Fritz The Cat - DVD File

MOVIE
VIDEO
AUDIO
EXTRAS
OVERALL

One Disc
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
English, French & Spanish Subtitles
Original Theatrical Trailer
Run Time: 79 Minutes
Keep Case

MOVIE
Not Rated, but received an X on initial release in 1972. Sexual perversion, drug use, violence, racial slurs, you name it.

I try to be open minded, and I like to see what caused controversy. Boy, the early seventies were quite a time for avant garde films, weren't they. I wouldn't know, I didn't pop up until the late seventies, and even then, just barely. But specifically 1972 produced two X rated films that were legendary to a budding young film enthusiast such as myself. The first, of course, was my guiltiest of guilty pleasures, Pink Flamingos, the grand gugnol of all filth movies (that the Farrely Brothers or Trey Parker and Matt Stone will never touch, thank you very much) and the other was this strange, and only rumored film, Fritz the Cat. All I had to hear were the words "X Rated Cartoon" for my mind to be sent into a tizzy, imagining the possibilities. My ten year old mind came up with some pretty interesting ideas of what might actually be in the film, believe you me. But now, looking back over a decade later, I realize that the promise of what this film might hold could never have lived up to my expectations. Well, it could've, but the result would've had to be a bizarre amalgamation of Disney animation with Dr. Strangelove satire and throw in a couple of John Holmes movies, then hit puree. It would've had to be all that to even come close to what I expected. Now, Pink Flamingos came into my keep, Fritz the Cat never did. So, years later, when perusing my Netflix list, filling out ratings for movies I've seen, because I'm simply determined to get to the end of their damned list, I stumbled across Fritz the Cat, and in a moment of lunacy, pressed the Rent button.
Fritz The Cat (voiced by Skip Hinnant) is the titular character from the film and also the comic series created by R. Crumb, who has disavowed any responsibility for this film and calls the production and its makers a constant source of embarrassment. (For more info on THIS subject, pick up Terry Zwigoff's excellent documentary Crumb) He's a college student in the sixties who decides to rebel in the only way he knows how, organizing an uprising amongst the Crows (now there's a subtle stereotype referencing), having promiscuous sex and indulging in every kind of drug he can get his hands on. But then I guess that WAS the revolution in the sixties. The plot, though, is really inconsequential as it serves little more purpose than guiding us through Ralph Bakshi's rambling thoughts about racism and the problems inherent with the revolutionaries in the sixties, something I can imagine owes only a little to R. Crumb's original vision.
But what does this mean today? Is it at all relevant any longer? Well, no, not really. And I doubt it was terribly relevant in the early seventies either. I'd imagine that most people flocked to it (as I'm told they did) for the same reason I did. It's a friggin' X RATED CARTOON! Many also were likely followers of Crumb's perverse artwork. So what are we left with? Well, I will give the film this, it starts off well, with philosophical ideas and fly on the wall type conversations about the nature of the world and the people in it at that time. But it flip flops too often between this attempt at wry political satire and lurid animated sex that, when you get right down to it, is hardly lurid at all and would likely just get an R today. On top of that, while the character designs deftly match Crumb's style and artwork, the animation is, again, rather dreary and disappointing.
I've seen several other films by Ralph Bakshi, and was less than thrilled by all of them. The Lord of the Rings suffered from over ambition and a weak budget, Wizards was too angry and dark for its own good, and not even a pre fame Brad Pitt and pre Oscar Kim Basinger could save Bakshi's Roger Rabbit rip-off Cool World. But most of all, I think Bakshi's style is the weakest link in his chains. His overuse of watercolor background, tie-dye colors that cycle as the image moves is almost nauseating at times, and really, when going for gritty realism, why does that include having two characters, at two separate times, unzip, take their penises out and piss on camera. Harvey Keitel hadn't yet made this sort of thing cool, Ralph, and I don't think he's quite succeeded even in this age of enlightenment.
The biggest flaw in the film, though, is I don't believe Bakshi ever really decides who's side he's on. Does he believe the sixties were an enlightened time of political debate and free love as the hippies would tell us? Or does he believe that those practicing the above were truly the wanderers lost in the woods. Or does he hint at a greater beast, slouching towards Bethlehem to be born, as Yeats would say? I can answer none of these questions, but perhaps I'm missing the whole point of the film. Or maybe there truly isn't a point to get, and anarchy is what it's really all about.

VIDEO QUALITY
I've never seen Fritz The Cat in any other version, so I can't comment on the quality of the video compared to the quality of the film itself. I can however say that this film hasn't aged well. The print is full of scratches and grain, particularly in a single scene towards the middle where we focus on a black wall for a few minutes. So many artifacts cross that frame that one wonders if MGM just felt like dumping this "AS IS" into the market. Likely the case. However, it is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and has been enhanced in Anamorphic Widescreen. So, you could be at home watching a High Def version of Fritz The Cat. Why aren't you going?

AUDIO QUALITY
The audio suffers from aging as well, but also likely owes a lot to way it was originally recorded. Most of the voices have a distinct echo that almost seems to scream out that the film wasn't produced very well in the first place. The film has been presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono which is always a thrill, having the exact same soundtrack simply pumped out at us from two separate speakers. This does, though, preserve the original soundtrack. Very unimpressive.

EXTRAS
On a film like this, you'd think, someone would want to talk about it. I'm sure there's archived information about the controversy, how about interviews with Bakshi? Any of the voice talent? Something? No, we only get a scratchy original theatrical trailer. How depressing.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
Am I glad I saw Fritz The Cat? Yes. It's another on my long list of "I should see that..." that I can put an X next to. I'll give it one thing, it's a truly unique film, and of course quite surreal for most of its running time. But unfortunately, not surreal in the sense that Bakshi was trying to make a surreal head trip film, just strange. Because it really is strange to see a cartoon character with genitals that isn't in a sex-ed book. It's just odd. Those hoping for an ogle fest best stay away, though, you'll definitely be turned off by the 70-80% dialogue driven political debates. If you are a fan, though, priced at under fifteen dollars, how can you go wrong?