Repo Jake (1990) User Reviews

Sixty-Four Slices of American Cheese

[refinedsugar · 2/10 · 15 April 2024]

The first 3.5 minutes to 'Repo Jake' is watching the main character walk the streets of LA ... no joke. This PM Entertainment Group flick is barely able to reach 90 minutes and you better believe the writing is cornball. Lovers of bad movies, cheese will walk away with some laughs courtesy of the everyday man, but this is the type of low level shtick they don't make anymore and for good reason. Somewhere in hell there's a tv station playing these movies on repeat.

Jake Baxter (Dan Haggerty) comes to town, saves Jenny (Dana Bently) from a purse snatcher, rents an apartment in her building and begins work right away as a repoman. When he's not busy grabbing vehicles or chatting her up, he finds himself roped into driving in an illegal boxcar racing championship by his co-workers. There's a big cash prize up for grabs, but things get complicated when he repo's the car of a low level hood Lincoln King (Robert Axelrod) who threatens Jenny's life if Jake doesn't wins the race.

Watching a big burly man like Haggerty climb into a racecar is a sight in itself, but it's the plot that takes the cake here. Talking about returning to Minnesota, leaving Jenny mid-meal that she prepared and is afraid is no good by telling her he has to go repo cars. Some gratuitous female nudity, one note bad guys and some dated rapping from his co-workers. That's not even touching on some wacky or cheap scenarios where he does his job repossessing cars.

'Repo Jake' is a film you do best not to think about seriously. Question what's the point. None of the drama, characters are particularly fun or noteworthy. It's one of those b-movies in search of a reason to exist. My favorite part was the purse snatching at the start and the horrible extra who plays the shopkeeper. Who doesn't seem to be able to feel any sort of emotion as his glass windows are broken and two people throw fists inside his business.

PM Entertainment thriller with a man-mountain lead

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 21 September 2017]

REPO JAKE is a cheap crime thriller from the team at PM Entertainment. It's not one of their most distinguished entries, and mainly it's a star vehicle for former GRIZZLY ADAMS Dan Haggerty, the man-mountain whose beard could hide a dozen bird nests. Haggerty plays his usual ultra-tough character who joins the repossession business, only to find his new line of work throws him up against some very dodgy criminals.

Along the way he fights gangsters and robbers and even has time for a little romance. Haggerty's range isn't great but he's a big and jovial presence and I liked him in much the same way I like Bud Spencer. At one point he breaks up a sleazy porn ring. The action scenes are half-hearted and the whole thing feels oddly tame given the dark subject matter, but overall it's okay.

Why was this film released? Why did I watch it?!?

[Joe Hill · 1/10 · 18 December 2002]

**Minor spoilers** but don't worry, the films not good enough to spoil.

Repo Jake is a miserably low-budget TV film, starring a host of second rate TV bit part players. The voice of the bad guy in Power Rangers, Grizzly Adams from numerous Grizzly Adams films, and that old guy from Wayne's World who gets his mask removed in the Scooby Doo ending.

Anyways, I stray from the point. The film is bad. I watched it with my housemate, and I think that may have doubled the total number of people who have ever watched it. In fact, I'm not sure why I'm writing this as no-one will ever read it. Never mind.

It starts off as a showpiece for various stuntmen, and the stunts aren't that bad. We're not talking Bond jumping off a damn, or men hanging on the back of Stagecoaches, but their not bad in a "Fall Guy" kind of way. The stunts, however, are completely unconnected to what plot their is, which features the exciting life of repo men. I suppose someone saw "Repo Man" and thought they'd jump in on the action, but where Alex Cox wrote and directed his film as a bizarre action comedy, Joseph Merhi loses the bizarre and the comedy and virtually all the action. I think his only hope was that people would confuse one with the other.

The back of the video (why it was distributed on video in this country I'll never know. It's deleted now - thank God) claims all sorts of car chases, 'sadistic porn rings', action, and romance. It's not that these things aren't there, it's just that more often than not they are simply referred to rather than being part of the plot.

This film does have a few redeeming features. Well, two. The lead character, played by Dan Haggarty, is quite good. He's not a good actor by any stretch of any imagination, but he's got a great presence, and and even better beard. The other redeeming feature is the last scene - I'm not spoiling the plot by saying it's a car race. It's quite well put together. A bit of dodgy editing here and there, but quite exciting nonetheless.

Repo Jake seems to have two gears. Neutral and then maybe third (not quite top gear, but moving along at about 30). It's either tediously dull, with characters you don't care about spouting bad lines in a plot that makes no sense, or it's vaguely enjoyable action that has nothing to do with the plot.

I gave this film a 2, which I think is pretty generous. If you're really into low-budget straight-to-US-cable-TV films, with bad acting, awful dialogue and average action - this is the film for you! Or if you just want to keep me company as one of the few people in the world who have actually seen it, then give it a go.

Nothing beats Jake

[repo_jake-1 · 10/10 · 18 February 2005]

It is hysterically funny, but not once during the entire film does leading man Dan 'the man' Haggerty pick up a shot gun (as illustrated on the box) or anything other than a sauce-pan to eat some soup in the most pointless scene ever! There is no super sonic action (as described on the synopsis). The film plods along as Jake steals cars in the most strangest and funniest ways, eg holding onto car bonnets and taking a drive around a car park. But within these pointless and uneventful scenes, the bad acting, filming, lighting -and well just about everything in it, it is hysterically funny. As I once heard a comment "Nothing beats Jake"!

It is a cult classic, for being so rubbish its funny. Dan Haggerty should have a continued career doing such films as this and other parody types - "Bicentenial Dan" or "being Dan Haggerty". A star is born. Hail Dan and his magnificent beard. Watch this film in its unholy glory and enjoy the worst the film industry can offer and laugh at the funniest film ever made!!!

AN 18 certificate for this?? The bbfc took one look at box and rated it, despite it would pass for a PG - 12 quite easily! DO ENJOY!

Repo Jake is an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes or so, especially for PM buffs.

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 2 January 2020]

Jake Baxter (Haggerty) is a mild-mannered and likable repo man who moves from Minnesota to Los Angeles for a business opportunity in the world of repo'ing. As an ex-Marine and former race car driver, there's very little that scares Jake Baxter. On his first day in L.A., he thwarts a purse snatcher and develops a romantic relationship with the intended target, Jenny (Bentley). He then moves into the same apartment building as her and begins his new life.

Now working with a classic ragtag bunch of misfits, including aspiring rapper Darnell "Jam" Jones (Hansborough), the hapless Lippy (Cox), Wiseguy Skidmark (Garcia), the sleepy Waldo (Walker), and fellow racer Blondie (Wilcox), among others, Jake fits in well with his new bros. But what he doesn't realize is that danger is afoot in the form of nefarious gangster Kovar (Reilly) and his vicious underlings, including Lincoln King (Axelrod).

Amongst their many criminal activities is illegal gambling on something called the "Slam Track", which is itself an illegal car race. Will Repo Jake return to his racin' ways? Will he and Jenny survive the threat of mobsters? Will any cars blow up? Only REPO JAKE knows the truth...



It's "humor and Haggerty" as PM tries a more lighthearted tone this time around. The main influence here seems to be D.C. Cab (1983), though Dan Haggerty does throw that purse snatcher through several windows and there are some other light-violent bits. It is PM after all. As much as we all love Lee Canalito, the choice of Dan Haggerty as main star is an inspired and welcome one. His screen presence and genial good-humoredness carries the movie. It would have suffered a lot without him.

Clearly car repossession was very hot back in the video store days, as Don "The Dragon" Wilson was one in Bloodfist IV: Die Trying (1992) and Corey Michael Eubanks was as well in Forced To Kill (1994). And lest we forget Repo Man (1984). As usual, PM was ahead of the curve and made what is arguably the ultimate direct-to-video repo movie.

As a side note, let's not forget that in 2011 the show Repo Games premiered, where deadbeats who didn't pay their car payments agreed to answer trivia questions in a desperate bid to keep their vehicle. Repo Jake puts all this modern-day cynicism in perspective. We would all like an ally such as Jake Baxter on our side.

While the mixture of wacky humor and evil gangsters forcing drug-addicted women into prostitution is certainly an uneasy one, Repo Jake is a good example of the type of movie that isn't being made anymore, and which gave color and interest to your video store choices. It also shows PM was adventurous and willing to try new things.



In the end, Repo Jake is an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes or so, especially for PM buffs.

Weak and corny

[lor_ · 4 June 2023]

Reviewed in September 1990 after watching the film on PM video cassette.

"Repo Jake"is an easy-going action vehicle for Dan Haggerty. Direct-to-video feature is a tolerable time-killer, but weak in the scripting department.

Joe Hart's storyline is basically a one-liner. Burly Haggerty breezes into L. A. to earn $60,000 pronto in the repo racket to save his business back home. With brute force and some ingenuity he repossesses everything from luxury cars to a helicopter.

In cornball fashion, he takes the place of a young buddy Steve Wilcox in a local car race. Logic and tried-and-true cliches of the sports genre are thrown to the wind when a cruel gambler puts the fix in on the race. He takes Haggerty aside and orders him to win or else.

Action helmer Joseph Merhi stages the race effectively, but the gimmick of Haggerty giving up at the last minute and losing on purpose doesn't play.

Haggerty is comfortable in the role and the ensemble supporting cast is adequate.