Main Cast: Stanley Gottlieb, Allen Garfield, Arnold Johnson, Buddy Butler, Ramon Gordon
Release Year: 1969
Country: US
Run Time: 84 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
After several years working along the margins of the underground film scene in New York, director Robert Downey broke through to wider recognition with the arthouse hit Putney Swope, a wildly irreverent satire of race and advertising in America. Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson) is the token African-American executive at an otherwise all-white advertising agency when the chairman of the board unexpectedly drops dead. Through a fluke in the chain of command, Swope becomes the new head of the firm, and decides its time to do things his way. He fires nearly all the staff (except for his one token white employee), renames the agency Truth and Soul, Inc., and announces they'll no longer accept accounts advertising tobacco, alcohol, or war toys. The ads they do produce -- for acne remedies and breakfast cereal, among other things -- are wildly successful, and the iconoclastic ad agency (which only accepts payment in cash) is targeted by government operatives as a threat to the national security. Antonio Fargas and Allen Garfield lead the supporting cast; Mel Brooks makes a cameo appearance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Norman Schreiber - Messenger; Antonio Fargas - The Arab; Laura Greene - Mrs. Swope; Allan Arbus - Mr. Bad News; Peter Benson - Mr. Jingle; Elzbieta Czyzewska - Putney's Maid; Joe Engler - Mr. Syllables; Joe Fields - Pittsburgh Willie; Don George - Mr. Cards; Eddie Gordon - Mr. Victrola Cola; Vincent Hamill - Man in White Suit; Pepi Hermine - President of the United States; Spunk-Funk Johnson - Mr. Major; David Kirk - Elias, Sr.; Tom Odachi - Wing Sobey; Shelley Plimpton - Face-Off Girl; Archie Russell - Joker; Robert Staats - Mr. War Toys; Ching Yeh - Wing Soney, Jr.; Alan Abel - Mr. Lucky; Bert Lawrence - Hawker; Peter Maloney - Putney's Chauffeur; George Morgan - Mr. Token; Franklin Scott; Perry Gerwitz - Sonny Williams; Ruth Hermine - First Lady; George Marshall - Mr. Executive; Lawrence Wolf - Mr. Borman Six; Walter Jones - Jim Keranga; Charles Green; Mel Brooks - Mr. Forget It
Credit
Gary Weist - Art Director, New Breed - Costume Designer, Robert Downey, Sr. - Director, Bud Smith - Editor, Charley Cuva - Composer (Music Score), Gerald Cotts - Cinematographer, Robert Downey, Sr. - Producer, Ron Sullivan - Producer, Bill Daley - Special Effects, Tom Daniel - Special Effects, Dan List - Special Effects, Josh Zander - Special Effects, Michael Scott - Sound/Sound Designer, Robert Downey, Sr. - Screenwriter
