Synopsis:
After the death of the chairman (David Kirk) of an advertising board, the sole Black member, Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson), is accidentally put in charge and renames the organization Truth and Soul, Inc., populating it with primarily Black employees and making increasingly erratic creative decisions.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Advertising
• Race Relations and Racism
• Satires and Spoofs

Response to Peary’s Review:
In his description of this “infamous, irreverent cult comedy from writer-director Robert Downey” — yes, the “Sr.” father to Robert Downey, Jr. — Peary notes it’s “about a ruthless, opportunistic, gravel-voiced black man” (Downey subbed Johnson’s voice) “who is accidentally elected head of a Madison Avenue ad agency” and “fires or demotes all the whites on the board of directors, hires a staff of black militants, and renames the agency Truth and Soul, Inc.”:

… getting “scores of rich white clients because his obscene commercials prove extremely effective” — “no matter that he steals the ideas for the ads.”

Peary points out that Swope “is as money-hungry and unscrupulous as his white predecessors (although he refuses to run ads that promote war toys, alcohol or cigarettes)” — and, in a telling early scene, he “rips down a poster of Sidney Poitier,” revealing that “Downey has no intention of populating his picture with blacks whom the white male audience will feel comfortable watching.”

“Indeed,” Peary says, “Downey’s film was designed both to satirize those black militant prototypes he regarded as politically insincere and to present the bigoted white viewer’s nightmare vision of what would happen if black militants came into power.”

Peary asserts that the picture is “dated (the once hilarious color commercials now seem trite)”:

… it “hasn’t two funny lines in a row,” and it “has an end that foolishly undermines Swope’s character.” However, he notes that “while it’s overrated, it’s certainly unique, if only because it attacks most everyone, even midgets.”

I agree the film isn’t funny, and that it’s quite “dated” — but in precisely the way it should be, given it was intended as a disruptive cinematic experiment which Downey himself noted he didn’t necessarily think people should try to make sense of. It’s primarily of interest these days for its historical relevance within late-1960s underground cinema. Check out the DVD extras, and/or Criterion’s essay, for more on the experimental work that preceded this most enduring facet of Downey’s output.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Some creative cinematography
  
  
• Several amusing advertising sequences
  

Must See?
Yes, once, but simply for its cult status; I can’t guarantee you’ll get much out of it.

Categories

• Cult Movie

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Trailers From Hell Review
• Village Voice Review
• TV Guide Review (spoiler alert)
• Criterion Essay