Putney Swope: Robert Downey Sr.'s Scorching Satire Comes to Criterion

The Film: Putney Swope (1969), now available via The Criterion Collection's Up All Night With Robert Downey Sr. box set

Why It’s an Inessential Essential: Filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. is probably more famous for being the father of Iron Man's megastar than he is for his scathing and surreal comedies. As part of the New York underground scene of avant garde filmmakers, Downey’s films, like the 1979 absurdist acid western Greaser’s Palace, are probably more linear and narrative-driven than most of his peers’ films. So it’s fitting that the stand-out title in the Criterion Collection’s new box set is both his most popular film and also his straight-est comedy.
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