Fritz the Cat (1972)

Good movie but grossly overrated

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

In a weird way, this movie holds a special place in my heart. It was the first film my parents saw when they started dating, not that my mom cared much for it. I'm not a fan of Ralph Bakshi, but I think this is probably the best film he made that I've ever seen. I do appreciate learning about the history of animation, especially the first real adult cartoon that paved the way for future works, even if it's not that particularly well known. So, as strange as this film and as sexual as it gets, I'm going to say I liked it. It's very reflective of the 1960's or early 70's. Two thirds into the movie we're introduced to Fritz's girlfriend. She's probably the most likeable character in the film, if only because I feel sorry for her seeing as how Fritz is so freaking promiscuous. The animation is really nice in this and I appreciate the voice work as well. It definitely brings up some interesting topics and it's unique and honestly it seems to hold up today. The pig cops are easily the funniest characters. But yeah, it's certainly not for all tastes. ***

Cult-cartoonist Robert Crumb was a pioneer of the counterculture movement, with Fritz the Cat as the mascot (among many) of his psychedelic period. And Ralph Bakchi was an animator who thought that adults could do better than drawing cute creatures behind cubicles.The combination of both talents lead to the first X-rated animated feature, also the most successful independent animated feature to date. Bakchi contested the rating saying that pornography was supposed to involve humans; actually, I think the rating was right when you consider the same was given to "Midnight Cowboy".The problem is that the film isn't pornographic in the way we all picture pornography (at least now that Internet exists), the American Rating System just didn't have an intermediary category that could allow non-graphic films to target a wider audience. How do you make the difference? A porn film is only meant to arouse you, there's no other point, it has no story and works on the lowest emotional level.The same can't be said about "Fritz the Cat" whose sexual scenes are handled with a lot of humor and almost innocent fun by today's standards, sex is always funny, never arousing (they're animals for God's sake!) and the real defining aspect of the story is its raw, commentary on American society in the late 60's. And talk of a promising start! Three construction workers (average Joes) discuss during their break, seated on a girder. They complain about the collapse of American ideals: no family, no moral, no religion, it's not much what they say, but the way they say it that feels real and authentic. Just before shining the spotlight on the outcasts, the makers give the silent majority a shot.And does Ralph Bakchi stand for, exactly? Well, you almost get an answer when one of the worker pees and the yellow liquid form the opening credits before landing on a hippie's hair. In a way, it's kind of reassuring. We know the American Dream failed but the best movies of the New Hollywood period showed that the alternatives were no better.And these movies generally followed the same pattern: a misfit character trying to fit within a urban society full of contradictions and disillusions, where the American Dream shown its limitations after the racial riots, the Vietnam War and/or Richard Nixon, like "Easy Rider", "Midnight Cowboy", "The Last Detail", "Scarecrow" or "Taxi Driver".And with the opening discussion, the tone is set and we expect a film that will raise relevant social questions just like the others. And boy, did I set my expectations high, I must admit it, I'm a sucker for New Hollywood movies and the concept of "Fritz the Cat" had everything to please me, but while the film delivers a sharp critic of society, all made of conflicted interracial relationships or authority issues (the police officers are portrayed as pigs), as far as storytelling goes, this is another story.And this is a pity because the first part was so full of premises. Indeed, Fritz, a misfit student attracts three pretty suburban 'white' girls to a sordid apartment, just by pretending to be in a sort of existential quest, and this leads to a memorable orgy in a bathtub. This was a brilliant way to denounce the intellectual bullshit (mostly a bourgeois thing) where sex was the end of the fight for freedom, not the means. This is the line that separates between rebellion and decadence.It's also a denunciation in the same vein than the "South Park" episode when Stone and Parker settle their differences with hippies, portraying them as lazy parasites who betrayed their ideals and only thought of smoking pot and getting high while collecting acid trips, even Crumb admitted that he never got into that hippie movement.A similar scene occurs halfway through the film when Fritz, after having left the University, in quest of a 'real meaning', visits a black neighborhood. I don't know if it's a nod to "Dumbo" but blacks are portrayed as crows, is it shocking? No more, no less than having a Jewish cop being a pig… every group is equally assaulted in the film.Fritz starts a riot in Harlem, but then it goes out of control and the area is bombed with napalm and while he's leaving, he shouts a hypocritical "we shall overcome". Here again, violence is supposed to be the mean, but it becomes the end. Sex and violence are the two poles around which Fritz journey gravitates, the problem is that the film doesn't find its way and gets too episodic to let us digest the well-meant points it makes.A shame because the drawing (rather than the animation) was top notch, it encapsulates the spirit of the late 60's and never had the Big Apple felt so realistically rotten. There were many great characters, especially Duke, the crow, who could have made a great pair with Fritz, instead of the nagging feminist girlfriend who pops up in the third act, out of nowhere. Was Bakchi carried away by this project or in a rush to finish it? I don't know, but the last twenty minutes were too dark, even by the film's standards.It's even more frustrating because the first half is really enjoyable, but then I found myself waiting for something to happen and well, quoting one of the students, I wasn't "there" anymore.Of course, I could just love the film on the simple basis of its revolutionary aspect, that it broke new grounds in animation, was a gritty slice of American life in its most tormented era, but then I'd feel like the three students who were complimenting the black crow for nothing else but the fact that he was black.I didn't dislike the film, but I guess I'd be more fascinated by a film about its making, something worth a tag-line à la "Lolita".

Early 70's cynicism with the way of the world is captured in Fritz the Cat. It's a cartoon based on an underground comic created by Robert Crumb (although against his wishes apparently). It's probably most famous now for being the first X-rated animated movie. Up to that point in time, cartoons had more or less all been kiddy-friendly family films; Fritz the Cat was to challenge this and show that there was another way to go with this kind of thing. It was the first feature length animated movie from director Ralph Bakshi, who would go on to make several cult cartoons throughout the 70's, including the fantasy films Wizards (1977) and The Lord of the Rings (1978).Set in New York City, Fritz is a counter-cultural cat that lives a life of sexual and drug-taking excess. Police aggression results in him fleeing the city and going on a road trip. To be honest, the story-line is pretty minimal and not ultimately very important. Where this one scores is in its combination of irreverence and psychedelic visuals mixed in with anti-establishment social commentary. The animation is pretty crude, although the painted backdrops are nice, but there are some scenes that display an original approach. My favourite being the extended sequence that features the Bo Diddley tune. It does overall have a definite feel that works to its advantage though. The mean back-streets of NYC are depicted quite effectively and its denizens all have a certain undeniable character – we have the crows from Harlem (black people), the pig cops and, latterly, a spaced out, oddly threatening, heroin addicted biker rabbit. The soundtrack seems to continually churn out urban funk to set the scene. So, on the one hand this doesn't have the most engaging story and it has pretty rough animation, but on the other hand it's so of its time and sufficiently daring to ensure that it remains a very interesting watch all the same.

I admired the portrayal of women. Well done. What do women want actually? We are just vaginas and boobs with legs and arms and we are waiting for a guy to please us all the time, it doesn't matter who he is as long as he is a dude. We also share our guy with all the other women in the world because everything on this world is to please our masters. Men can do the revolution, we are not able to think about stuff, we don't even know what 'existential' means. Well, up yours Ralph Bakshi. This animation is just another example of superficial movies using 'deep stuff' to make itself look cooler or deeper than it really is. First of all, if you want to tell a story, you create one and show what you want to tell in that story, by creating a plot or using metaphors. You can't just shout the message directly. It is not storytelling, it is not a proper scriptwriting. I am sick of this kind of writers/directors using nudity and sex, or simply a couple of copy-paste philosophical messages and get all the votes. And most of the people just buy it and praise the show/movie like ' Wow, so deep. OMG, so brave. He is the voice of our generation. Great movie! ' . Anyone who is into film making will understand my point. There is no script, there is no plot or scenes that will help the backbone of the story if there is one. There is just irrelevant parts showing unrealistic women and their unrealistic reaction to penises as if they were playing in a porn movie, unnecessary sex scenes just to get attention, and copy-paste political messages that looks so detached. Just because characters shout ideas in some of the scenes doesn't mean it is a good/deep movie. Anyone can do that.And 2 points I gave were just the sake of the effort Bakshi made to make this crap.