Robert Downey Sr.

(On Cable TV, October 2022) You could watch Putney Swope without any information about its production, and probably be able to guess the exact year of its release just by its atmosphere. A ferocious satire of the advertising world blended with some pointed racial commentary, counter-culture boosterism, corporate satire, joyful transgression and a few laugh-out-loud moments, Putney Swope only could have been made in 1969—at the giddy cusp of New Hollywood, flirting with the much-vaunted Summer of Love. Written and directed by Robert Downey Sr (a far more subversive figure than his better-known son), it imagines the then-radical notion of a black man somehow (through fairly funny circumstances) ending up as the chairman of the board of an advertising agency. Thoroughly changing the organization to reflect counter-cultural principles and implementing a nearly-all-black employee roster, he then goes on to face public disapproval. But from a cinematic perspective, it’s also an excuse for Downey to showcase hilariously inappropriate advertisements (presented in colour, even if the rest of the film is in black-and-white) satirizing various aspects of late-1960s American society. The ending is incendiary, torching that most sacred of American values: cold hard cash. If you like lead actor Arnold Johnson’s deep and commanding voice in the film, you should know that it was dubbed by Downey himself to cover the actor’s inability to remember lines. The film itself is, by nature, scattered and low-budget—and what was funny in 1969 from a counter-cultural white filmmaker, especially along racial lines, is not necessarily what is acceptable today. But that’s part of the charm of the film: Putney Swopes is a machine gun of satire, nose-tweaking and attempts to offend: some of it is bound to reach a target even today. I haven’t always been particularly impressed by Downey’s other movies, but Putney Swope is a solid hit and it remains effective today even if it’s definitely of its time.