104 in 2009: Week 44: Putney Swope and the last of the horror

Okay, I lied. We're not quite back to normal - I've got to list off the last of the eligible Halloween movies. But then we're back to normal. So here's the Halloween stuff:

The Unseen 1.5/10
And Soon the Darkness 7.5/10

And now, here's the first post-Halloween movie:

Putney Swope
Robert Downey, 1969

Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson, voice of Downey), the token black man on the board of an advertising committee is accidentally voted in to be the new chairman, due to the unwillingness of the other members to vote for each other. He renames the company “Truth and Soul.” Chaos ensues.

Putney Swope opens well, with a hilariously deadpan board meeting that ends with Swope’s election to chairman. Then, as if someone threw a switch, it all goes off the rails. The rest of the movie almost seems like a series of vignettes that are maybe a little too interconnected for the term to be accurate, but not by much. This wouldn’t really be an issue if it managed to remain as funny as the opening scene, but, despite a few howlers, it really kind of drags after that. Part of the problem is that much of the comedy is based on the idea of being offensive and outrageous, and a lot of what’s happening doesn’t have that effect any more. Because there frequently isn’t much of a joke beyond the outrageousness, there’s not much left. Plus, there’s a strongly self-congratulatory feel to all of the envelope pushing that’s a bit obnoxious. Still, I have to admit that some of the racial dialogue in particular remains somewhat. . . I don’t want to say shocking, but let’s go with surprising. I can definitely see how it became the cult classic that it is, but it mostly misfired for me.

3/10

Progress: 115 (par +27)