Putney Swope (1969)
Director:
Robert Downey Sr.
Tagline:
« He runs it down the flagpole and up the establishment »
Actors:
Nathan
Elias, Jr.
Joker
Bissinger
Hawker
Genre:
Comedy
Rating:
(4’801 votes)
(4’801 votes)
Quotes:
« Idea Man: Putney! I've been supervising the war toy account for 12 years. And let me tell you something: deny a young boy the right to have a toy gun, and you'll suppress his destructive urges. And he'll turn out to be a homosexual. Or worse.
»
« Reporter: Mr. Swope, did you sleep with your wife before you were married?
»
« Putney Swope: Not a wink.
»
« Commercial Narrator: Jim Keranga of Watts, California is eating a bowl of Ethereal Cereal, the heavenly breakfast. Jim, did you know that Ethereal has 25% more riboflavin than any other cereal on the market? Ethereal also packs the added punch of .002 ESP units of pectin!
»
« Jim Keranga: No shit.
»
Trailer:
Putney Swope
Runtime:84 minutes
Plots:
The board of directors at a Madison Avenue ad agency must elect a new chairman. In the maneuvering to make sure that enemies don’t get votes, all the members accidentally cast their ballot for the board’s token black man, Putney Swope.
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…
Assuming he is incapable of winning, all of the members of a prestigious Madison Avenue advertising firm accidentally vote to appoint the company’s only black executive, Putney Swope, as chairman of the board. His unexpected win behind him, Swope changes the company’s name to ‘Truth and Soul, Inc,’ fires nearly all of its elderly white employees, and focuses solely on creating subversive, outlandish, and shocking campaigns. As the company is catapulted to new heights of success, Swope finds that he has drawn the ire of the U.S. President, who seeks to declare him and his renegade staff a threat to national security.
