Rico says he watched, for old times' sake, Putney Swope today. For those not around in the Sixties, it was a movie by Robert Downey Senior (yes, the father of Junior, the actor):A dark satire in which the token black man on the executive board of an advertising firm is accidentally put in charge. Renaming the business Truth and Soul, Inc., he replaces the tight regime of monied white ad men with his militant brothers. Soon afterwards, however, the power that comes with its position takes its toll on Putney...
Some movies made in the Sixties (Magnificent Seven; MASH; Lawrence of Arabia; Topkapi; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Dr. No; Becket) hold up in spite of a cultural shift of forty years, but this one didn't quite cut it. (Though the use of black & white throughout, with only the fake commercials in color, was visually very hip for the times.) Still funny as hell in parts ("Mister Swope, Mark Focus." Cracks me up, even now), but a lot of things are too dated to work. Weird, too, in parts, and pretty racy for 1969: interracial sex, a midget threesome with the President (you gotta see it; don't bother asking), drug use, a cash economy...
Rico says check it out.
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