This year marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Robert Downey, Sr.'s best and best known work, "Putney Swope." I attended a screening of the film yesterday and laughed like an idiot with a packed theatre full of people who also laughed like idiots. This is, in my opinion, one of the funniest movies of all-time and one of the best social satires ever made. If you like Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove," then "Putney Swope," is the movie for you. The "moral" of the film according to the director (who, by the way, is indeed a real "prince")? Never go into advertising.
Watch the complete movie below or go to the YouTube playlist HERE
Synopsis:
"Swope is the only black man on the executive board of an advertising firm, and is accidentally put in charge after the death of the chairman of the board. Following the unexpected death of the chairman, each member of the board believes that he, himself, should be elected to the board. However, the bylaws of the corporation prohibit voting for oneself for the chair, so each individual member votes in a secret ballot for the person that no one else would vote for: Putney Swope.
Renaming the business "Truth and Soul, Inc.", Swope replaces all but one of the white employees and insists they no longer accept business from companies that produce alcohol, war toys, or tobacco. The success of the business draws unwanted attention from the United States Government, which considers it "a threat to the national security."
"The changes I'm going to make will be minimal. I'm not gonna rock the boat. Rockin' the boat's a drag. What you do is sink the boat! And there's no sense sinkin' nothin' unless you can salvage with productive alternatives. And brothers, you can't change nothin' with rhetoric and slogans. Because if a man's really got the truth in his pocket, he doesn't talk about it. He hangs it out on a shingle where people can see it. So from now on, the name of this agency is TRUTH and SOUL."
Ad for Face Off acne cream
Borman 6 ads
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