ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
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ANTHOLOGY PRESERVATION PREMIERES!
ROBERT DOWNEY: A PRINCE
SEPTEMBER 12-18

“After being thrown out of the house, four schools and the United States Army, I discovered that I was on the right track.” –Robert Downey Sr.

With the support of Martin Scorsese and his Film Foundation, Anthology Film Archives is thrilled to announce that we have recently finished preserving and will be exhibiting the earliest films of Robert Downey Sr.: BABO 73 (1964), CHAFED ELBOWS (1967) and NO MORE EXCUSES (1968). Downey has located his seemingly "lost" mid-70s film MOMENT TO MOMENT (aka TWO TONS OF TURQOUISE TO TAOS TONIGHT) and has made a wonderful new transfer.

Robert Downey Sr.’s early films are just as rebellious, reckless and fun-loving as their maker in his youth. While perhaps best known for his advertising industry send-up PUTNEY SWOPE, Downey actually emerged from the early-1960s New American Cinema scene, America’s own new wave movement. Breakout hits from the underground movie circuit of that era, his outlandish satires BABO 73, CHAFED ELBOWS and NO MORE EXCUSES are as barbed as Lenny Bruce, as absurd as Alfred Jarry and as out-to-lunch as Eric Dolphy. Rough around the edges and all-around hilarious, Downey’s first films stand as landmark works in the history of independent cinema.

Preserved at last, and looking better than ever in 35mm, Anthology is proud to premiere these brand-new prints alongside the recently recovered ‘lost’ film MOMENT TO MOMENT. Only sporadically screened in the mid-70s, this wild pastiche features the matchless Elsie Downey in more than 10 roles.

All films (with the exception of MOMENT TO MOMENT) have been restored by Anthology Film Archives, with funding provided by The Film Foundation. Special thanks to Simon Lund (Cineric, Inc.) and Fran Bowen (Trackwise).

SCREENING SCHEDULE & FILM DESCRIPTIONS:

CHAFED ELBOWS
(1966, 57 minutes, 35mm)
Hmm…where to start? Hapless Walter Dinsmore undergoes his annual November breakdown at the 1954 World’s Fair, has a love affair with his mother, recollects his hysterectomy operation, impersonates a cop, is sold as a piece of living art, goes to heaven and becomes the singer in a rock band. But not necessarily in that order. A manic comedy made for a whopping $25,000, CHAFED ELBOWS was a commercial success that raised the flag of the underground film scene and elevated the good cause of bad taste. Downey actually raised part of the money with an ad in the Village Voice that read: “Walk softly and carry a blank check”. Produced over a couple of years, Downey photographed most of the movie with a still 35mm camera and had the film processed at Walgreens. These pictures were animated alongside a few live-action scenes and almost all the dialogue was dubbed to rather hilarious effect. One scene was even shot in Anthology’s upstairs theater back in the days when our building was still a defunct downtown courthouse. An ingenious comedy with a rare visual sensibility, comic-book playfulness and cheeky bad attitude, CHAFED ELBOWS is the best of all possible worlds.
–Friday, September 12 through Thursday, September 18 at 7:30 nightly.

NO MORE EXCUSES
(1968, 44 minutes, 16mm-to-35mm blow-up)
Perhaps the rowdiest of Downey’s early films (which is saying quite a lot), the truly incomparable NO MORE EXCUSES interweaves five short scenarios into one raucous amalgamation. A dazed Yankee Civil War soldier (played by Downey) mysteriously awakens in early-60s NYC where, naturally, he heads to Yankee Stadium; Alan Abel, Director of the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals (SINA), speaks from the heart of his group’s moral crusade to clothe all animals; Charles J. Guiteau repeatedly bungles his assassination attempts on President James Garfield; a priestly pervert and a chimp (yes, a chimp) engage with a plus-sized lover; and, in what just might be the most disorienting scenes, Downey visits the seriously swinging singles scene that is the original T.G.I. Friday’s on the Upper East Side. As unpredictable as it is unhinged, NO MORE EXCUSES is downright funny, and art brut to the max.
“In some grim and paranoid way, the movie often makes hilarious sense.” –Vincent Canby, NEW YORK TIMES
–Friday, September 12 at 9:00, Sunday, September 14 at 6:00, and Tuesday, September 16 at 9:00.

BABO 73
(1964, 59 minutes, 16mm-to-35mm blow-up)
Welcome to The United Status, a country led by President Taylor Mead. Say what? That’s right, this ribald satire focuses on superstar Mead’s blundering administration at the very brink of oblivion. Among their many problems, it seems, is that the Red Siamese have hatched a plan to flood the market with contraceptives in an effort to bring down the birthrate and debilitate the nation. The President and his crooked cabinet must plot counter-actions and defense maneuvers, as well as deal with dissension among their ranks. They spend most of their time wandering around Washington, DC, or hanging out on the beach (where all decisions of national importance should be made). As silly as it is serious, BABO 73 takes no prisoners.
“Mead looks like a cross between a zombie and a kewpie and speaks as if his mind and mouth were full of marshmallow.” –Brendan Gill, THE NEW YORKER
–Saturday, September 13 at 6:00, Sunday, September 14 at 9:00, and Wednesday, September 17 at 9:00.

MOMENT TO MOMENT
(1975, 73 minutes, 16mm-to-video)
Also known as TWO TONS OF TURQUOISE TO TAOS TONIGHT, and even as JIVE, this is a movie you’ve most likely never seen. Highly personal and at the same time completely illogical, this cacophonous comedy has virtually no semblance of a storyline or plot. The great Elsie Downey, the director’s then-wife and the mother of his children (who are featured prominently throughout), drives the film with her boisterous performance in what may very well be more than 10 roles. Shot and edited piecemeal over a few years, MOMENT TO MOMENT is a collage of everything from staged scenes to home movies, and features a soundtrack by the legendary Jack Nietszche and David Sanborn. No matter what you call it, this film is surely Downey at his most avant-garde and absurd.
–Saturday, September 13 at 9:00, Monday, September 15 at 9:00, and Thursday, September 18 at 9:00.

About Anthology Film Archives: Founded in 1970, Anthology’s mission is to exhibit, preserve, collect documentation about, and promote public and scholarly understanding of independent, classic, and avant-garde cinema. Anthology screens more than 900 film and video programs per year, publishes books and catalogs annually, and has preserved more than 700 films to date.
Directions: Anthology is at 32 Second Ave. at 2nd St. Subway: F or V to 2nd Ave; 6 to Bleecker.
Tickets: $8 for adults, $6 for students & seniors; $5 for members.