Putney Swope — Putney Swope (Blu Ray/ DVD)

Putney Swope is considered something of a lost classic of the 60s counterculture. Robert Downey Snr’s film has just arrived on Bluray for the first time in its history from cult American DVD/Bluray distributor Vinegar Syndrome, and what an awesome package they have put together for this forgot classic. The Bluray print is taken from the recently struck 4k restoration that was undertaken by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Film Foundation, with funding from the George Lucas estate. Putney Swope is a satirical look  at the issues that were affecting America in 1969, racial tensions, political unrest and pop culture all combine in a social commentary that is very much of its time, but still manages to offer a reminder to modern society on the pitfalls we need to avoid in the 21st century.

Putney Swope (Alfred Johnson) is the only black member of the board of a swanky Madison Avenue advertising agency, and when the chairman of the board drops dead on the board room table a new chairman is elected. Swope receives the most votes, as other members vote to keep each other out of the top job and takes up his new role as chairman. He fires the majority of the board (made up of well to do older white males) and replaces them with cool, young, hip blacks, renaming the company “Truth and Soul Inc” in the process. Swope is a straight talker, who likes to do things his own way, and despite his unorthodox approach to advertising, success begins to roll in.

Eventually, the US president (Pepi Hermine) gets in touch with Swope, concerned that Swope’s refusal to advertise cigarettes, war toys and alcohol is damaging for the government. This leads to the government deciding that Swope and his business are a threat to national security. Interestingly in line with this Swope begins to adopt a look that is not too dissimilar to another rebel that the US government were afraid of, Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

The film features a great cast with a simply wonderful performance from Antonio “Huggy Bear” Fargas who gets some of the finest monologues in the film with even Mel Brooks turning up in a cameo role. The comedic elements are handled well, but at times will across as very unPC to some of today’s audience. The film is largely shot in black and white, with just the company’s ad campaigns shot in colour. In each case the photography looks good and the prints is clear and clean, whilst in the latter the colour is vivid and natural. Downey’s direction is rough around the edges but I find that quite endearing in this instance, but the film features some beautifully shot sequences and the overall visual style is very nice.

Vinegar Syndrome have done Downey Snr proud with this release, his film looks stunning , both the black and white and colour sequences look as good as they ever have, if not better than they ever have, whilst the audio sounds great. The disc is also loaded with bonus material, most notable is the commentary featuring director Downey Snr and a host of interviews with Downey and members of his cast and crew. I will be giving the overall product a 4, however that is because I felt it unfairly raised expectations of the film to give it a 5, which is what I would suggest the package deserves.