Putney Swope

If you're a parent of kids in, or having recently moved up from elementary school, there are three words that sends chills down your spine: Common Core math. This new form of math that is taught in the earlier grades (1, 2, sometimes 3) is part art project, part Sesame Street segment, and part IKEA assembly instructions. It attempts to break down math into simpler terms and use interactive visual aids to help kids get the concepts of the four basic operations of math. There are positives and negatives to it, the least of which is, since us parents didn't learn it, we have to suss it out somehow when the kid comes home with homework. This is important, because one of the principles of Common Core math that is so frustrating is that, when a problem is presented, it isn't just important that the child get the right answer. They also have to show their work, and the path they took to get there must also be correct. I learned this the hard way, when I helped one of my kids and used the way I did math to solve the problem, because I found their description obtuse. He got marked wrong because the method to arrive at the answer was incorrect, even though the answer was right. It wasn't a shortcut or a cheat, it was just a different way. But, for Common Core math, the method is just as important as the result. Putney Swope is like that. It is a darkly satirical movie about the only black man in the board of directors of in an advertising firm in the 60's that is accidentally voted to the Chairmanship (everybody voted for him because they couldn't vote for themselves, and everybody assumed someone else would cast the vote for the "real" candidate). Swope fires all the white people, renames the agency Truth & Soul, hires an all-black staff, only advertises products with ethics (no guns, cigarettes, war toys, etc), he capriciously fires people, and the advertisements are simultaneously honest and offensive, both to a fault (swearing, nudity, and so on). The movie even occasionally cuts in one of these commercials, like UHF's movie and TV parodies, only not family-friendly in the slightest. By the end, he's dressing like Fidel Castro. It is a great foundation for tackling race relations, assumed racial roles, advertising, business, and cult of personality leaders. It gets off to a fun start, with the boardroom scene where Swope is elected. The chairman dying of a heart attack, being pushed onto the table, members of the board looting his pockets, and then going about electing the new chairman like the corpse isn't in the room (even when his son is there pointing out his dad's dead body is RIGHT THERE) is hilarious. It is dark, it is edgy, and it stabs right at the heart of corporate culture. Even if the sound mixing is terrible -- seriously everybody is ADR'ed here, and nobody's voice sounds right or looks like the take that matches the visuals -- there's still good stuff here. Unfortunately, that's where the movie runs afoul of its grand ambition. The satire veers into an R-rated version of Mad Magazine. Mad's movie satires are fun because they are light-hearted, absurdist spoofs revolving around grade-school-level humor, aimed at a grade-school audience, Putney Swope misunderstands that; it takes the absurdity and juvenile humor of Mad and marries it to very heavy subject matter, delivered in a confrontational and profane manner. Putney Swope's humor wants to skewer; its sensibility wants to jab. The satire is there, but the way it gets to the satire is jumbled. Two examples: A commercial for Lucky Airlines builds its promotion around a lottery wherein one occupant will be selected to have a party in the lower decks with topless flight attendants. The ad starts with the flight attendants wearing little more than panties and see-through tops bouncing on an air mattress. The tops, of course, come open, and the the camera lingers on juggling boobs. Eventually, a voiceover describes Lucky Airlines' lucky lottery, and the winning passenger shows up for his one-man orgy. They've taken the "sex sells" aspect and not only pushed it the forefront, it's now both as literal as it can get while also being patently absurd. The other example involves The President, who pressures Swope into taking an account for a major car manufacturer at the behest of his corporate master, the CEO of the car manufacturer (and later on, tries to apply pressure to advertise guns and cigarettes and other unethical products, again at the direction of CEO's). The President is a little person. Get it? He's little in physical stature, and he's also little in power and mental stature. This is the kind of mixed humor Putney Swope attempts and so often fumbles. It doesn't understand the assignment. It tells a joke, and it does lampoon its targets, but the way it goes about it is all jumbled. The direction has a feeling like a prototype of sitcoms like The Office, but more guerilla in nature, but it clashes with the movie's bizarre sense of humor in a way I can't describe. It feels like sections from multiple jigsaw puzzles were forced together. It almost arrives at its satirical punchlines by accident instead of design. It's clear there was some intelligence in the development of this movie, not to mention bravery. This movie's sensibilities and sense of humor was WAY beyond cutting edge in 1969, and the topics it aims for make this movie still relevant today, maybe even more so than it was in 1969. Some might find the humor well-crafted. Some might find it offensive and tasteless. I am neither of those. I see what they were going for. Their method of getting to the goal, though ... I'm not sure that way was the right way.