Fritz The Cat

Fritz the Cat (1972)


Runtime: 78 minutes


Directed by: Ralph Bakshi


Starring: This is an animated film


From: Fritz Productions


My apologies for this being a few hours late. S*** happens.


A messageboard conversation inspired me to watch this, a movie I saw at least once in my college days but haven't seen since then. Back at the time me and some pals were amused by the movie and how when it was first released it had an X rating (not deserved, especially not by today's standards) and you have anthropomorphic characters doing a lot of crazy things-including getting nude, having sex, and doing drugs-which makes me think now that furries must LOVE this movie, which is based on a famous R. Crumb comic strip of the time but the bizarre Crumb hated the film for whatever reasons.


I'll actually borrow the plot description from its Wikipedia page: “Fritz is an anthropomorphic cat living in 1960's New York City who explores the ideas of hedonism and sociopolitical consciousness. The film is a satire focusing on American college life in the era, race relations, the free love movement, and left and right-wing politics”.


I am amused that this is still the most successful independent animated film of all time. People must have been real interestd in seeing an “adult cartoon” way before the days of adult anime. As for the movie, boy is it uneven; it's a series of vignettes loosely tied together as Fritz experiences a series of adventures. He has to deal with crows (black people) and pigs (cops, of course), among other things. He gets horny after smoking a lot of weed, and he has to deal with everything from starting a race riot to dealing with a strung out Nazi bunny biker in the desert. Really.


The interesting thing about the movie is that the lead character is often shown to be a buffoon; he has leftist ways and he's definitely idealistic, but not realistic and his beliefs are frequently shown to be wrong and foolish. You shouldn't be a “guilty white person” who feels bad for how African-Americans were treated and say that for revenge they should start a race riot, for example.


Overall, like I said it's uneven but I did enjoy both its satire and all the vulgarity, from characters pissing, to all the nudity and sex, them getting high on drugs... good times! I did also enjoy the unique animation style and how it wasn't all the same and instead there was a variety. The musical score was also pretty groovy and funky, and nice usage of songs by Bo Diddley and Billie Holiday. So yes I am glad I saw it again after all of this time. By the way, I have seen the sequel, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat; it's not as good and Bakshi wasn't even involved.



I'll be back Tuesday night.