Putney Swope
 | This page needs visual enhancement. You can help All The Tropes by finding a high-quality image or video to illustrate the topic of this page. |
"I'm not going to rock the boat. Rocking the boat is a drag. I'm going to sink the boat. And there's no point in sinking the boat if you can't salvage with stock options."—Putney Swope.
Putney Swope is a 1969 film satirizing the advertising industry (one of the earliest) directed by Robert Downey Sr.
When the CEO of an advertising company dies during a meeting, the board of directors are forced to hold an election for the new chairmen. Since they can't vote for themselves, and are unwilling to vote for each other, all of them vote for the least likely member: Music Producer and Token Black Man Putney Swope. Swope fires almost everyone, renames the company "Truth and Soul, Inc." and brings on a crew of stereotypical Black Muslims to run the business. Hilarity Ensues.
The movie is notable for its cast, which is almost entirely black and well developed, its hilarious lampshading of real-life advertising practices and psychedelic, but only slightly over the top, fake commercials.
The movie was named to the National Film Registry in 2016.
- Crazy Awesome / Brick Joke: "The DRUMS told me!" See Darkest Africa, below.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Virtually all of the white cast.
- So much so, that when the chairman dies in the middle of a meeting, they actually go through his pockets and loot his valuables.
- Crossing the Line Twice: Some of the commercials, particularly the ones wherein Coitus Ensues.
- Crowning Moment of Awesome: Just as it looks as if Putney is about to begin selling alcohol, sex and war toys, he reveals that its something he never intended to do and was simply testing to make sure his crew wouldn't "cop-out".
- "Nathan, I like you beecause you're not a cop-out. You can stay." Nathan proceeds to list his demands. "Nathan, you're corrupt."
- Darkest Africa: To support their brothers and sisters in Africa, Putney wants to dispense with telecommunications and send office correspondence entirely by drum. Even his associates think this would be insane. Until...
- Ensemble Cast: Surprising for the sixties/seventies. Even the white people and punchline characters get a decent amount of screen-time.
- Gray and Grey Morality: The closest thing to a good character in the entire film is the guy whose father dies. Even then, its hinted at that he's an incompetent mooch. The new black administration is just as corrupt as the old one, just corrupt in different ways.
- Heel Face Turn: Putney Subverted
- The Hero: Averted/Played With. Putney is thrust into a position where he needs to be the archetypal hero in order to make the world right. Unfortunately, he's just some guy who was in the right place at the right time. Everyone seems to acknowledge that if African-Americans had been given the chance to choose their own leader, it wouldn't have been Putney.
- The Lancer: Almost a deconstruction. There's a character whom, all throughout the movie, complains about how Putney does things and how he can do it better. As Putney becomes more corrupt, the Lancer's complaints go from petty arguments to legitimate criticisms, not that anybody listens to him.
- Non Sequitur Scene: The commercials to some extent.