Customer Reviews

Putney Swope [VHS]

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I tried to be more subdued, but honesty is the best policy. Yes, I've seen Citizen Kane, Rules of the Game, Black Orpheus, and Apocalypse Now. They're all wonderful, but none is so all encompassing as Putney Swope. As the liner notes say, it's "relevant to everything." Every time I watch it, I see something else in it. I cannot imagine the space/time gap (or drugs) that inspired the creativity of the screenplay, but it has not been matched. The performances, for the most part, are equal to the script. Admittedly, it's not for everyone. My wife and I have occasionally subjected couples to "the Swope test," which requires married couples to view it together. At least two divorces have occurred, because one partner laughed at every line, while the other saw no humor at all. But the partners who both enjoyed it will stay together always. In short, a miracle.

The true beauty of this film lies in the fact that Downey is able to pack so much insanity in so tight a space. Every frame of this picture is spilling over with madness worthy of the Marx Brothers at their anarchistic best. Just dig the names, man! We have Mark Focus, Mr. Victrola Cola, Mr. Ethereal Cereal...my God, it's the 1960s at its dark, psycho-delic best. Sure, it's a bit dated, but come on - it's an artifact, as telling of the times as "Magical Mystery Tour" or "Gimmie Shelter."

Incidentally, unlike most "racial comedies" of the 1960s, Downey allows his pointed satire to skewer both black and white (think Hal Ashby's "The Landlord"). All in all a perfectly insane picture; maybe not a cinematic classic, but certainly the damn funniest products of "alternate" cinema to date.

It is 1970; I am 19 years old and it is my first date with a girl named Angel (her last name). I am a sophomore at SFVSC and the week before my date, my buddies and I saw Putney Swope at the Fox Theatre in Westwood.

With my laughing muscles in my face and stomach still aching from the lactic acid built up during the movie, I called Miss Angel and invited her out. She was a prissy little girl and I thought that Swope would be a quick way to cut through her pretentiousness. I put her on notice after asking her "how gross do you go?" in preparing her for the film. She accepted the challenge.

I picked her up in my bright yellow brand new Ford Maverick. She sneered at the lack of leather or power windows or status car crests.

About halfway through the movie she leaned over to me and asked me to take her home. She hated it and hated me. Being a gentleman I determined that she had adequate bus fare and sent her back home.

The movie is my absolute favorite. A depiction of reality demonstrating that regardless of a person's paint job, we are all the same on the inside.

I along with my college buddies never let a visit pass without some reference to this movie.

It was a valuable lesson in our lives.

The passing of Arnold Johnson last month adds a touch of sorrow to tonight's gathering of my buddies as we celebrate our 50th birthdays.

The Borman 6 girl sure does have soul. See the film and learn about Chairman Mario, Mark Focus, President Mimeo, Wynn Sony, Victrola Cola, Lawrence of Nigeria and Face Off.

Downey's masterpiece is both a comedy, in a ha-ha way (it's got so many priceless, huge laughs, it's hard to see anything else) & in a grander, Shakepearean way. Swope's rise & fall owe, in equal parts, to both "the system" & his own (and maybe everybody's) shortcomings as a person. The very moment he begins his descent ("You & me, Swope...You & me" he says to a mirror) is ambiguous: is he doomed b/c he decides not to trust anyone who doesn't kiss up or is he doomed b/c he trusts too many self-interested souls for too long? Putney trashes advertising, race-relations, politics (with a midget president who looks a lot like Reagan -- this was 1969!), big-business, Mensa, gender blah blah blah. And yet, for the all the big message stuff, it's a film w/a heartbeat. It's intimate & personal. I promised myself I wouldn't write about Putney b/c it seems impossible; it's very hard to do justice to a film whose every shot (even the most awkward) seems perfectly suited to the moment. Watching this movie obsessively (w/friends, of course) rewards w/new insights nearly every time out. Jeez, it's been months -- I'm due to watch it again soon.

The first half of the film, from Putney's ascent to the top of the agency through the commercials created, is the funniest bit of film making ever recorded. The second half, with his descent into selfish egoism, starts to drag a bit, but that only lets you recover from the holding-your-sides laughter in the first half. Can't recommend this film enough.

Most older movies seem tame. Not this one! "Putney Swope" doesn't pull any punches and is STILL ahead of the times as far as portraying race relations in an honest and funny way.

A word of caution: This movie is extremely low budget and extremely irreverent. Much of it seems made-up from moment to moment. But there are some hilarious, brilliant moments in this.

Robert Downey's greatest success. This film was originally described as a 'metaphor for everything' when it first came out. It is an irreverent, unpredictable, relentlessly hilarious, almost dadaist black and white opus dei that was inspired by the directors work in an advertising firm.

It focuses on a 'token' black man on the board of directors for a upscale advertising agency, whom ends up running the entire organiztion when his constituents vote for him thinking no one else would while electing a new leader.

The actors were all part of a very peculiar clique and appear en masse in a wide spectrum of subculture films from the era.

Anyone with an even passing interest in non-conventional cinema should watch this movie religiously. Its been a huge influence on my own tastes, and this sentiment if shared by virtually everyone Ive ever met who has seen it.

The above line is just one of many that you will be quoting for days after watching this great, great movie. I'm probably not smart enough to write the review this movie deserves, as it touches on themes I am unaware of. I laughed a lot, though. If you like movies that emerged from the countercultural America of the 1960's and you haven't seen this you are in for a rare treat. After I first viewed it around ten years ago I watched it over and over. I am so glad to finally have this gem on DVD.

Putney says its got to have soul. These are the words of one Putney Swope, inadvertant advertising executive, CEO, CFO, etc. From token African American on the board to his lordship, Swope (the movie) follows the meteoric career of Swope (the man) and, along the way, gores as many self-righteous oxes as it can find on the political spectrum of 1960's America. Racists are portrayed as buffoons, even black ones. In the end, ordinary human weeknesses, not "the system", threaten to bring Putney down. END

The best way I can think to praise this movie is to point out that it was preceded by a porno movie on my step-dads dubbed tape copy and i spent much more time watching this movie then watching the porno.(and not just because i was only watching the porno for fifteen minutes at a time)I don't know if Putney Swope is as politically relevant today as it was when it came out but a midget president who invites a reporter into a three way with him and his midget first lady merely because the reporter voted for him sounds like a gag that could be on South Park tonight.