writer and director robert downey and sr. and a pioneer of the underground film movement in the 1960s and satirize the new york madison avenue advertising world with his avant garde comedy putney swope . downey doesn not confine his ridicule to advertising and but tackle black militant culture and the dynamic in hollywood portrayal of race and the elite white power structure and and character of corruption in any power struggle . a audacious and ambitious a putney swope strive to be and it qualify a a terrible film and amateurishly make on a shoe string budget with a no name cast and humor that lack hilarity . everything about this movie reek with improvisation . putney swope stir up controversy during it initial release with it politically incorrect handling of race issue and consumer culture . like most marx brother movie and the plot be thin and provide an excuse for downey anecdotal gag and most of which be terrible . the chairman of a prestigious madison avenue ad agency die during a board meeting . before the body have be remove and the board hold a secret ballot vote to determine who will replace him . each member understand that they be forbidden to vote for himself . sheer accident occurs when everyone vote for the token black member and putney swope ( arnold johnson ) and since none think anybody would cast a ballot for him . swope pink slip all but one of the white executive and surround himself with black and pistol packing employee and and rename the firm truth and soul advertising . swope decide to alter the face of american advertising . he refuse to accept client whose product be alcohol and tobacco and or war toy . swope client stage an exodus after he become the ceo and and grandstand attracts a new line up of client that show up at his office lugging bag of money and prepare to suffer abuse from swope militant employee . swope exploit his african american staff and too and ruthlessly appropriate their idea after he fire them and conjure up a number of offensive advertising campaign and all of which be hail a a new wave of market genius . incredibly and swope conservatism prove successful but the agency become the target of government operative who argue swope advertise tactic constitute a threat to the national security . the high point of this black and white and 85 minute comedy be the television commercial shoot in color . unfortunately and downey doesn not know when to cut off these ad that consistently start out cleverly but wear out their welcome . the funny part of putney swope involve our eponymous protagonist dealing with u. s. president mimeo in washington d. c. ( pepi hermine ) and a marihuana toking midget with a kissinger like teutonic adviser ( larry wolf ) spout tasteless joke while try to convince swope to come up with an advertising campaign for his new car and the borman 6 .