Stand up and be counted on National ART HOUSE THEATER DAY, by coming to Cinestudio, an independent, non-profit cinema! We’re showing the new 50th Anniversary restoration of Robert Downey Sr.’s satiric comedy, at the start of Cinestudios own 50th Anniversary Season. In fact, we showed Putney Swope during our very first year. Downey’s late-’60s counterculture tour-de-force remains a wild provocation on race, corporate culture and America. Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson of Shaft and Menace II Society) is the token black exec at his ad firm. When he’s unexpectedly elected its president, Swope turns the industry on its ear with a series of outrageous, taboo-busting TV commercials. Outspoken fans of Swope include directors Paul Thomas Anderson, the Coen Brothers, Jim Jarmusch – and Beastie Boys.
“Putney Swope is what happened when a New York Jewish absurdist comic sensibility collides with a revolutionary African-American worldview.” John Patterson, The Guardian.
Pre-show: Recorded introduction from director Robert Downey Sr.
