movies to watch: putney swope

July 21, 2010 by ksolo
Filed under dinner and a movie

“Our job is to manipulate the consumer by arousing his desires. And then we satisfy those desires for a fixed price.”

~from “Putney Swope” (1969)

It’s a rare treat when you stumble across a film that’s so groundbreaking and before its time that it leaves an indelible impression on your brain. I was treated to such a stumbling a few months ago when a grey-movie-loving friend of mine introduced me to Putney Swope. Radical, thought-provoking, and absolutely hilarious… this one is now on my ‘favorite movies of all time’ list.

Synopsis: By a total fluke, Putney Swope – the lone black member on the board of a corporate advertising agency, is elected President when the owner dies. Determined to change the way things are done, Putney changes the name of the agency to ‘Truth and Soul’ and brings in a staff of pseudo-militant soul sistas and brothas to help him run the organization… into the ground.

You’d Like this Movie if You’re a Fan of: Black Dynamite, The Watermelon Man, Bamboozled

Why You Should Watch:

Makes equal mockery of the blatant money-grubbing and mind-manipulation of corporate advertising machines and the flexible morality of revolutionary organizations that often makes it difficult to distinguish them from the money-grubbing manipulators.
The commercials in the movie are as funny (ha-ha) as they are funny (strange)!

Interesting Tidbits:

The guy who plays the lead character looks amazingly like Dick Gregory
Robert Downey Sr. (yes, Sherlock Holmes’ dad) wrote and directed the film and also did the voiceover for the lead actor because he kept flubbing his lines
Downey came up with the idea for the film during when he was making ‘experimental commercials for an ad agency – some of those commercials actually appear in the film
Antonio Fargas (aka, Huggy Bear) figures prominently in the film, providing lots of comic relief

Watch Putney Swope on Amazon

cheers,