Sr., with Chris Smith, Robert Downey Jr., and Susan Downey

Followed by a conversation with director Chris Smith and Robert Downey Jr., and Susan Downey

Surprisingly or not, Robert Downey Jr., one of Hollywood’s A-list actors—a voice of the world-weary, drug-addled Gen X in the 1980s (Less than Zero) turned Marvel superhero (Iron Man)—is descended from underground movie royalty. It was from his father, Robert Downey Sr. (Putney Swope, Pound, Greaser’s Palace), and to a significant extent his actress mother, Elsie Downey, that Robert Jr. learned the craft of no-budget moviemaking, of improvisation both on screen and off, and of a certain reckless and sometimes immensely rewarding kind of creative abandon. Directed with uncommon sensitivity and acuity by Chris Smith (American Job, The Pool, Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond), this freewheeling portrait of Robert Downey Sr. features hilarious and revealing anecdotes of the highs and lows of 1960s and 1970s counterculture…and of growing up within it.

Featuring interviews with Paul Thomas Anderson, Alan Arkin, Norman Lear, and more.

(2022, dir. Chris Smith, DCP, color and black & white, 89 min. Courtesy Netflix)

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$20 general admission 

This film program is organized by Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, and Sean Egan, Producer, Film Exhibitions and Special Projects, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The Hammer Museum's presentation is made possible by The Billy and Audrey L. Wilder Foundation.