Putney Swope (1969)

Show Times: 7:00pm, 9:00pm

Rated R (84 mins.)
Directed by: Robert Downey Sr.
With Arnold Johnson, Stan Gottlieb, Allen Garfield

Assuming he is incapable of winning, all of the members of a prestigious Madison Avenue advertising firm accidentally vote to appoint the company's only Black executive, Putney Swope, as chairman of the board. His unexpected win behind him, Swope changes the company's name to "Truth and Soul, Inc.," fires nearly all of its elderly white employees, and focuses solely on creating subversive, outlandish, and shocking campaigns. As the company is catapulted to new heights of success, Swope finds that he has drawn the ire of the U.S. President, who seeks to declare him and his renegade staff a threat to national security. Written and directed by the late Robert Downey Sr., this seminal comedy satirizes the advertising world, the portrayal of race in Hollywood films, the white power structure, and the nature of corporate corruption.

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