University of Virginia Library

Film Review

'Putney Swope': Wild Imagination

By Carl Erickson
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

At the outset "Putney Swope"
appears to be the outrageous,
satirical film one might expect from
a director of the likes of Robert
Downey. Mr. Downey has long
been known as a genius of the
underground. Films such as
"Chafed Elbows" and "No More
Excuses" with all their obscene wit
and charm have rightly placed Mr.
Downey on a high plateau among
subterranean buffs. However, Mr.
Downey enthusiasts and even those
unaccustomed with his sense of
humor can only be disappointed
with his first commercial attempt
because after the first half hour the
laughs occur only sporadically and
the building irony es out.

The first half hour is a masterpiece
of comic liming. Lines are
delivered with point blank accuracy
and the responses are accented with
right amount of facial expressions.
Mr. Downey maintains an objective
camera position allowing the audience
to absorb the absurdly comical
actions going on in front of them.
Mr. Downey refuses to force his
humor on the viewer but rather
permits him to sit back and let his
own sense of humor be aroused.

The remainder of the film does
not live up to the promising
beginning because of a number of
reasons. To begin with, the first few
scenes are so crammed full with
sight and line gaps that we are lead
to expect as much from the rest of
the film. The viewer is naturally
disappointed when he discovers
that Mr. Downey cannot maintain
such a steady barrage of hilarity.
The fault lies partially with Mr.
Downey's apparent disinterest and
partially with the lack of substantial
editing. After "Ethereal
Cereal" the commercials all seem to
be quickly thought up schemes
with little imagination. Certain
scenes should not have existed at
all. I am thinking particularly of
those in Mr. Swope's house and the
one in which he is interviewed in
his limousine. Television humor
abounds in these scenes and
Swope's discarding of a Sydney
Poitier poster is exceedingly trite.

Mr. Downey's introduction of
the grotesque into "Putney
Swope," namely the presidential
dwarf presents another reason for
the film's comical demise. Mr.
Downey has a fascination for the
grotesque and his it well in his
other films (in "No More Excuses"
a woman makes love with a
chimpanzee quite unknowingly).
However in "Putney Swope" the
use of a dwarf is both unnecessary,
practically humorless, and rather
pretentious.

I suppose, however that any
disenchantment with "Putney
Swope" lies mainly in the fact that
it is really not a "truth and soul"
movie but a cop-out. The blacks in
the film are not as much "soul
brothers" as they are Mr. Downey's
own conception of what a "soul
brother" is. The fact that Mr.
Downey is white is surely no fault
of his but it is irksome to find
caricature's in a film by a director
who professes to be concerned with
blacks. Mr. Downey's ultimate
cop-out is in his use of a dubbed
voice for Putney. The voice is
Downey's. I suppose the actor's
voice was not "black" enough.
"Putney Swope" turns out to be a
film, not about blacks but about
Madison Avenue.

Though a disappointing film
"Putney Swope" is by no means
boring. The hilarious opening
scenes and the occasionally raucous
humor which follows come close to
making up for its major inadequacies.
In any case it is the
funniest film to come out last year
and it is a good example of what a
director with a wild imagination
can accomplish.

(Now at the Cinema)