The most popular film by the rabble-rouser American cult filmmaker is an acerbic satire about a black man in an advertising agency who accidentally gets elected as chairman by its white board. Initially adopting a militant approach by replacing the admen with a staff of black employees and rejecting business from alcohol and tobacco companies, the titular hero gradually loses himself in the corporate grind. Made at the height of the Black Power movement, the film is a send-up of advertising culture, a scathing attack on mainstream media’s racist treatment of African Americans, and a self-reflexive look at white fears. Putney Swope was ahead of its time, subsequently influencing the likes of Spike Lee’s Bamboozled and Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You.

Restored by the Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.