Putney Swope (1969)
Comedy • 1h 25m
Overview
Swope—the only black man on the executive board of an advertising firm—is accidentally put in charge after the death of the chairman.
Director: Robert Downey Sr.
Cast: Arnold Johnson, Stan Gottlieb, Allen Garfield, Archie Russell, Ramon Gordon, Bert Lawrence, Joe Madden, Antonio Fargas, Laura Greene, Allan Arbus, Pepi Hermine, Ruth Hermine, Shelley Plimpton, Elżbieta Czyżewska, Peter Maloney, David Kirk, Don George, Buddy Butler, Vincent Hamill, Tom Odachi, Robert Staats, Alan Abel, Sol Brawerman, Steven Ben Israel, Luise Heath, Anthony Chisholm, George Morgan, Lawrence Wolf, Peter Benson, Chuck Green, Ching Yeh, Spunky-Funk Johnson, Joe Fields, Norman Schreiber, Barbara Clarke Chisolm, Catherine Lojacono, Johnjohn Robinson, Charles Carlton Buffum, Ron Palombo, Geegee Brown, Vance Amaker, Al Green, Chuck Ender, Walter Jones, Khaula Bakr, Melvia Marshall, Annette Marshall, Andrea Marshall, Laraaji, Eric Krupnik, Abdul Hakeim, Jesse McDonald, C. Robert Scott, Leopoldo Mandeville, Vince Morgan Jr., Al Browne, Marie Claire, Eileen Peterson, William H. Boesen, Carol Farber, Cerves McNeill, Carolyn Cardwell, Paul Storob, Jeff Lord, Tom Boya, Major Cole, David Butts, Franklin Scott, Paul Alladice, Exit, Ronnie Dyson, Paulette Marron, Delilah, Carol Hobbs, Birgitta, Grania, Marco Heiblim, Larry Greenfield, Lloyd Kagin, Perry Gewirtz, Herbert Kerr, Hal Schochet, Fred Hirschhorn, George Marshall, Donald Lev, Donald Breitman, Don Calfa, Marlene Clark, Robert Downey Sr., Mama Lu Parks, David Downing, Bob Larkin, Annette Larkins, Wendy Appel
Director: Orson Welles
MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar
Director: Orson Welles
MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar
Director: Robert Wise
Disney 4K Blu-ray, see caps https://slow.pics/c/hE3HUCdj
Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.
All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.
Director: Robert Wise
Disney 4K Blu-ray, see caps https://slow.pics/c/hE3HUCdj
Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.
All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.
Director: André de Toth
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: André de Toth
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: Sidney Lumet
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
2011 Criterion Blu-ray is the best. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has heavily filtered audio
Director: Sidney Lumet
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
2011 Criterion Blu-ray is the best. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has heavily filtered audio
Director: John McTiernan
Director: John McTiernan
Director: John Ford
Director: John Ford
1991 Warner Bros LaserDisc (for original mono track)
1996 Warner Bros 25th Anniversary LaserDisc has isolated music and effects track (incorrectly labeled "music minus vocals") not present on any other release
1991 Warner Bros LaserDisc (for original mono track)
1996 Warner Bros 25th Anniversary LaserDisc has isolated music and effects track (incorrectly labeled "music minus vocals") not present on any other release
Director: Alfred E. Green
Director: Alfred E. Green
Director: John Waters
Director: John Waters
Director: Albert Brooks
Director: Albert Brooks
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Director: James Bridges
Director: James Bridges
Director: Bill Forsyth
Director: Bill Forsyth
Director: Stuart Heisler
Director: Stuart Heisler
Director: Jean Rollin
Director: Jean Rollin
Director: David Hemmings
Director: David Hemmings
More Comedy on Blu-ray
Director: Jean Renoir
The Criterion 4K Blu-ray has marginally better detail and grain structure than ESC 4K Blu-ray
The ESC France 4K Blu-ray is an SDR grade erroneously presented in HDR, but if your player can force the HDR into SDR it looks very good.
Director: Jean Renoir
The Criterion 4K Blu-ray has marginally better detail and grain structure than ESC 4K Blu-ray
The ESC France 4K Blu-ray is an SDR grade erroneously presented in HDR, but if your player can force the HDR into SDR it looks very good.
Director: George Sidney
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: George Sidney
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: John Waters
Director: John Waters
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Kino Lorber 4k resto
The audio on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray comes from a better source than the various DVDs and the previous HD version on streaming. This audio is relatively untampered with, and is likely the best available source as no laserdisc was ever issued.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Kino Lorber 4k resto
The audio on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray comes from a better source than the various DVDs and the previous HD version on streaming. This audio is relatively untampered with, and is likely the best available source as no laserdisc was ever issued.
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Director: Ken Hughes
MGM Blu-ray's stereo track.
MGM's 7.1 track is a remix with a few flaws and much worse fidelity. Capelight's stereo and 7.1 track are both from the remix.
The movie was originally premiered as a roadshow release, with a a 70mm 6-Track Stereo mix. This mix, unfortunately has not been released on home video.
The closest thing to that mix, is the stereo track included on the 2010 Blu-ray. It sounds great, with high fidelity and little filtering. It's lossy, but that doesn't matter very much.
Both the DVD 5.1 and the Blu-ray 7.1 tracks (identical on both discs) are a new remix, rather than a repackaging of the original mix. The 7.1 track sounds quite muffled, though not evenly so. The Capelight Blu-ray's lossless stereo track uses the same remix, but with higher fidelity than the surround tracks, sounding significantly less muffled. Compared to the original, this remix sounds wider and more "cleaned up". The remix contains a handful of errors, for example the intermission cue fades out, rather than ending correctly.
Comparison samples
Director: Ken Hughes
MGM Blu-ray's stereo track.
MGM's 7.1 track is a remix with a few flaws and much worse fidelity. Capelight's stereo and 7.1 track are both from the remix.
The movie was originally premiered as a roadshow release, with a a 70mm 6-Track Stereo mix. This mix, unfortunately has not been released on home video.
The closest thing to that mix, is the stereo track included on the 2010 Blu-ray. It sounds great, with high fidelity and little filtering. It's lossy, but that doesn't matter very much.
Both the DVD 5.1 and the Blu-ray 7.1 tracks (identical on both discs) are a new remix, rather than a repackaging of the original mix. The 7.1 track sounds quite muffled, though not evenly so. The Capelight Blu-ray's lossless stereo track uses the same remix, but with higher fidelity than the surround tracks, sounding significantly less muffled. Compared to the original, this remix sounds wider and more "cleaned up". The remix contains a handful of errors, for example the intermission cue fades out, rather than ending correctly.
Comparison samples
Director: John Ford
Director: John Ford
Edit History
4/18/2026
Format
Added
1080p Blu-ray
Added
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly Release
Best Video Release
Blu-ray.com
Added
https://www.blu-ray.com/Putney-Swope/940068/#Releases
Added
https://www.blu-ray.com/Putney-Swope/940068/#Releases
caps-a-holic
Added
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=15507&d2=15508&c=5895
Added
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=15507&d2=15508&c=5895
DVDBeaver
Added
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film11/blu-ray_review_162/putney_swope_blu-ray.htm
Added
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film11/blu-ray_review_162/putney_swope_blu-ray.htm
