Apologies in advance for the bewbs. Fritz the Cat was Ralph Bakshi's debut film, based on the comic strip Fritz the Cat by R. Crumb. As I'm unfamiliar with the original source material I can't reliably give a comparison or commentary on the content (I do know Crumb hated the film and said Bakshi misinterpreted his characters etc.) so all I can say is that this film offends and amuses on many levels. I think culturally, for its time it was significant because animation was dominated by Disney and geared towards family therefore squeaky clean and innocent, and Fritz the Cat is crude, depraved even, as it focuses on the hedonistic lifestyle of an idealistic 'cool cat' (pun not intended) and the satire of college students/revolutionaries/free thinkers and their views on racism, lifestyles and society. I mildly enjoyed the art - slightly experimental with the traditional animation juxtaposed with more Crumb-style images, and photo overlays and expressive watercolor (?) washes for transitional city scenes. Overall I wasn't crazy about the content of the film, but the message at the end was cool. I'm now just more interested in diving in to Crumb's original story, though I can't say I think I'll be prepared for it.
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