Header

TRUTH & SOUL

A Robert Downey Sr. Reader
Sale!

TRUTH & SOUL

A Robert Downey Sr. Reader

Author: Edited by Kier-La Janisse and Clint Enns

Original price was: $40.00.Current price is: $35.00. CAD

A film visionary known for risqué humour and fearless satire, Robert Downey, Sr. is one of American cinema’s most distinctive and playful artists. From his experimental 1960s shorts to his iconoclastic 1980s comedies and beyond, Downey led a remarkable and prolific life in which he produced varied and challenging works that are still beloved by audiences today, from the clash of Madison Avenue and Black nationalism in his early classic Putney Swope to his shocking humans-as-dogs musical Pound, all the way up to later works like Hugo Pool, a surprisingly tender romantic comedy that engages with the realities of living with ALS. And while Downey is best known for eccentric filmography, his far-ranging artistic influence extends to other important cultural spheres including the New York underground arts scene, off-Broadway theatre, music, comedy and even pedagogical theory.

Featuring new essays by 23 scholars, critics, archivists, and music historians and pop culture chroniclers alongside a selection of reprinted archival writings, Truth and Soul: A Robert Downey, Sr. Reader explores the cultural legacy of the many offbeat and fascinating works that he produced over his career, with a particular focus on how they intersect with race, class, consumerism, gender politics and debates of “highbrow”/”lowbrow” art. Each chapter provide readers with the context to understand and explore Downey’s work and to uncover the real truth and soul that brought life and laughter to his whimsical works.

Design by Luke Insect | Cover and title treatments by Andy Votel

In stock
Category:

Additional information

Publication Date

2025

Edition

First Edition Paperback

Pagecount

332

Dimensions

6 x 8"

Publisher

Spectacular Optical

Contents

FIT FOR (A PRINCE): READING TRUTH & SOUL
Clint Enns and Kier-La Janisse

“ROCKIN’ THE BOAT’S A DRAG. YOU GOTTA SINK THE BOAT!” ROBERT DOWNEY SR. AND THE CINEMA OF ANARCHY
Wheeler Winston Dixon

STATIC ENERGY: RIBBING WARHOL AND MARKER IN CHAFED ELBOWS
Eivind Røssaak

FLATTERY IN FRIENDSHIP: THE COLLABORATIVE FILMS OF ALBERT CULLUM AND ROBERT DOWNEY SR.
Marko Djurdjic

THE SEXPLOITATION PAYCHECK: SWEET SMELL OF SEX
Samm Deighan

THE REAL, THE FAKE, AND THE “REAL” FAKE: NO MORE EXCUSES’ SATIRE ON THE SIMULACRA OF AMERICAN HISTORY, CULTURE AND HYPOCRISY
Gillian Wallace Horvat

Archival: ROBERT DOWNEY MAKES VILE MOVIES
Stephen Mahoney

REVOLUTIONARY COMEDY: THE MARX BROTHERS’ INFLUENCE ON ROBERT DOWNEY SR.
Christine Lucy Latimer

Archival: Excerpt on PUTNEY SWOPE from AMERICA BEHIND THE COLOR LINE
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

WAY OFF BROADWAY: ROBERT DOWNEY’S SOMERS STOCK
Don Swaynos

IT’S MY FAULT THAT I’M IN HERE: AFFECT THEORY, PERFORMATIVITY AND SPACE IN POUND
K.J. Relth-Miller

GOT TO HAVE SOUL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF CHARLEY CUVA, THE FINISHING SCHOOL AND THE PUTNEY-POUND SOUND
Andy Votel

COME THE ACID WESTERN: ROBERT DOWNEY IN THE FAR-OUT FRONTIER
Devon Deimler

NAMES WILL EVER HURT ME: HOW OZZIE & HARRIET SUCKED THE MARROW FROM STICKS AND BONES
Stephen R. Bissette

WHEN NITZSCHE MET DOWNEY: SHIPS PASSING IN THE HOLLYWOOD NIGHT
Rian Murphy

Archival: FROM PRINCE TO FOOL: AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT DOWNEY
Gerald Barrett

PUZZLE OF A DOWNFALL MUSE: ELSIE DOWNEY IN THE FORTRESS OF JIVE
Lisa Janssen

CONSTRUCTING CONTRADICTIONS: THE COLLAGE FILMS OF ROBERT DOWNEY SR.
Clint Enns

THE ABSURD WORLD OF LAWRENCE WOLF
Stephen Broomer

WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU CROSS (A PRINCE) WITH THE KING OF DAYTIME TELEVISION? THE GONG SHOW MOVIE
Robert Dayton

KICKING UP A FUSS: BEHIND THE SCENES OF UP THE ACADEMY
Kliph Nesteroff

WE’RE IN THIS CHAOS TOGETHER: AMERICA AND THE RISE OF INFO-TAINMENT
Kier-La Janisse

CARNIVALESQUE FANTASIES: ROBERT DOWNEY SR.’S TIME IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE
Sian Ingham

COMPROMISING POSITIONS: DOWNEY OUT IN CALIFORNIA
Cameron Moneo

I’M TOO SUPERFICIAL TO BE HURT: COPING FROM POOL TO POOL
Jefre Siegrist

COMPLIMENTS TO THE WORLD
Stan Warnow

THE “SR. CUT”
Kevin Ford