With the underground film “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” (1989), writer/director/actor Shinya Tsukamoto broke out into the global cult cinema scene. Made on a shoestring budget and drawing influences from cyberpunk sci-fi and anime such as “Akira”, Tetsuo depicts a man’s transformation into a machine as his psychological state rapidly deteriorates. Two later “sequels”, “Tetsuo II: Body Hammer” (1992) and “Tetsuo: The Bullet Man” (2009) are variations of the same plot with progressively larger budgets and artistic ambition.
Robert Downey Sr.‘s Putney Swope is an unusual film that splits audiences into two camps without breaking a sweat: those who absolutely love it and think it’s an unheralded masterpiece, and those who utterly loathe it (Check out Amazon reviews!) A third and far larger category would be comprised of everyone who’s never even heard of this odd little gem in the first place. Back in the early 80s, when super rare cheap to license cult films would often appear on some schlocky video label long before some mainstream films became available Putney Swope would often show up in the “Midnight Movies” or cult films section of video rental shops. After that it more or less disappeared until it came out on DVD. Every once in a while it’s on TV, too, but it’s still, sadly, Putney Swope is not a widely known film.
The Coen Brothers, Chris Rock, Dave Chapelle and Paul Thomas Anderson are all known to be big fans of the film. Jane Fonda declared it a masterpiece to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show in 1969 and the Beastie Boys have sampled from it and rapped about it. Anderson even lifted a scene from it for Boogie Nights.
The first three times I saw Putney Swope I thought it was an incredible masterpiece. I was stunned by it. I laughed out loud. I sobbed. It was amazing. It was profound and symbolic of everything! Then again, the first three times I saw the film I was ridiculously high on LSD and I watched it over and over again, by myself, three times in the same night!
When the acid wore off I still thought it was a great and profound film, perhaps just not as great. That didn’t stop me from being an evangelist for this weird little movie, which satirized race, how race was portrayed in advertising, race in the workplace, black militants, white privilege and corporate corruption (there’s even a hint of Orwell’s Animal Farm in it), to all of my friends. Man did I force this film on a lot of (grateful!) people. I’ve easily seen it 30 times.
The plot goes something like this: Arnold Johnson (who later played “Hutch” on Sanford and Son) is Putney Swope, a middled-aged black man who works at a Madison Avenue advertising agency with a bunch of corrupt corporate buffoons. When the founder of the agency dies mid-speech, the board holds a vote to find his successor while his body goes cold on the table. Everyone writes down a name on a piece of paper. They are informed that they cannot vote for themselves and so each man tears up his ballot. They cut deals with each other and then all vote for the one guy who they think no one else will vote for either, Putney Swope, the only black guy.
So Swope becomes the new CEO with a landslide. His motto is “Rockin’ the boat’s a drag. You gotta sink the boat!” He promptly fires all of the white executives (save for one), renames the agency “Truth & Soul” and hires a young, idealistic and politically militant black staff who want to tell the actual truth in advertising. “Truth & Soul” refuse to take accounts from cigarette manufacturers, liquor companies or the war machine. They become so successful that the government becomes alarmed. Eventually everyone becomes corrupted, even Putney himself, who takes to dressing like Fidel Castro.
That’s about it, plot-wise, but a lot of stuff happens in Putney Swope that would be difficult to try to describe here. The film is mainly in black and white, but the commercial parodies are in color. Antonio Fargas Jr. (“Huggy Bear” on Starsky & Hutch) has a memorable role as “The Arab,” Putney’s Muslim advisor and prankster Alan Abel is also seen in a cameo role. Putney Swope has great lines like “Anything that I have to say would just be redundant”; “A job? Who wants a JOB?”; and “Are you for surreal?!” that have been quoted over and over again (at least in my house). The US president and his wife are played by midgets who engage in a threesome with a photographer. There is a Mark David Chapman-type weirdo hovering around. It’s hard to describe, you really just have to see it. I think Putney Swope is one of the great, great, great American counterculture films of the 1960s. One day. I predict confidently, it will be seen as the equal to Easy Rider or Five Easy Pieces. I’m surprised that French cinemaphiles haven’t discovered it yet… but they will. They will.
This probably isn’t the best way to watch the film (grab the Putney Swope DVD on Amazon) but DO watch the first scene up to the point where Putney takes over the advertising agency. If that doesn’t make you want to watch the rest, I can’t do much for you…
“Black Mirror” (2011 – ) is a British anthology series created by satirist Charlie Brooker exploring potential unintended social/psychological effects of technology. It’s sort of an updated and darker version of The Twilight Zone offering (often pessimistic) commentary on society, government, culture and relationships.
Because tomorrow marks the birthday of Jack Nance, I’d like to bring attention to “I Don’t Know Jack” (2002), a documentary on cult actor Jack Nance exploring the uniqueness of his character, his unconventional career, and the strange circumstances surrounding the death of his wife in 1991 and himself five years later. The film features interviews with family and friends including Catherine Coulson, Brad Dourif, Dennis Hopper, David Lynch and Charlotte Stewart.
“I Am Cuba” (1964) is a Soviet-Cuban co-production directed by Mikhail Kalatozov which ties together several stories depicting different aspects of the Cuban experience during the pre-Castro era. Upon release (and long after), the film was largely ignored, being too Communist for western audiences and not revolutionary enough for audiences in the Soviet Union. Fortunately, in the 1990s the film was re-discovered and championed by prominent directors such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola who with Milestone Films re-released the film at New York’s Film Forum in 1995. I Am Cuba is notable for inspiring and emotionally powerful scenes as well as technical achievements such as complex tracking shots and striking cinematography utilizing wide angle lenses and infrared film stock.
“Light Years” (1988) is the US version of the film “Gandahar” directed by René Laloux who previously directed the mind-bending animated sci-fi classic “Fantastic Planet”. While the animation in Light Years is of lesser quality than Fantastic Planet, it’s just as imaginative and ambitious in its depiction of an alien world. Its plot centers on the bioengineering based civilization of Gandahar who, with the help of a mutant race they created struggle for survival against an army of automatons. While the French version has a superior soundtrack by Gabriel Yared, the US version does feature fine voice actors including Glenn Close, Bridget Fonda, David Johansen and Christopher Plummer as well as an intelligent screenplay adaptation by Isaac Asimov.
“Kamikaze Girls” (2004) is a film adaptation of the novel and manga “Shimotsuma Story” directed by Tetsuya Nakashima. It’s about the unlikely friendship between girls of vastly different subcultures; one a “Lolita” obsessed by Rococco-era French fashions and the other a member of a “Yanki” biker gang modeled after 1950’s American rock and rollers. Besides the underlying theme of friendship transcending cultural differences, it’s also a coming-of-age story with a positive message about the importance of pursuing one’s dreams, rejecting conformity, and thinking/acting independently. Similar to Nakashima’s other films such as “Memories of Matsuko” and “Paco and the Magical Book” (as well as Jeunet’s “Amélie”) the viewing experience of Kamikaze Girls is enhanced by surrealistic touches such as over-saturated colors and inventive camera/editing work.
Update: no longer on YouTube but still available with subtitles here.
The Men Who Killed Kennedy is a 9-part video documentary series about the John F. Kennedy assassination by Nigel Turner that began with two 50 minutes segments originally aired on 25 October 1988 in the United Kingdom, titled simply Part One and Part Two. The programmes were produced by Central Television for the ITV network, and were immediately followed by a studio discussion on the issues titled The Story Continues, chaired by broadcaster Peter Sissons. The United States corporation, Arts & Entertainment Company, purchased the rights to the original two segments. In 1989, the series was nominated for a Flaherty Documentary Award. The series was re-edited with additional material into three 50 minute programmes in 1991, which were again shown by ITV. A sixth episode appeared in 1995. The series typically aired in November every year, but also from time to time during the year as repeats. But in November, 2003, when three additional segments (“The Final Chapter”) were added by the History Channel, the consequences were so immense that the entire series is no longer aired, though the History Channel still sells DVD copies of the first six documentaries.
Fair Use:
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This is the mindblowing 6-part,10 hour, video documentary series Evidence of Revision whose purpose is to present the publicly unavailable and even suppressed historical audio, video and film recordings largely unseen by the American and world public relating to the assassination of the Kennedy brothers, the little known classified “Black Ops” actually used to intentionally create the massive war in Viet Nam, the CIA “mind control” programs and their involvement in the RFK assassination and the Jonestown massacre and other important truths of our post-modern time.
With the underground film “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” (1989), writer/director/actor Shinya Tsukamoto broke out into the global cult cinema scene. Made on a shoestring budget and drawing influences from cyberpunk sci-fi and anime such as “Akira”, Tetsuo depicts a man’s transformation into a machine as his psychological state rapidly deteriorates. Two later “sequels”, “Tetsuo II: Body Hammer” (1992) and “Tetsuo: The Bullet Man” (2009) are variations of the same plot with progressively larger budgets and artistic ambition.
is an unusual film that splits audiences into two camps without breaking a sweat: those who absolutely love it and think it’s an unheralded masterpiece, and those who utterly loathe it (Check out 
!) A third and far larger category would be comprised of everyone who’s never even heard of this odd little gem in the first place. Back in the early 80s, when super rare cheap to license cult films would often appear on some schlocky video label long before some mainstream films became available 
After the Crash 