Fritz the Cat
*Screengrabs come from a rated-R film if under 17 please return to the main page.
Year of release: 1972
Director: Ralph Bashki
Studio: Warner Bros.
Where to buy the film: Whole Toon Catalog(low quality later release)
Where to buy the soundtrack: Amazon.com(Fritz soundtrack comes paired with "Heavy Traffic")
Where to buy Crumbs' "The Life and Death of Fritz the Cat" :Amazon.com
Fritz the Cat was the first feature film to come from Ralph Bashki(later to follow up with "Heavy Traffic" and "Coonskin") and the first animated feature to (undeservedly, it was later reclassified as an R) earn an X rating.
Fritz the Cat is based on the underground comic strip by the same name penned by Robert Crumb. Crumb was in fact involved with the making of the film until he was able to see an early print of the film and decried Bashki's treatment of the character. Despite Crumb's trying to have the film's release stopped, "Fritz the Cat" was released in 1972 to mixed critical reviews. It remains a watershed in animated feature film making, finally bringing the genre to an adult audience and paving the way for other film makers to move away from the "Disney style" of animated film making.
As a side note the original Fritz movie was followed up by a sequel "The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat" a complete failure in my opinion. This film was not directed by Bashki and should not be confused with the original
*The quality of these screen shots is not great due to the print of the film that I own. Please excuse their shoddy quality, I'll replace them as soon as I find a better copy of the film.
*More to come......
