| ROBERT DOWNEY, SR. - A PRINCE / Thursdays in November |
"After being thrown out of the house, four schools and the United States Army, I discovered that I was on the right track." - Robert Downey, Sr.
Robert Downey, Sr.'s early films are just as rebellious, reckless and fun-loving as their maker was in his youth. While perhaps best known for his advertising industry send-up Putney Swope, Downey actually emerged from the early-'60s New American Cinema scene. Breakout hits from the underground movie circuit of that era, his outlandish satires Chafed Elbows, No More Excuses and Babo 73 are as barbed as Lenny Bruce, as absurd as Alfred Jarry and as out-to-lunch as Eric Dolphy. Rough around the edges and all-around hilarious, Downey's first films stand as landmark works in the history of independent cinema. The Cinefamily is proud to have the L.A. premiere of brand-new
restored 35mm prints of Chafed Elbows and No More Excuses preserved
by Anthology Film Archives with the support of The Film
Foundation, alongside the recently-discovered "lost" Downey film Moment To Moment, and very rare theatrical screenings of Pound and Putney Swope.
Co-Presented by Arthur Magazine
11/6 @ 8pm / SERIES: ROBERT DOWNEY, SR. - A PRINCE
 Putney Swope
shown with
Pound
One of the legendary cinematic fuck-yous of its time, Putney Swope still delivers an brazen, acidic portrait of advertising culture during the height of the counterculture era. Putney Swope, the only black exec in his firm, finds himself unexpectedly elected its president due to a by-law messup, and turns the industry on its ear as his new Black Power-driven company churns out outrageous, taboo-breaking TV commercials (strewn throughout the film like comedic landmines). Truth and Soul, Inc. becomes the most powerful ad company in the world, giving Downey a chance to skewer across the political spectrum, as Swope rises from token black to the fascistic Generalissimo of Madison Avenue. Shot in a mix of both black-and-white and color, Swope plays out in a series of absurd vignettes perfectly sequenced for its original intoxicated audience. Pound, Downey’s barely-released follow-up to Putney Swope (a chagrined United Artists thought Downey was producing an animated feature!), is performed like a conceptual theatre piece, as as humans play dogs with nothing signifying their doggieness--no makeup, no costumes--but what they have to say and think. Trapped in an animal shelter as they await the “doggie gas chamber”, they see flashbacks of their former lives, watch TV and yammer at each other. Downey’s fast-and-loose dialogue, zany musical numbers and broad, wild performances from his large ensemble (including a five-year-old Downey, Jr.) keeps Pound consistently unpredictable and entertaining.
Putney Swope Dir. Robert Downey, 1969, 35mm, 84 min.
Pound Dir. Robert Downey, 1970, DigiBeta, 92 min.
Tickets - $10
11/13 @ 7:30pm + 11/20 @ 10:00pm/ SERIES: ROBERT DOWNEY, SR. - A PRINCE
 Babo 73
shown with
No More Excuses
Welcome to The United Status, a country lead by President Taylor Mead. Say what? The ribald satire Babo 73 focuses on Mead's blundering administration at the very brink of oblivion. Among their many problems, it seems, is that the Red Siamese have hatched a plan to flood the market with contraceptives in an effort to bring down the birthrate and debilitate the nation. The President and his crooked cabinet must plot counter-actions and defense maneuvers, as well as deal with dissension among their ranks. They spend most of their time wandering around Washington D.C., or hanging out on the beach (where all decisions of national importance should be made). As silly as it is serious, Babo 73 takes no prisoners. No More Excuses is the rowdiest of Downey’s early films (which is saying a lot), and interweaves five scenarios into one raucous amalgamation. A dazed Yankee Civil War soldier (Downey) mysteriously awakens in modern NYC where, naturally, he heads to Yankee Stadium; Alan Abel, Director of the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, speaks of his crusade to clothe all animals; a killer repeatedly bungles an assassination of President James Garfield; a priestly perv and a chimp hit up a plus-sized lover; and, Downey visits the seriously swinging singles scene that is the original T.G.I. Friday’s on the Upper East Side. No More Excuses is unhinged, downright funny, and art brut to the max.
Babo 73 Dir. Robert Downey, 1964, 35mm, 59 min.
No More Excuses Dir. Robert Downey, 1968, 35mm, 44 min.
Babo 73 and No More Excuses were preserved by Anthology Film Archives with the support of The Film
Foundation
Tickets - $10
11/13, 7:30pm show
11/20, 10:00pm show
11/13 @ 10:00pm + 11/20 @ 7:30pm/ SERIES: ROBERT DOWNEY, SR. - A PRINCE
 Chafed Elbows
shown with
Moment To Moment
In Chafed Elbows, hapless Walter Dinsmore undergoes his annual November breakdown at the 1954 World’s Fair, has a love affair with his mother, recollects his hysterectomy operation, impersonates a cop, is sold as a piece of living art, goes to heaven and becomes a rock star--but not necessarily in that order. Downey shot this ground-zero satire of his Greenwich Village bohemian scene with a still 35mm camera (a la La Jetee), and had the film processed at Walgreens. Moment To Moment is both highly personal and completely illogical, and stars the great Elsie Downey, the director’s then-wife, who drives the film with her boisterous performance in more than ten roles. Shot and edited piecemeal over a few years, this sketch film is a collage of everything from staged scenes to home movies, and features a soundtrack by the legendary Jack Nitzsche and David Sanborn. No matter what you call it, this film is Downey at his most avant-garde and absurd.
Chafed Elbows Dir. Robert Downey, 1966, 35mm, 57 min.
Moment To Moment Dir. Robert Downey, 1975, DigiBeta, 73 min.
Chafed Elbows and Moment to Moment were preserved by Anthology Film Archives with the support of The Film
Foundation
Tickets - $10
11/13, 10:00pm show
11/20, 7:30pm show
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