Original Putney Swope Movie Posters

Welcome to the official Film/Art Gallery collection of original Putney Swope vintage movie posters. Film/Art Gallery offers a wide range of movie posters and artwork for the cinema's ultimate satirical comedy films.

Putney Swope is a satirical comedy film written and directed by Robert Downey Sr. and starring Arnold Johnson as the title character, a black advertising executive in 1969. The film makes fun of the advertising world, the portrayal of race in Hollywood films, the white power structure, and the nature of corporate corruption.

On July 10th, 1969, the film opened at Cinema II in New York City and reached $32,281 in its first week. It also opened in Los Angeles on January 21st, 1970. The film's poster, which has a female representing the middle finger of a hand, caused some controversy and it was not printed by the Los Angeles Times nor reprinted by the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner after initial complaints. The advertisement also caused some controversy in Chicago with the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Today refusing to publish it. The Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Daily News later published the advertisement without the woman as the middle finger. Roger Ebert was embarrassed by the Sun-Times' censorship and the film set a house record of $16,000 at the 3 Penny Cinema in Chicago when it opened in February 1970 and, in LA, it was felt that the controversy also gave a boost to the film. Putney Swope was selected for the United States National Film Registry in 2016, by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Film/Art Gallery’s collection of original Putney Swope movie posters includes a Lobby Card 11"x14" set of four. Our Putney Swope poster collection also includes a rare size Half Sheet (22x28) with quotes and a famous photo image.

Film/Art Gallery movie posters are original prints and film poster collectibles. These are original movie posters. We do not carry any movie poster reproductions or reprints of any kind.