Quick takes on 5 Downey Sr films

Just about everyone knows the films of Robert Downey Jr, most recently his big Marvel blockbusters, but I’d venture to guess not many know the films of his dad. Robert Downey Sr made some quirky, low budget films in his his career as a writer and director. Coming up in the 60’s, he made a name for himself in the independent, underground, counter-culture movement. His first feature film was Babo 73, which follows the president of the “United Status” (played by Andy Warhol film regular Taylor Mead), a man more keen on being left alone than actually running the government. He is advised by his “right hand man,” a fascist warmonger, and his “left hand man,” a pacifist communist, as their country bumbles through foreign relations with other countries and is later invaded by one of them. Goofy and downright “out there,” I still found it thoroughly entertaining. Not a minute goes by without a sight gag or word play that made me chuckle. It’s probably the silliest thing I’ve seen in a long time that I really enjoyed. Definitely not for everyone, and probably not even for me on a different day, but today it caught me at just the right time for a few stupid laughs at some hard hitting satire.

A couple years later, Downey made his first hit, Chafed Elbows. This one follows Walter Dinsmore and his hilariously crazy adventures, starting with him leaving his lover before her husband comes home, and we immediately learn the husband is Walter’s father, because the woman is his mother. This incestuous relationship is perfectly normal in the upside-down world of Walter Dinsmore, as is pretending to be a cop and directing traffic in Times Square; dying and going to heaven, only to meet a not-so-virgin Mary and God, who appears to be a 12 year old Fidel Castro, who sends Walter back to earth; and other such zany escapades. Walter attracts the weirdest citizens, like a dirty sock sniffer and an “art collector” who makes Walter become a living piece of art for his collection, to go along with “dog on the floor” and “wife in the kitchen.” Totally irreverent, but man is it a hoot. I read online that the film was made for just $12000. It is mostly a series of 35mm camera still shots (developed at Walgreens!) and set to a narration. After 2 films now, I can see Downey’s nutty but entertaining style.

Downey continues his documentary-like approach in No More Excuses, which follows a handful of storylines. There is a Civil War union soldier who wakes up in modern New York, an infomercial where the speaker talks about the need to clothe our animals because of their indecency, the assassination of President Garfield, and regularly spaced throughout, interviews with people who go to singles bars and the growth of the sexual revolution. I still had chuckles, but the lack of a cohesive central figure to follow made it overall a tougher film for me to get into. Just not as good as the first two films.

Downey’s most famous film is Putney Swope from 1969. Putney is the token black man on the board of an advertising agency. When the chairman dies and the board holds an impromptu vote for his replacement, everyone votes for Putney thinking no one else would vote for him. Swope fires all the old white guys and keeps a single token white man employed (who gets paid less than the black workers!), and the people Putney surrounds himself with all have their own agendas. At first, Putney tries to go straight with the company, refusing to work with companies who sell tobacco or alcohol, but greed turns him into a despot before the end. This satirical film holds nothing back, and no one is safe. Downey pokes fun at social norms, the government, hollywood films, religion, and, of course, race relations. It’s probably Downey’s most cohesive film and is certainly more polished than his previous efforts (thanks to a bigger budget), but it loses none of its bite.

Two Tons of Turquoise to Taos Tonight (originally titled Moment to Moment), from 1975, isn’t so much a film as a series of sketches, what seems like 100 of them since most are just a minute or two long. Even the sketches don’t have stories to tell, it’s just a series of events and dialogue to elicit a laugh. It’s like watching SNL, with even smaller sketches, but even SNL usually has a point to their sketches. I don’t see a point in most of this film, and you would think that would kill its entertainment value, but like Downey’s other films, it is still very funny. It even has a couple familiar faces pop up, like Seymour Cassel of Cassavetes fame. This film was funded by some of Downey’s more famous admirers, including Hal Ashby, Norman Lear, and Jack Nicholson, and has a soundtrack put together by a younger David Sanborn. On another note, all female characters in the film are played by Downey’s wife Elsie (who did the same thing in Chafed Elbows).