Putney Swope (Downey, 1969): Prince Charles Cinema, 8.45pm
The Badlands Collective introduction to this 35mm presentation:
Described by Martin Scorsese as “an essential part of that
moment when a truly independent American cinema was born,” the films of Robert
Downey Sr. (a prince) are transgressive, surreal and hilarious. Putney Swope is
his most accomplished and successful feature, and it stands as a key 1960s
satire, driven by the same anarchic spirit that fueled films like Stanley
Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (1964), Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend (1967) and William
Klein's Mr. Freedom (1969). It’s the story of the token black man (Arnold
Johnson) on the board of a Madison Avenue advertising agency, who is
inadvertently elected as chairman and begins taking the company in a radical
new direction. “I’m not going to rock the boat. Rocking the boat is a drag.
What you do is sink the boat!” he proclaims, but Downey’s film is a raucous and
provocative portrait of a capitalist system where “Truth and Soul” are the
first casualties. Putney Swope was an unexpected underground success in 1969
and made a big impression on subsequent generations of independent filmmakers.
Boots Riley has acknowledged the film’s influence on Sorry to Bother You
(2018), and it was a major inspiration for Paul Thomas Anderson, who paid
homage with the firecracker scene in Boogie Nights (1997), as well as naming
Don Cheadle's character Buck Swope and casting Downey in a small role. The
Badlands Collective is proud to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the film The
New York Times described as “funny, sophomoric, brilliant, obscene, disjointed,
marvelous, unintelligible and relevant” with a rare 35mm screening at the
Prince Charles Cinema.
Chicago Reader review:
Robert Downey Sr.'s low-budget, hit-or-miss dadaist (or gagaist) 1969 satire, about a group of blacks taking over a Madison Avenue ad agency, is a bit of a relic now, though a decidedly offbeat one. Only a fraction of the jokes ever worked, but the determined goofiness of some of the conceits (e.g., German midgets Pepi and Ruth Hermine as the U.S. president and first lady) and the interspersed parodic TV commercials (all of them in color, though the rest of the movie is in black and white) give one a better idea of the jaunty excesses of the late 60s than Hollywood movies of the same period. If you're in a silly enough mood, you might have a good time. With Arnold Johnson, Stanley Gottlieb, Allen Garfield, Antonio Fargas, and a fleeting bit by Mel Brooks.
Dave Kehr
Robert Downey Sr.'s low-budget, hit-or-miss dadaist (or gagaist) 1969 satire, about a group of blacks taking over a Madison Avenue ad agency, is a bit of a relic now, though a decidedly offbeat one. Only a fraction of the jokes ever worked, but the determined goofiness of some of the conceits (e.g., German midgets Pepi and Ruth Hermine as the U.S. president and first lady) and the interspersed parodic TV commercials (all of them in color, though the rest of the movie is in black and white) give one a better idea of the jaunty excesses of the late 60s than Hollywood movies of the same period. If you're in a silly enough mood, you might have a good time. With Arnold Johnson, Stanley Gottlieb, Allen Garfield, Antonio Fargas, and a fleeting bit by Mel Brooks.
Dave Kehr
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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