Putney Swope

Last updated
Putney Swope
Putney Swope (1969 poster).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Robert Downey Sr.
Written byRobert Downey Sr.
Produced by
Starring Arnold Johnson
CinematographyGerald Cotts
Edited by Bud S. Smith
Music byCharley Cuva
Production
company
Herald Productions
Distributed byCinema V
Release date
  • July 10, 1969 (1969-07-10) [1]
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$120,000

Putney Swope is a 1969 American satirical comedy film written and directed by Robert Downey Sr., and starring Arnold Johnson as the title character, a black advertising executive. The film satirizes the advertising world, the portrayal of race in Hollywood films and the nature of corporate corruption.

Contents

In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson, voiced by Robert Downey Sr.), the only black man on the executive board of an advertising firm, is accidentally put in charge after the sudden death of the chairman of the board. Prevented by the company by-laws from voting for themselves, board members vote by secret ballot for the one person they thought could not win: Putney Swope.

Renaming the business "Truth and Soul, Inc.", Swope replaces all but one of the white employees with black employees and insists they no longer accept business from companies that produce alcohol, tobacco or toy guns. Throughout the movie, a series of bizarre, surreal ads for breakfast cereal, air conditioners, skin cream, and airliners are shown, often featuring obscenity or nudity. Swope's leadership style is eccentric and erratic, with him frequently firing employees after taking their ideas.

The success of the business draws attention from the United States government and the President (Pepi Hermine), who is in the pocket of the owner of the "Borman Six", an automobile company. The president orders Swope to create an advertisement for their new automobile. Swope attempts to create an advertisement, but it goes poorly when the overweight actress tips the car over and crashes it. Incensed, the president of the Borman Six demands it not be put on TV, but Swope refuses and airs it anyway.

Afterwards, Truth & Soul is swarmed with demonstrators, protesting the vulgarity and obscenity of Truth and Soul's advertisements. The president meets with Swope (dressed as Fidel Castro), who tells Swope it is "discrimination" to not advertise alcohol, cigarettes, or toy guns, and that the demonstrations will continue unless he relents.

In a board meeting, Swope tells the board that they will begin creating advertisements for alcohol, cigarettes, and toy guns, to which the members of the board react with outrage and accuse him of selling out. Swope later mentions to his bodyguard that this was a test to see if his followers would stick to their ideals. He orders his guards to split up the company's money evenly to everyone, except to the Arab (who has been critical of Swope's leadership throughout the film). The board members return to Swope and say they have changed their mind, and are happy to advertise whatever he wants to sell. Disillusioned, Swope silently walks away, leaving them to squabble over a glass bin full of the company's money. The Arab, upon finding out he is not receiving any, sets the money on fire with a Molotov cocktail, which burns as the credits roll.

Cast

(as listed in the end credits by order of appearance)

Production

In a DVD interview, Downey claims that Johnson had great difficulty memorizing and giving his lines during filming. Downey says he was unconcerned as he had developed a plan to dub his own voice over Johnson's.

Though the film is in black-and-white, the Truth and Soul commercials are in color.

Release

Poster controversy

The theatrical release poster showed a raised hand with the image of a girl replacing the out-thrust middle finger. The Los Angeles Times declined to print the advertisement, and it was not reprinted by the Los Angeles Herald Examiner after initial complaints. [2] In Chicago, the Tribune and Today refused to publish it, and it was pulled by the Sun-Times and Daily News , although they later published the advertisement without the girl as the middle finger. [3] Roger Ebert was embarrassed by the Sun-Times' censorship.

Box office

Putney Swope opened on July 10, 1969, [1] at Cinema II in New York City, grossing $32,281 in its first week. [4] The film opened in Los Angeles on January 21, 1970, [1] and set a house record of $16,000 at the 3 Penny Cinema in Chicago when it opened in February 1970; and, in Los Angeles, it was felt that the controversy boosted public interest. [3] [2]

Home media

The film was released on DVD on May 22, 2001, by Rhino Home Video. [5] [6] It received a Blu-ray on July 2, 2019, by Vinegar Syndrome. [7]

Reception

The film holds a 69% "Fresh" score with an average rating of 5.7/10 on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on of 16 critics. [8]

Legacy

The Fishbone album "Truth and Soul" (1988) is named after the advertising agency in Putney Swope. Commenting on the cover design of the album, bassist Norwood Fisher said that, although the overall tone of the album was more serious than their previous releases, “We couldn’t completely lose our humor and decided to name the album after that movie.” [9]

The character Buck Swope from Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997), portrayed by Don Cheadle, was named as a homage to this film. [10] Downey also made a small cameo in Boogie Nights as the owner of a recording studio. [11] The character Wing Soney, a Chinese businessman, was the inspiration for Cosmo, the Chinese man throwing firecrackers during the drug deal scene. [12]

Anderson, [13] Louis C.K. [14] and Jim Jarmusch have cited Putney Swope as an inspiration for their approach to filmmaking.

The Beastie Boys song "Shadrach", from their 1989 album Paul's Boutique , mentions the film in the lyric "Music for all and not just one people, and now we're gonna bust with the Putney Swope sequel". Film dialogue is sampled on De La Soul's 1989 song "The Magic Number", as well as The Avalanches' 2016 album Wildflower .

A black-and-white photo of the film's poster, which Sloan band member Jay Ferguson saw in a book, inspired the "quick and photocopy looking" look of the album cover for the band's 1999 album Between the Bridges . [15]

Putney Swope was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2019. [16] It is currently available to stream on Peacock.

Related Research Articles

<i>Steppenwolf</i> (novel) Novel by Hermann Hesse

Steppenwolf is the tenth novel by German-Swiss author Hermann Hesse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Penn</span> American musician (born 1958)

Michael Daniel Penn is an American musician, singer and composer. His 1989 single "No Myth" was a top 20 hit in the US and successful in several other countries.

<i>Boogie Nights</i> 1997 film by Paul Thomas Anderson

Boogie Nights is a 1997 American period drama film written, directed, and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley and focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic films, chronicling his rise in the Golden Age of Porn of the 1970s through his fall during the excesses of the 1980s. The film is an expansion of Anderson's mockumentary short film The Dirk Diggler Story (1988), and stars Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Heather Graham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Doe (musician)</span> American singer, songwriter, actor, poet, guitarist and bass player

John Nommensen Duchac, known professionally as John Doe, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, poet, guitarist and bass player. Doe co-founded LA punk band X, of which he is still an active member. His musical performances and compositions span rock, punk, country and folk music genres. As an actor, he has dozens of television appearances and several movies to his credit, including the role of Jeff Parker in the television series Roswell.

The Emotions are an American soul/R&B vocal group from Chicago. The group started out in gospel music but transitioned into R&B and disco music. The Emotions were named by VH1 as one of the 18 most influential girl groups of all time.

"Tennessee Waltz" is a popular country music song with lyrics by Redd Stewart and music by Pee Wee King written in 1946 and first released in January 1948. The song became a multimillion seller via a 1950 recording – as "The Tennessee Waltz" – by Patti Page.

David Stuart Sardy, more commonly known as D. Sardy, is an American composer, musician, songwriter, and multiple Grammy winning record producer. He came to prominence as the leader of 1990s noise rock band Barkmarket before turning mostly to production work, often with alternative rock, hard rock, electronic related genres, and then to scoring feature films.

<i>Youve Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or Youll Lose That Beat</i> 1971 comedy-drama film directed by Peter Locke

You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat is a 1971 low-budget comedy-drama film directed by Peter Locke and starring Zalman King. The story concerns a young hippie and his search in New York City for the meaning of life.

The Fastest Gun Alive is a 1956 American western film directed by Russell Rouse and starring Glenn Ford, Jeanne Crain, and Broderick Crawford. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The following is a list of the Top 10 Films chosen annually by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, beginning in 1929.

Jonathan Kydd is a British actor, voice-over artist, narrator, writer, producer and podcaster, and the son of the late actor Sam Kydd. He has been on many TV shows but has been moderately successful as a voice actor, voicing video games, advertisements, corporates, documentaries and cartoons and being a regular in comedy episodes for BBC Radio 4. He has fronted a few comedy bands and sings and writes for The Rudy Vees. He podcasts on the Chelsea FanCast every week, talking about Chelsea F.C. and doing the Chelsea Fanbite for the FanCast.

Anthony Chisholm was an American actor.

Parachute Express was an American band of three California-based entertainers who performed, wrote, and produced music for children. Members were Stephen Michael Schwartz, Janice Hubbard, and Donny Becker. Parachute Express gained national prominence as recording artists for Gymboree Play & Music, Walt Disney Records, and Trio Lane Records. They sang the theme song to the popular television series Jay Jay the Jet Plane and have been seen on TV shows Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. Rocks and Disney's Kaleidoscope Concerts. Their music was featured in over 550 Gymboree franchises throughout the world, as well as in preschools, daycare centers, and diverse informal education programs. Parachute Express created a total of twelve albums.

<i>Three Guys Named Mike</i> 1951 film by Charles Walters

Three Guys Named Mike is a 1951 American romantic comedy film directed by Charles Walters and starring Jane Wyman, Van Johnson, Howard Keel, and Barry Sullivan. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The following is a list of albums released with songs from or based on the animated series VeggieTales.

Celebrity Vinyl is a satirical coffee table book published in 2008 that chronicles the unsuccessful singing attempts of famous actors, actresses, and athletes. Published by Mark Batty Publisher, this book is based on the personal vinyl record collection of author and advertising creative director Tom Hamling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marlene Clark</span> American actress and fashion model (1937–2023)

Marlene Clark was an American actress, animator and fashion model. Clark was perhaps best known for her portrayals of Ganja Meda in the 1973 horror film Ganja & Hess and Janet Lawson, Lamont's girlfriend in the sitcom Sanford and Son from its fifth season in 1975 until the series conclusion in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Downey Jr. filmography</span>

American actor Robert Downey Jr. made his acting debut in 1970's Pound, directed by his father Robert Downey Sr., at the age of five. In the 1980s, Downey was considered a member of the Brat Pack after appearing in the films Weird Science with Anthony Michael Hall (1985), Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield (1986), Less than Zero with Andrew McCarthy (1987), and Johnny Be Good again with Hall (1988). Downey also starred in the films True Believer (1989) and Chances Are (1989), and was a regular cast member on the late-night variety show Saturday Night Live in 1985.

<i>The Movies</i> (miniseries) Documentary miniseries

The Movies is a documentary miniseries that premiered on CNN on July 7, 2019. Produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's studio Playtone, the six-part series chronicles the cinema of the United States, ranging from the "Golden Age of Hollywood" to the present day. It is a spin-off of Hanks and Goetzman's retrospective miniseries for CNN.

<i>The Road to the Heart</i> 1909 film

The Road to the Heart is a 1909 American short film, a dramedy directed by D. W. Griffith and produced by the Biograph Company of New York City. Starring David Miles, Anita Hendrie and Herbert Yost, it was filmed over two days in March 1909 at Biograph's studio in Manhattan and released that April in theaters as a film reel split with the Biograph comedy Trying to Get Arrested.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Putney Swope at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. 1 2 "Censorship Here Deemed B.O. Boost". Daily Variety . February 11, 1970. p. 13.
  3. 1 2 "'Putney' Ads Pulled From Two Chi Papers For Censorship After Approval". Daily Variety . February 11, 1970. p. 13.
  4. "Rain, Moon Monday Balance B'way; 'Daddy,' 'Rider' Good 40G Starts; 'Midnight Cowboy', 8th, Wham 48G". Variety . July 23, 1969. p. 8.
  5. Tribbey, Ralph (April 12, 2001). "DVD NEWS BRIEFS: Rhino Bows 'Swope'; 'Proof of Life' DVD; 'Jungle Girl' Found; Kino's 'Richard III'". hive4media.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2001. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  6. Tribbey, Ralph (May 7, 2001). "Rhino Follows Up 'Tranformers Movie' Sales Shocker With Two More Special Editions on May 8". hive4media.com. Archived from the original on May 28, 2001. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  7. Putney Swope Blu-ray Release Date July 2, 2019 , retrieved 2021-07-26
  8. "Putney Swope". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  9. Andrew McClatchy (October 27, 2014). "The Pier: Album & Cover Art History (Vol. 2)". Thepier.org. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  10. McDonald, Tamar Jeffers (2016). "The New Hollywood, 1981-1999". In McLean, Adrienne L. (ed.). Costume, Makeup and Hair. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 146. ISBN   9780813571539 . Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  11. jeremykirk13 (September 13, 2012). "37 Things We Learned From the 'Boogie Nights' Commentary". Film School Rejects . Retrieved March 13, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. "Putney Swope - (Movie Clip) Wing Soney". Tcm.com. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
  13. "Paul Thomas Anderson on WTF with Marc Maron". 2014-01-05. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  14. "Louis C.K. on WTF with Marc Maron". 2010-10-04. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  15. Lindsay, Cam (11 June 2015). "Rank Your Records: Sloan's Jay Ferguson Meticulously Ranks His Band's 11 Albums". Noisey. Vice Media Group. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  16. "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.