As you may have deduced from the title of this post, I had originally planned to bring you a review of Alex Cox’s latest film Searchers 2.0 in this space. That’s not going to happen for the very simple reason that the screening of the film I’d planned to attend last night never happened. The official reason for the cancellation was “circumstances beyond our control.” These circumstances are somewhat mysterious, yet very disappointing for any fan of the self-described “radical filmmaker” behind Repo Man and Sid and Nancy.
Cox was scheduled to appear at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin to present both Searchers 2.0 – which was actually inspired by one the Alamo’s Rolling Roadshow events, a screening of Once Upon a Time in the West in Monument Valley – as well as the 1966 spaghetti western Arizona Colt (Italian oaters being one of Cox’s passions; he appears prominently in the documentary The Spaghetti West and he authored a just-published book on the subject, 10,000 Ways to Die.) Tonight he was to introduce his cult classic Repo Man, a screening that will still go on without him. According to the Austin Chronicle blog Picture in Picture, “The word on Cox's sudden detour into Suck City comes from the Alamo's ever-reliable (and insanely hard-working) Zack Carlson, who rang us this past Wednesday with word that Cox, for whom the Alamo had already secured plane fare from his home in Los Angeles as well as local lodging -- as they do for all incoming cinema legends (yes, even the cast of Troll 2) had mysteriously balked at the layover times in his airline itinerary. Carlson emailed back to swap flights around until Cox was satisfied, but that gambit proved fruitless, netting only a final, bewildering email from one of Cox's associates which stated that, and we quote, ‘Alex feels he has been mistreated and has chosen to cancel his appearance.’”
I interviewed Cox in connection with his scheduled appearance (you can read it here), and found him good-humored and entertaining, as I always have in his talking head interviews and commentary tracks. Honestly, I’ve generally found him more interesting as a film fan than a filmmaker. Although Repo Man is one of my desert island discs, and I’m very fond of his little-seen Three Businessmen, a shaggy dog story that plays like a cross between Slacker and a Bunuel film. Most of his filmography is more fun to hear him talk about than it is to watch, but I was looking forward to Searchers 2.0, which looks to be right in my wheelhouse. Maybe there’s another side to this story that doesn’t make Cox look like a petty jerk. I sure hope he has a better reason for letting so many people down than inconvenient airport layovers. Not too radical.
