For whatever reason, Alex Cox – the iconoclast behind Repo
Man, Sid & Nancy, and Straight to Hell – has never quite enjoyed the indie
godfather reputation of Jim Jarmusch or David Lynch. Having created several of
the best American independent films of the 1980s, Cox dropped off the cultural radar after
the commercial failure of the fitfully brilliant Walker – his single stab at a
studio-backed, comparatively large-budgeted film. During the two decades since,
while Cox has languished due to a self-proclaimed “blacklist”, he’s directed
seven little-seen films.
Fortunately, Microcinema has recently issued a few of the
overlooked films on region-free discs, hopefully contributing to a rediscovery
of Cox’s work. Primary among these releases is 1991’s El Patrullero (“Highway Patrolman”), the first film Cox made after Walker.
