simpson
2024-06-27 13:17:27 +0000 UTCA few points on After Hours: 1. You guys really undersell how perfect the "I'll probably get blamed for that" line reading is. The whole movie crescendos with it. 2. Griffin Dunne is such a live wire in the movie and reacts physically so well to all of his humiliations. It is like he is a silent movie actor or something. 3. I do not think he is that big of an asshole. It is very easy to lose patience with weirdos and eccentrics when you get roped into their world and his reactions are humanizing and makes him a true everyman. 4. John Heard has such a menacing masculine energy in this film even though he is one of the few normal and even benevolent characters. It captures so well that feeling in your early twenties when you hit on a girl and it turns out she has a much more adult boyfriend and he's actually pretty cool but you feel like a comparative lightweight. And he never really played a character like that again. He was great in this. 5. And dumb internet alert but can we just posit that this film and Home Alone take place in the same universe where Catherine O'Hara and John Heard meet in SoHo, move to the suburbs, get married and start a family? 6. Let's give Linda Fiorentino a short haircut and have her strut around in lingerie all film. And somehow I do not even think it is a top-10 sexy movie performance for her. Maybe it is just me.
THEKILLERWHALE
2024-06-27 13:04:40 +0000 UTCdesperately seeking susan! featuring none other than richard hell
boo
2024-06-27 10:42:24 +0000 UTCDamn, Three Businessmen is a deep cut. I think that was Channel 4 TV film in the 1990s.
Savannakhet
2024-06-27 08:35:03 +0000 UTCBicycles for the win 💫
jay alan
2024-06-27 05:15:01 +0000 UTCI loved how ottos parents were acid fried hippies, because my boomer hippie parents loved this movie and my mom would always quote a line from ottos mom "put it on a plate son, you'll enjoy it more."
Gothnik
2024-06-27 05:09:41 +0000 UTCAfter Hours is free on Tubi, but going away in five days.
MKatieUltra
2024-06-27 04:52:17 +0000 UTCgreat show. I happened to notice as the credits were scrolling by that 'Additional Blond Agent' was played by Jimmy Buffet. IMDB confirms it's the man himself. One of many crazy music cameos I guess
Jeff-
2024-06-27 02:40:28 +0000 UTCSomehow the plane I’m on just can’t seem to take off all the way and gets stuck in city traffic
Patrick Banks
2024-06-27 01:36:55 +0000 UTCAwesome finale to a great season. I found After Hours after listening to Joe Frank on my college radio station and hearing how the script was adapted from one of his shows
Karl Hungus
2024-06-27 01:14:39 +0000 UTCChris, you’re so right about Desperately Seeking Susan! One of my first pandemic rewatches
Shivvy
2024-06-27 00:47:02 +0000 UTCHell yeah two movies I’ve actually seen 😎
Merrick Murtaugh
2024-06-26 23:41:01 +0000 UTCShout out to the 80's TV version of Repo Man that replaced all of the curse words with funny soundalikes like 'Flip You', and 'Melonfarmer'. The Criterion BluRay has the whole thing as one of the special features.
Plainwrap
2024-06-26 23:24:56 +0000 UTCWhen Bud first propositions Otto, Otto is literally “kicking a can” down the road…which is a nice little something. Also, I like it when lite comes back to the shop and sees the puddle of beer Otto had just poured out he says, “what, did someone piss on the floor again”
Hardcore Virgin
2024-06-26 22:05:19 +0000 UTCLynch Ep when
The Great Bears of Gallowswood
2024-06-26 20:33:50 +0000 UTCLove that a new batch of people may be watching Repo Man this week. I've seen it at least 40 times.
Mfusion
2024-06-26 20:16:46 +0000 UTCGetting closer but still, the masses long for Movie Mindset: Shrek!
Smooth Shrekees
2024-06-26 20:12:07 +0000 UTCI grew up in LA county and Repo Man captures the southland vibe better than any other movie I’ve ever seen
Claire Simon
2024-06-26 19:11:07 +0000 UTCthe bible for going to blockbuster on friday night after school
Chapo Trap House
2024-06-26 17:51:57 +0000 UTCRepo Man was pretty confusing but I don't think I was ready for it yet
Dustin Nelson
2024-06-26 17:22:38 +0000 UTCI watched After Hours for the first time as a Double Feature with Babe: Pig in the City. Would recommend
Colto
2024-06-26 16:40:42 +0000 UTCI’ve been in love with Rosanna Arquette for years now. My vote for hottest woman in film easily. The short film that Martin Scorsese did for New York Stories is the only good short in that collection and is probably my favorite of his movies.
Tvvvv
2024-06-26 16:33:59 +0000 UTCWe were channel surfing one day in 2004 and my dad saw ‘Repo Man’ was coming on soon and said to me “You’re a weird kid, you’ll like this a lot.” Twenty years later, ‘There Will Be Blood’ is the only movie I hold in as high personal regard as ‘Repo Man’
Matthew Bradwell
2024-06-26 15:51:10 +0000 UTCI think that's why they all say "THE HELL HE WAS!" in unison
Michael S. Judge
2024-06-26 15:26:58 +0000 UTCAn American Werewolf on Chapo
Tim O'
2024-06-26 15:25:05 +0000 UTCI love you Movie Mindset! ❤️❤️❤️ You partially inspired me to take a screenwriting class at my local theater. It has been amazing.
Joshua Foster
2024-06-26 15:08:49 +0000 UTCHaven't even listened yet but these are dream movie mindset inclusions
Kai
2024-06-26 15:02:38 +0000 UTCauteur theory of the presidency
krumping4
2024-06-26 14:54:30 +0000 UTCI'm halfway thru, so maybe you'll get to this, but: am I hallucinating, or is the REPO MAN conversation about John Wayne lifted word-for-word from MIDNIGHT COWBOY?
Michael S. Judge
2024-06-26 14:46:36 +0000 UTCThe pen scene in After Hours always struck me as a sort of divine intervention or failed deus ex machina. It was trying to physically prevent this interaction that sets up the whole movie to save Paul from it but rather than taking something so simple as a sign he presses on ignoring all the warning signs. And he's made to suffer for that. How's that for Catholic guilt?
Agent Grange
2024-06-26 14:37:01 +0000 UTCMy anxiety dreams are all transportation related; I don't know where I'm going but I know I'm late.
M.R. Alchemist
2024-06-26 13:39:57 +0000 UTCRepo man is one of my all time favorites
Andrew Nicholas Bianchi
2024-06-26 13:35:21 +0000 UTC(there's also a fair amount of literal Kafka in AFTER HOURS – the whole episode with the doorman not letting Paul into the punk club is an adaptation of Kafka's story "Before the Law")
Michael S. Judge
2024-06-26 13:35:14 +0000 UTCI gotta invert what Chris said and emphasize: as a punk kid living in middle-of-nowhere shitholes, every scene and person in the first half of REPO MAN has somehow occurred in my life.
Michael S. Judge
2024-06-26 13:26:02 +0000 UTC"... Lack of discipline."
Michael S. Judge
2024-06-26 13:23:59 +0000 UTClaxative of coincidence
SM21
2024-06-26 13:13:43 +0000 UTCFirst one where I've seen both prior to listening!
Whucko Jaang
2024-06-26 13:03:02 +0000 UTCScrotsese goes crazy
Whucko Jaang
2024-06-26 13:02:06 +0000 UTCThe ending of “After Hours” is literally the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Incredible.
Drew McGill
2024-06-26 12:22:59 +0000 UTCAmerican movie please lol
Drew McGill
2024-06-26 12:15:16 +0000 UTCMovies r Gay
Matty yglesias
2024-06-26 12:04:21 +0000 UTCPossibly my two favorite movies in the same episode, this is going to be great.
John S
2024-06-26 11:46:01 +0000 UTCpetition to make the word "producer" capitalised on references to Chris, i.e. Producer Chris like Tyler the Creator or Cedric the Entertainer
Declan Kennedy
2024-06-26 11:41:08 +0000 UTCLet's go get sushi and not pay
No
2024-06-26 11:37:04 +0000 UTCYESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
THEKILLERWHALE
2024-06-26 11:31:51 +0000 UTCWas just looking at Griffin Dunne's wikipedia page earlier this week.
Matt James Rich
2024-06-26 11:31:42 +0000 UTCHere are some suggestions for future Movie Mindset episodes: S. Craig Zahler & Vince Vaughn: Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017), Dragged Across Concrete (2018) Zahler is so underrated, and these two movies are some of my favorites from the past decade. He also managed to turn funnyman Vince Vaughn into a serious actor. Something that Gus Van Sant failed to do in his Psycho remake. Seamus Malekafzali is a huge Zahler fan, so having him on this episode would be ideal. Rock Bands go Arthouse: Head (1968), Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1982) Preferable to discuss these with a music aficionado like Todd in the Shadows or someone similar. Video Nasties: I Spit on Your Grave (1978), Cannibal Holocaust (1980) British censorship unintentionally created a canon of grotesque and ultraviolent b-horror that still shocks viewers today. Both of these entries have good intentions but are executed in poor taste. Spit has a strong female character take revenge against her rapists, but the rape scene is really long and feels like it came from a sadistic porno. Cannibal Holocaust is anti-colonialism but is also very racist, much like Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Watch these if you want to torture yourselves. Coen Brothers: Fargo (1996), O Brother Where Art Thou (2000) One takes place in the midwest, while the other is in the deep South. These brothers have a uniquely American aesthetic that is seen throughout their oeuvre. I do enjoy their work, but I’m suggesting this as an excuse to have Alex Nichols on an episode of Movie Mindset. He mentioned O Brother as his favorite movie during a Chapo FYM stream. Documentaries: Burden of Dreams (1982), Crumb (1994) You guys haven’t talked about any documentaries yet, so I’m putting this here. Both of these films deal with the creative process behind art. The first is about the troubled production behind Fitzcarraldo, while the other is about a neurotic and possibly Autistic comic artist.
Connor Schoen
2024-06-26 11:29:58 +0000 UTCI also came to Repo Man through that exact same list
Amy
2024-06-26 11:26:03 +0000 UTCGoing to a double feature of Repo Man and SLC Punk at the local theater on Saturday
Dame
2024-06-26 11:21:19 +0000 UTCPlate o Shrimp
MCL
2024-06-26 11:19:33 +0000 UTCtypo on Scorsese. i request a refund
etienne
2024-06-26 11:12:15 +0000 UTCchris go on chapo
etienne
2024-06-26 11:11:54 +0000 UTC
