Putney Swope

Los Angeles: Herald Productions, 1969. Collection of 20 vintage reference photographs from the 1969 film.

Director Robert Downey Sr., one of the most irreverent and anarchic underground filmmakers of the 1960s, simultaneously satirizes race, politics, and consumerism at the end of a decade of rapidly evolving American culture. The film follows Putney Swope, the only African American man on the executive board of an advertising firm who is accidentally given control of the company after the sudden death of the previous chairman. Renaming the business Truth and Soul, Inc., Swope replaces all but one of the white employees with black radicals and insists they no longer accept business from companies that produce alcohol, war toys, or tobacco.

Set and shot on location in New York.

10 x 8 inches. Strong Very Good plus.

National Film Registry.

[Book #148816]