Aficionados of Crumb's work weren't enthralled by the movie when it came out, and time hasn't been kind to it.
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:17
Fresh:9
Rotten:8
Average Rating:5.3/10
Runtime: 79 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Based on a series of comics by underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, this X-rated animated film brings a cynical eye to the idealism of the 1960s. It's a world where black people are crows, cops are... Based on a series of comics by underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, this X-rated animated film brings a cynical eye to the idealism of the 1960s. It's a world where black people are crows, cops are pigs, rabbis are lions, and cats--like New York University student Fritz (voiced by Skip Hinnant)--are substituted for guilt-ridden white guys who want to be poets but mainly smoke pot and engage in group sex. After a drug bust by a couple of bumbling pigs makes him an outlaw, Fritz sets fire to his NYU dorm and hits the road in search of self-discovery. The crazy cat steals a car, starts a race riot in Harlem, and ends up stuck outside San Francisco with a group of sadistic revolutionaries led by a junkie biker rabbit. Throughout these adventures, Fritz's pot-addled self-righteousness gradually gives way to a deeper understanding of life, but perhaps too late to extract himself from a terrorist plot. FRITZ THE CAT was director Ralph Bakshi's first feature, and it carries many of his future themes--ultra bleak urban landscapes, cynically guarded idealism, grotesque sexuality, and raucously over-the-top moments of violence. [More]
Director: Ralph Bakshi
Director: Ralph Bakshi
Reviews for Fritz the Cat
Despite some ingenious effects, a generally trivial exercise that never matches the punch of the original.
Excellent animation and montage shore up a plot which has a few howls, several chuckles and many smiles.
The results, inevitably, were disappointing -- Bakshi just didn't have the money to make it right.
Full of animated, nude, cartoon animals and some of the most vitriolic racism (disguised as empowerment) ever put on film, Fritz the Cat is so bad that Crumb, after seeing the film, killed the character in one of his comics.
Despite the somewhat meandering nature of its plot, the film's underlying messages about social hypocrisy on all levels still has a strong bite to it, and it remains one of the more creative and daring forays in feature-length animation.
Those who consider themselves un-cool can still take pleasure in viewing this strange adult-oriented feature length cartoon, the likes of which flourished briefly in the 1970s but never became established as mainstream entertainment.
Despite the curiosity it inspires, the world's first X-rated cartoon falls flat in its first ten minutes.
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