Bob Downey, Bob Downey, Bob Downey
Written by Joe D on October 1st, 2008A Young Bob Downey in NYC
The Film Fund headed by Martin Scorscese recently funded the restoration of some Underground classics made by the maverick director Bob Downey, a prince. I’m fortunate to say Bob is an old friend and that we worked together on several features and a couple of short films. He’s a great guy, an original who loves film and has made some of the coolest hit films of the Swinging 60’s. He’s getting his due with the restoration and re-release of some wild titles, Chafed Elbows, No More Excuses, and the excellent political satire Babo ’73.
Talk about making something out of nothing, Bob went on a tour of the White House with his actor (Taylor Mead playing the Pres of the USA) and after the tour group left the Oval Office, he stayed behind and filmed Mead at the desk. For No More Excuses Bob dressed as a Confederate soldier, then ran onto the field at Yankee Stadium with a musket during a game. He had cameramen stashed around the stands filming. He told me they were going to take him to Bellvue but finally a cameraman showed up to back up Bob’s story, he first had to take the film to the lab so it wouldn’t get seized. Hey film programmers out there, get in touch with Andrew Lambert at Anthology Film Archives and get a restored print of one of these classics to screen at your Cinema! Here’s a link to an NPR broadcast interview with Bob about his films:Interview