Up All Night with Robert Downey Sr.

Robert Downey Sr.'s place in American underground filmmaking has long been secured thanks to his 1969 satire, Putney Swope, a film that still resonates with its disturbing riff on race relations and corporate power struggles—a tale that is launched when the black Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson) is unintentionally elevated to the position of chairman of the board of a high-powered Madison Avenue advertising agency. In this anthology from the Criterion Collection's barebones Eclipse series, Putney Swope is joined by four lesser-known Downey endeavors. Babo 73 (1964) stars Taylor Mead as Sandy Studsbury, a disastrous future president of the “United Status” who is weighed down by bickering advisers and a military threat from the “Red Siamese.” Chafed Elbows (1966) takes a style cue from Chris Marker's landmark La Jetée, employing a still-photography montage to detail the journey of beleaguered Walter Dinsmore (George Morgan) through a surreal Manhattan day. No More Excuses (1968), co-directed with Robert Soukis, features Downey as a Civil War soldier who falls during battle and inexplicably wakes up in then-contemporary (and absurdly politicized) New York. Finally, Two Tons of Turquoise to Taos Tonight is a re-edited version of the filmmaker's 1975 Moment to Moment, starring Downey's ex-wife, Elsie, as multiple characters in a plot-less series of bizarre sketches (the couple's young son, future star Robert Downey, Jr., also shows up in a bit part). Unlike the laser-focused and brutally original Putney Swope, the other Downey films come across as half-baked ideas casually cobbled together. Still, fans of vintage underground cinema may enjoy this collection of the director's rarely seen early works. A strong optional purchase. (P. Hall)