SERIES: ROBERT DOWNEY, SR. – A PRINCE
“After being thrown out of the house, four schools and the United States Army, I discovered that I was on the right track.” – Robert Downey, Sr.
Robert Downey, Sr.’s early films are just as rebellious, reckless and fun-loving as their maker was in his youth. While perhaps best known for his advertising industry send-up Putney Swope, Downey actually emerged from the early-’60s New American Cinema scene. Breakout hits from the underground movie circuit of that era, his outlandish satires Chafed Elbows, No More Excuses and Babo 73 are as barbed as Lenny Bruce, as absurd as Alfred Jarry and as out-to-lunch as Eric Dolphy. Rough around the edges and all-around hilarious, Downey’s first films stand as landmark works in the history of independent cinema. The Cinefamily is proud to have the L.A. premiere of brand-new restored 35mm prints of Chafed Elbows and No More Excuses preserved by Anthology Film Archives with the support of The Film Foundation, alongside the recently-discovered “lost” Downey film Moment To Moment, and very rare theatrical screenings of Pound and Putney Swope.
Co-Presented by Arthur Magazine
Thursday:
11/6 @ 8pm
“Putney Swope”
shown with
“Pound”
Come to this incredibly rare 35mm screening (using quite possibly the only print in existence) of one of the legendary cinematic fuck-yous of its time. Putney Swope still delivers an brazen, acidic portrait of advertising culture during the height of the counterculture era. Putney Swope, the only black exec in his firm, finds himself unexpectedly elected its president due to a by-law messup, and turns the industry on its ear as his new Black Power-driven company churns out outrageous, taboo-breaking TV commercials (strewn throughout the film like comedic landmines). Truth and Soul, Inc. becomes the most powerful ad company in the world, giving Downey a chance to skewer across the political spectrum, as Swope rises from token black to the fascistic Generalissimo of Madison Avenue. Shot in a mix of both black-and-white and color, Swope plays out in a series of absurd vignettes perfectly sequenced for its original intoxicated audience. Pound, Downey’s barely-released follow-up to Putney Swope (a chagrined United Artists thought Downey was producing an animated feature!), is performed like a conceptual theatre piece, as as humans play dogs with nothing signifying their doggieness–no makeup, no costumes–but what they have to say and think. Trapped in an animal shelter as they await the “doggie gas chamber”, they see flashbacks of their former lives, watch TV and yammer at each other. Downey’s fast-and-loose dialogue, zany musical numbers and broad, wild performances from his large ensemble (including a five-year-old Downey, Jr.) keeps Pound consistently unpredictable and entertaining.
Putney Swope Dir. Robert Downey, 1969, 35mm, 84 min.
Pound Dir. Robert Downey, 1970, DigiBeta, 92 min.
Tickets – $10
Arthur Magazine 