Putney Swope.

Review #1793: Putney Swope.

Cast: 

Arnold Johnson (Putney Swope; dubbed by Robert Downey Sr), Stan Gottlieb (Nathan), Allen Garfield (Elias, Jr), Archie Russell (Joker), Ramon Gordon (Bissinger), Bert Lawrence (Hawker), Joe Madden (Mr. Syllables), David Kirk (Elias, Sr), Don George (Mr. Cards), Buddy Butler (Putney's Bodyguard), Vincent Hamill (Man in White Suit), Tom Odachi (Wing Soney), Ching Yeh (Wing Soney, Jr.), Joe Fields (Pittburgh Willie), Norman Schreiber (Messenger), Robert Staats (Mr. War Toys), Alan Abel (Mr. Lucky) Directed by Robert Downey Sr.

Review: 

"To see how people forty years later...I think the film doesn't hold up, you know, to me, it's like, okay. But I'm pleased that people, especially young people tell me their parents made them watch it as little kids...It's the only film of mine that ever really got distribution."

You have to understand that some movies don't just pop into popularity without warning. Sometimes they just happen to hit the sweet-spot of its culture and time, regardless if they were made in the underground or in the "mainstream". It should only figure that the year that brought shocking films like The Wild Bunch and Easy Rider would bring forth a scattershot look upon the advertising industry with eyes that perhaps strike relevancy fifty years since its release. While it is the most well-known feature directed by Robert Downey Sr, he managed to cultivate a fascinating career of filmmaking that persevered far more than just being a one-hit wonder. The New York City native served in the United States Army, serving most of his time in the stockade. It was during this time where he was inspired to take up writing (as suggested by his boss in order to pass the time). He also spent time in dabbling in boxing and playwrighting. In the 1960s, he started making independent films that aligned with the Absurdist movement (of course, this was the time when the counterculture of anti-establishment was bearing fruit), which he described as having fun more than a regular job. From 1961 to 2005, he directed (and sometimes wrote) a selection of features and documentaries that had various perspectives without as much distribution as this film. Pound (1970), for example, deals with animals waiting to be euthanized...played by human actors (it also featured Downey's five-year old son Robert Jr in his first role, and he would appear in a handful of Downey Sr's features); Downey Sr would prove an influence to directors such as Jim Jarmusch and Paul Thomas Anderson.

Before he made this film, he had been hired to do commercials (experimental commercials that would try to provoke ad agencies to do stuff like that, which he did for a year), and it was a moment where he asked his boss why he was being paid more than a black colleague for the same work that inspired the film (this is present in the film, of course). The thing about the movie is this: it received attention because it caught the eye of a theater chain owner & distributor (Don Rugoff) that liked it enough to help get it seen in theaters despite the fact he didn't understand it; a notable promotional campaign (complete with a poster giving the finger) also helped; the film was made for $250,000, complete with an assortment of actors recruited from magazines. Johnson apparently could not remember his lines, so Downey Sr did the dubbing for his character, which certainly brings a curious perspective when it comes to the fact that the character of Swope is both the most interesting person in the film despite the fact that it is basically played by two people. The other castmates (for which there is plenty of to show) are decent, in the sense that one is watching an offshoot movie that could either be for a sketch troupe or an arthouse imitator. The movie has a scattershot sense of pace, moving through its 84 minute run-time with episodic pace (such as pointed commercials shot in color) that goes through a satire of the corporate structure alongside racial politics. As a whole, it mostly works as an amusing feature, particularly with its opening sequence involving a board room with (mostly white) corporate sleazeballs; if one wanted to see folks at their most craven, one could just slip into a marketing discussion, I bet. Of course, most of the commercials featured are pretty amusing, such as one involving a serenade with poetic raunchy words. The movie basically points the finger of biting amusement at everyone, where the chance to gain power and fiddle with the status quo results in something familiar. As a whole, the movie is fairly effective in biting satire in the counterculture with its collection of misfit actors and an engaging director in Downey Sr that managed to become an offbeat winner for what it did in its time that still connects now.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Next Time: El Topo.

To Live and Die in L.A.

Review #1477:  To Live and Die in L.A.

Cast:
William Petersen (Richard Chance), Willem Dafoe (Eric "Rick" Masters), John Pankow (John Vukovich), Debra Feuer (Bianca Torres), John Turturro (Carl Cody), Darlanne Fluegel (Ruth Lanier), Dean Stockwell (Bob Grimes), Steve James (Jeff Rice), Robert Downey Sr. (Thomas Bateman), Michael Greene (Jimmy Hart), and Jack Hoar (Jack) Directed by William Friedkin (#037 - The Exorcist and #1438 - The French Connection)

Review: 
"The greatest thing that ever happened to me in terms of my acting was the audition for To Live and Die in L.A. After I read, William Friedkin put down the script and said, "You got the part". I really thought it was a joke. I went back to my hotel room and took a bath and they called and wanted to make a deal. I still didn't believe it."

"Weirdness is not my game. I'm just a square boy from Wisconsin."

My, my, my, what a cast. It may not have had the most prominent cast upon first release 35 years ago, but time has been more friendly to this film more than most when it comes to its staying power that is drawn from its primary cast. It wasn't his most profitable film of the decade for him (that was the controversial Cruising in 1980), but it definitely has found a place for itself as a fine piece in Friedkin's body of work. It was the first breakthrough in film in terms of starring roles for both Petersen and Pankow (since Friedkin wanted unknowns and was making a cheap film), who each had been known primarily on the stage and would both find key roles on television in subsequent years. Dafoe was a founding member of the Wooster Group, an experimental theater company in New York formed in 1980 (after five years of evolving from The Performance Group) before he jumped into film in the 1980s with films such as The Loveless (1982), Streets of Fire (1984), and Roadhouse 66 (1985), and this proved a breakthrough for the actor.

It was adapted from the novel of the same name that had been written by Gerald Petievich, an agent in the U.S. Secret Service (the organization was originally created to deal with counterfeit currency), with a mix of Friedkin and Petievich scenes being woven in (the former added scenes such as the car chase and the opening scene while the latter wrote parts of dialogue) - regardless of who may have done more or less, both were credited with the screenplay (supposedly this led to a lawsuit from Michael Mann for seeming similar to Miami Vice). Tough, wiry, and not afraid to show itself with professionalism, this proves to be a worthwhile and efficient experience as a triumph for its main cast alongside Friedkin as an film laced with energy and thrills within a 116-minute run-time that captures a captivating atmosphere of tension and capability with a Wang Chung soundtrack to draw things together. It isn't surprising to see how clear it all looks when it comes to conviction, since they actually hired a real counterfeiter on set alongside real authorities in Petievich and an LA cop in Jack Hoar (who each make small appearances in the film). Petersen and Pankow make for an interesting pair together, always on the edge with the pursuit but also with each other as well, with the former being fascinating in his hot dog brashness and the latter being a fair audience surrogate. Dafoe proves a gripping adversary, calm but entertaining in brazen nature without needing to be so prominent to make it count. Others follow along in capability to fit its neo-noir edges, such as an elusive Feuer or a curious Turturro and a stealthily slimy Stockwell. The car chase scene is pretty well-handled, staging its trek through live traffic with fine finesse from a director who already had one great chase in him to begin with. I enjoy the film's resilient nature to making a procedural with a pursuit worth viewing with plenty of murky characters twisting in the wind on both sides of the law that has a resounding and daring climax. There is quite enough hustle and bustle in a rough but sharp procedural with a good cast and Friedkin at the helm to make a solid movie worth viewing at least once as a film on the edge.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.