Fritz the Cat (1972)

A hypocritical swinging college student cat raises hell in a satiric vision of various elements on the 1960's.

Director:

Ralph Bakshi

Writers:

Ralph Bakshi (screenplay), Robert Crumb (characters)

Stars:

Skip Hinnant, Rosetta LeNoire, John McCurry

Cast

Cast overview:
Skip Hinnant	...	Fritz the Cat (voice)
Rosetta LeNoire	...	Bertha / Additional Female Crows (voice)
John McCurry	...	Blue / John / Additional Voices (voice)
Judy Engles	...	Winston Schwartz / Lizard Leader (voice)
Phil Seuling	...	Pig Cop #2 (voice)

Storyline

A persiflage on the protest movements of the 60s. Its hero is the bold and sex-obsessed tom-cat Fritz the Cat, as created by the legendary underground artist Robert Crumb. Quitting university Fritz the Cat wanders through the hash, Black Panther and Hell's Angels scenes to find to himself.

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Plot Keywords:

cat | 1960s | robert crumb | animated nudity | stereotype | 

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Taglines:

He's X-Rated and Animated!

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Yiddish

Release Date:

16 October 1972 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Fritz el gato

Box Office

Budget:

$850,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 1,463,315 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aurica Finance Company, Black Ink, Fritz Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White (end credits) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ranked at #56 on Channel 4's list of 100 Greatest Cartoons.

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Goofs

When he emerges from the trash can, Fritz's outfit changes color from red to blue to red again between shots.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: Hey, yeah - the 1960s? Happy times, heavy times.

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Connections

Featured in Arena: The Confessions of Robert Crumb (1987)

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Soundtracks

"Yesterdays"
(1952)
Written by Jerome Kern & Otto A. Harbach
Performed by Billie Holiday, vocal
Joe Newman, trumpet
Paul Quinichette, tenor sax
Oscar Peterson, piano/organ
Freddie Green, guitar
Ray Brown, bass
Gus Johnson, drums

User Reviews

A shocking but very entertaining film…

The story concerns a classic 60's hero, Fritz, and his adventures through the urban underground… He loves sex and constantly claims and declares the glories of revolution… At first he is happy with just sex, but as the story moves through exotic adventures he discovers that the only way he can truly be a revolutionary is to join up with one of the militant groups… There, he's over his head…

In sharp contrast to Walt Disney's soft characters, Fritz is seen providing a bunch of screaming female cats, placing drugs, and having lots of fun… We are taken through Harlem where, in this case, the blacks are portrayed as jive-talking crows… Fritz is not a fantasy, but an animation venture into super-reality, at least as Bakshi sees it…

The animation is unpolished, graceless, but very effective… It has an unrefined or unfinished, renewable energy that brings out some of the social results of the confused sixties…