Idea of the Week: Putney Swope
January 13th 2025 | Film
Dearest Being,
The Idea of the Week is live:
Putney Swope
Robert Downey Sr., 1969
IDEA | FILM
“I don’t understand it, but I like it.”
This was the opening line said by the only distributor to approach Robert Downey Sr. about releasing Putney Swope. It demonstrates the idea that we can sometimes discover our vested interest in a piece of art residing not within our understanding, but rather, in our instinctive emotional response.
This is a common expectation we have with the music we consume, but rarely ever with films.
Often, we take the notion of understanding within the realm of cinema to mean clarity over plot, the character’s motives, or the creator’s meaning.
But this isn’t how real life operates.
We do not know the grand answer to Why. And yet, we can still enjoy the experience. We can find it funny, and interesting, and moving. We can hate it, and curse it, and wish it was different. But never do we write it off entirely on the basis of not understanding what it’s all about.
We have to find our own meaning in this life, and I love engaging with art that forces me to do this. And I don’t mean art that was trying to make sense but failed due to a lack of care. But more so, art whose initial intention was to challenge, bewilder, and absurdify my thinking, and achieved thus through dedication and hard work.
There’s a totally beautiful what-the-fuck-is-going-on kind of feeling within the films of Robert Downey Sr. It’s a level of absurdity that can leave one thinking ‘Well, that made zero sense.’ But I would argue that, according to the reality in which we exist, they tend to make more sense than most other manufactured narratives.
Downey proves that you can do whatever you want as an artist. Whether people will like it or not is another story. But you can actually strive to make something exactly as you want to make it. And if accomplished, finished, and seen through to its bitter end, no matter the result, it will be enough.1
I think we tend to forget this concept when it comes to the things we create. We forget that we don’t have to adhere to limitations placed on us by what is expected. Yes, there might be financial limitations, but these can often fuel creative decisions. It’s the passed down beliefs and invisible rules that poison the process, in art and in life, preventing the result from becoming anything close to truthful.
We can strive to make and be whatever we want.2 We just have to conquer the hardest part: Actually taking some form of action. Committing to the joke.
This is a film about truth. A commentary on commercialised creativity. A hippy take on it all, but said with a dedication to the absurd that is rarely ever seen, at least not during this time.
The kind of absurd humour seen in Tim Robinson’s modern sketch show I Think You Should Leave has become widely popular. Ridiculous, but not without a point — not without some abstract comment on the human condition. Something strange, and yet ashamedly familiar.
This is what Downey was doing.
These fake advertisements scattered throughout the film exemplify this notion of raw truth, turning the most deceptive form of commercial creativity on its head by saying No more bullshit, no more censorship. Just raw honesty, and therefore, humour; Truth and soul, as the name of Putney’s revitalised advertising firm suggests.
And this is arguably why I find the film is so damn funny. Because it has the freedom to strike the root of all its jokes. Nothing has to be held back or danced around for the sake of appealing to as many wallets as possible.
And to me, that’s the perfect example of pure creativity expressed without a made up answer to the question Why?
Robert Downey Sr. and Putney Swope. Truth and soul.
INTERVIEWS | ROBERT DOWNEY, PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON
Downey discusses the maverick approach to the film’s creation.
“I guess I can make a film, there it is.”
INSIGHTS | PRODUCTION AND LEGACY
Downey has stated that the performer who played Putney, Arnold Johnston, had a lot of trouble delivering his lines, forcing Downey to dub his own voice over the character’s.
The Los Angeles Times refused to print the above poster for the film.
Does Downey’s politically incorrect dub over Putney Swope’s voice sound familiar? Watch his son in the film Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller, 2008) and see if anything clicks.
INTERVIEW | ROBERT DOWNEY, REELBLACK
Downey discusses the world of commercial creativity.
Robert Downey Sr. (a prince)
Robert Downey was an independent absurdist who played by his own rules.
The completing of the piece is the most important part. This is where the dividing line exists between a life lived and a life dreamed of, a creation and a half thought, an audience and an artist. It’s the difference between a misheard mumble and a sentence spoken with conviction. It’s the route to an honest expression and a discovery of self. And it is vital, for it is often our decision to take action and follow through which grants us an advantage over others, not necessarily our innate skill set.
And for those who are now, and rightfully so, cynically thinking ‘Well, I want to be a squirrel. How do I do that? Huh?’ — Why not try storing a fuck ton of nuts in your cheeks and hopping around on all fours for a day? That is to say, why not get creative with how you try to become what you want, given what is possible.