A 1969 skewering of the ad business from Robert Downey Sr. (yes his father!). Putney, a black man, wins control of an ad agency after one of the board members keels over after a heart attack & once he asserts his power, the agency's output (the commercials are played out fully during the narrative) attacks the status quo (he also fills up his employee coffers w/people of color) to nominal effect. Heralded as a counter culture hit when it came out, for me it felt repetitive even though the humor was very pointed & timely but like most artifacts of cult, they'll be embraced by a few & ignored by the majority of others. P. T. Anderson is a big admirer as evidenced by putting Downey Sr. In Boogie Nights playing a security guard at a music studio & the Chinese guest of a crazed drug dealer, played by Alfred Molina, who's setting off firecrackers for no reason is rationalized by Molina's immortal line "he's Chinese!", is lifted from Swope. Allen Garfield shows up as one of the board members, Mel Brooks as a character named Mr. Forget It while Antonio Fargas, Huggy Bear from Starsky & Hutch, steals the show as the Arab.
Review of Putney Swope
