Revue Event: PUTNEY SWOPE (1969) + Book Launch – Presented by Kier-La Janisse & Clint Enns

Presented by Kier-La Janisse and Clint Enns, editors of the book Truth & Soul: A Robert Downey, Sr. Reader (2025), joined by contributing writers Cameron Moneo, Stephen Broomer, Christine Lucy Latimer and Marko Djurdjic – Books will be available at the screening

Robert Downey Sr. occupies a singular place in the American cinema; while he emerged from the East coast underground scene of the 1960s, he was always too unserious for the avant garde and too experimental for the mainstream – “a filmmaker out of time,” as my co-editor Clint Enns wrote. His tumultuous trajectory saw him consistently subverting tropes, taste and even the tenets of comedy itself. 

In 1969, with a big push from storied distributors Cinema V (and an unexpected endorsement from Jane Fonda on The Tonight Show), Downey released what became his biggest hit, the Madison Avenue send-up Putney Swope. This “vital provocation on race, pop culture and America” (American Genre Film Archive) drops us in the midst of the revolution that was brewing in the late 60s as advertising execs sought to hegemonize the counterculture through what cultural critic Thomas Frank has dubbed “the conquest of cool.” 

Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson), the only African-American ad man at his firm, is “accidentally” elected the new president when his predecessor suddenly drops dead during a board meeting. Armed with this new clout, he flips the establishment upside down with his now-famous proclamation “Rockin’ the boat’s a drag… what you gotta do is SINK the boat!” With a new countercultural mandate and rebranding the company Truth & Soul, Inc., Putney burns a swath through the biz with a series of weird, hilarious and taboo-smashing commercials (scored by funkmaster Charley Cuva) while learning the hard way that power corrupts all it touches.

Co-starring Antonio Fargas, Allan Arbus and Allen Garfield alongside Downey staples Larry Wolf, Stan Gottlieb, George Morgan and Joe Fields, with cameos by Marlene Clark (Ganja and Hess) and Ronnie Dyson and Shelley Plimpton (just off the original run of Hair), Putney Swope remains one of the most biting, essential films of the 1960s counterculture. (Kier-La Janisse)

Restoration by the Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation. Distributed by All Channel Films with booking services provided by AGFA.

Cast/Crew Info
Director: Robert Downey Sr. | Cast: Arnold Johnson, Stan Gottlieb, Allen Garfield, Archie Russell, Ramon Gordon