Word: comically
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...mostly loud guffaws. But after less than a decade Pop art has not only come of age; it has -such is the accelerated pulse of art movements today-almost become venerable. As a sure sign of esteem, New York's Guggenheim is now holding a retrospective of the comic-strip-inspired works of Roy Lichtenstein, and the saggy, baggy sculptures of Claes Oldenburg are on display at the Museum of Modern Art. The Whitney Museum, not to be outdone, will exhibit another major Pop artist, Jim Dine, in February...
...funny, which is often, it is with the precarious humor of Harold Lloyd teetering on the edge of a cliff, or Charlie Chaplin falling into a machine. The pictures visually crowd the spectator, jostle and shout at him. All the vernacular of commercialism-billboards, neon signs, girlie magazines, comic books-provides the imagery. By using such familiar props, the Pop artists are commenting on the new urban landscape of supermarkets and motel rooms, of roadsides and TV commercials, a civilization in which the old-fashioned nature celebrated by old-fashioned artists has become merely a fleeting view from the window...
...from being wooden, Deloria says, Indians are wildly comic. He invokes two favorite subjects of Indian mirth. One is Custer, who was found wearing "an Arrow shirt," and the other is Columbus. Indians, watching his landing, groaned, "There goes the neighborhood." Deloria cites bumper-sticker slogans: "God is Red" and "We Shall Overrun." There are other contemporary jokes, like the one about a poll which disclosed that while only 15% of the Indians wanted U.S. forces to get out of Viet Nam, 85% wanted U.S. forces to get out of America. The source of Indian humor, Deloria makes clear...
...still untouched by human hands," Dwyer complains before righting the situation during a drunken brawl. Ginger, shaken up just a bit at first, finally recovers and marries Jill, who by now is great with Dwyer's child. All of this is supposed to be comic, but it comes out grubby melodrama. There is, as partial compensation, some excellent location photography of suburban London by Cameraman Larry Pizer, but that's just so much frosting on a half-baked slice of lowlife...
PUTNEY SWOPE is a fantastic movie, but people who still believe in the alphabet and political movements are going to have a lot of trouble with it. While the film does have some moments of pure comic entertainment value (like a lot of obscene commercials made by the militants' "Truth and Soul" advertising agency), it is not enough of a comedy to hold an audience for laughs alone...