Rent Putney Swope (1969)
3.5 of 5 from 58 ratings
1h 24min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson) is the only Black executive at a stuffy Madison Avenue advertising agency. When the chairman dies unexpectedly, Putney is elected the new boss - because those voting never thought anyone else would to do the same. Putney proceeds to kick out the white majority, replacing them with young, revolutionary types, and renames the agency Truth and Soul.
- Actors:
- Arnold Johnson, Stan Gottlieb, Allen Garfield, Archie Russell, Ramon Gordon, Bert Lawrence, Joe Madden, David Kirk, Don George, Buddy Butler, Vincent Hamill, Tom Odachi, Ching Yeh, Spunky-Funk Johnson, Joe Fields, Norman Schreiber, Robert Staats, Alan Abel, Sol Brawerman, Steven Ben Israel
- Directors:
- Robert Downey Sr
- Producers:
- Robert Downey Sr
- Narrated By:
- Eileen Peterson
- Writers:
- Robert Downey Sr
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy
- Collections:
- Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Robert Downey, Jr., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Mel Brooks
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 01/08/2022
- Run Time:
- 85 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- Colour and B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- Bonus:
- Audio commentary with writer-director Robert Downey (2001)
- Audio commentary with film critic and historian Sergio Mims (2019)
- Interview with Robert Doumey (2001,16 mins): archival conversation with the filmmaker on the creation, reception and influence of Putney Swope
- Interview with Gerald Cotts (2019,20 mins): audio recording of the cinematographer recalling his work on the film
- Film Forum Q and A with Robert Downey (2016,34 mins): archival audio recording of the noted provocateur in conversation with Bruce Goldstein at the Film Forum, New York
- Original theatrical trailer
- Trailer commentary (2013): short critical appreciation by film producer Dan Ireland
- Image Gallery
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Reviews (1) of Putney Swope
Nobody Expected Him to Win - Putney Swope review by griggs
Nobody expected Putney Swope to win. That's the whole point. Robert Downey Sr.'s 1969 satire opens with an ad agency board voting for a new chairman, and since nobody wants to vote for a rival, they all quietly tick the name of the one man they're sure has no chance — their token Black colleague. He wins by accident, and the fun starts immediately.
What he does next is the whole show. He fires almost everyone, renames the agency Truth and Soul, and starts churning out ads so deranged they make actual 1960s commercials look restrained. These parodies are the film's real party trick — filthy, gleeful, and shot in colour like the movie's winking at you through the black and white.
I'll admit the joke does start repeating itself before the credits roll — same punchline, fewer laughs, energy leaking out the back door. Some sketches land, others just loiter. Still, over fifty years on, watching power corrupt someone regardless of the colour of the hand grabbing it feels weirdly current.
And if real ad breaks were even half this unhinged, I'd stop reaching for the remote.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.