NO MORE EXCUSES
by Robert Downey Sr.
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
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