Fritz the Cat (1972)

Director:

Ralph Bakshi

Writers:

Ralph Bakshi (screenplay)
Robert Crumb (characters)

Release Date:

16 October 1972 (Sweden)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy

Tagline:

The most OUTRAGEOUS animated ADULT FILM ever made

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Cat | 1960s | Robert Crumb | Animated Nudity | Stereotype

Cast

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)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ralph Bakshi	...	Pig Cop #1 (voice) (uncredited)
Mary Dean	...	Girl #1 / Girl #2 / Girl #3 / Harriet (voice) (uncredited)
Charles Spidar	...	Bar Patron / Duke the Crow (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Ralph Bakshi

Writing credits
Ralph Bakshi		(screenplay)
Robert Crumb		(characters)

Produced by
Steve Krantz	....	producer

Original Music by
Ed Bogas
Ray Shanklin

Cinematography by
Ted C. Bemiller		(as Ted Bemiller)
Gene Borghi

Film Editing by
Renn Reynolds

Production Management
Bob Revell	....	production manager

Art Department
John Alvin	....	poster artist

Sound Department
Gene Coleman	....	additional dialogue recordist (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Susan Jonas	....	special effects (as Susan Cary)
Helen Jordan	....	special effects
Irene Sandberg	....	special effects

Animation Department
Edwin Aardal	....	animator (as Edward Aardal)
Fred Abranz	....	assistant animator (as Alfred Abranz)
Cosmo Anzilotti	....	animator
Cosmo Anzilotti	....	layout artist
Clifford Augustson	....	animator
Ted Bonnicksen	....	animator (as Theodore Bonnicksen)
Ted Bonnicksen	....	second layout (as Theodore Bonnicksen)
Robert Brown	....	animation checker
Ethlynn Dalton	....	animation checker
James Davis	....	animator
James Davis	....	layout artist (as Jim Davis)
Dotti Foell	....	animation checker (as Dorothy Foell)
Jack Foster	....	assistant animator
John Gentilella	....	animator
Milton Gray	....	animator
Milton Gray	....	assistant animator
Karen Haus	....	assistant animator
Jack Kerns	....	assistant animator
Bob Kirk	....	assistant animator (as Robert Kirk)
Helen Komar	....	assistant animator
Michael Lloyd	....	second background
Jim Logan	....	assistant animator (as James Logan)
Dick Lundy	....	animator (as Richard Lundy)
Dick Lundy	....	second layout (as Richard Lundy)
Bob Maxfield	....	animator (as Robert Maxfield)
Norm McCabe	....	animator (as Norman McCabe)
M. Frann McCracken	....	animation checker
Lew Ott	....	second layout (as Lewis Ott Jr.)
Manuel Perez	....	animator
Larry Riley	....	animator (as Lawrence Riley)
Virgil Ross	....	animator
Rod Scribner	....	animator (as Roderick Scribner)
John Sparey	....	animator
John Sparey	....	layout artist
Nick Tafuri	....	animator (as Nicholas Tafuri)
Martin Taras	....	animator
Ira Turek	....	background designer
James Tyer	....	animator
John Vita	....	background artist
Art Vitello	....	assistant animator (as Arthur Vitello)
John Walker	....	animator
John Walker	....	second layout
Ray Young	....	assistant animator
Ellie Zika	....	color modeler

Music Department
Ed Bogas	....	musical director

Other crew
Marion Nobel	....	production assistant
Nate Smith	....	traffic manager

Production Companies

• Aurica Finance Company
• Black Ink
• Fritz Productions
• Steve Krantz Productions

Distributors

• Cinemation Industries (1972) (USA) (theatrical)
• American International Pictures (AIP) (USA) (re-release)
• Arrow Film Distributors
• MGM Home Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• PolyGram Video
• Prima Film (Canada)
• Substance Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• VTI Home Vídeo (Brazil) (video)
• WVG Medien GmbH (2011) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Bros (video)

Other Companies

• Cine Camera  photography
• Edit International  music and effects
• Fantasy Studios  original soundtrack
• Perri & Smith  title layouts

Also Known As:

Runtime:

78 min | Sweden:79 min | Argentina:80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Yiddish

Color:

Black and White (end credits) | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (video rating) (1994) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-18 (re-rating) | France:X (original rating) | Germany:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:18 | Germany:16 (re-rating) (1995) | USA:X (rating surrendered) | USA:Unrated | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | New Zealand:R18 | Iceland:16 | Italy:VM14 (re-rating) (1994) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) | France:U (re-rating) | Netherlands:16 | South Africa:18 (LSV) | Peru:18 | Spain:(Banned) (1972-1978) | Chile:18

Company:

Aurica Finance Company

Trivia:

Saul Zaentz helped fund the film through his record label Fantasy Records, who agreed to distribute the film's soundtrack. Zaentz later produced The Lord of the Rings (1978), directed by Ralph Bakshi.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Fritz is attempting to fix Winston's Volkswagen Beetle after it's broken down in the desert, he opens the hood. Since it's a Beetle and the engine is located in the back of the car, he goes around to the back but leaves the hood up. Throughout the rest of the scene, the hood alternates from either being up or down.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Comic Book Confidential (1988)

Soundtrack:

Bo Diddley

Happy Times - Heavy Times

That is how the 1960s were described by the narrator in the beginning of this film. Fritz the Cat is a famous movie for a number of reasons, most stemming from it being the first feature-length adult cartoon and having an "X" rating. There were controversies surrounding its creation with director Ralph Bakshi and character creator Robert Crumb. The film is like nothing I have ever seen before. It has a unique animation process that makes everything reek seediness, despair, and cry for social change. Bakshi wrote the script which really is nothing more than the knife that cuts through all the 60's BS - from existentialism to the drug culture to the love generation to African-American perspectives to militancy. Nothing is spared as the counterculture is laid bared and examined through the eyes, ears, fears, and desires of Fritz the Cat. Along the way, Fritz experiments with just about anything - including lots of sex, drugs, and sex. While the film definitely is quite vulgar in many ways with some of the most odious characterizations of otherwise cute and cuddly animals and depicting lots of strong sexual situations(though in no way deserving the "X" by today's standards), Fritz the Cat is also an intelligent look at one character's drive to find himself and meaning in his life - perhaps a symbol for the whole decade the film is examining. The end result is nothing conclusive - also perhaps a symbol. Bakshi's script is in some ways profound and thought-provoking and in some ways infantile and vile - his obvious dislike of police just one example. But what had my attention more than anything else was the animation - particularly in exterior shots not containing characters. There is one scene where the slums of Harlem are integral to the story. Bakshi uses his camera to zoom in on quite an impressive animated background shot of a field lost amongst the slums of Harlem. It is the very essence of seedy existence in an uncaring world. There are many other shots too that have that same power, but let's not forget that even with the intelligent at times script and the animation, much of Fritz the Cat is used solely to arouse - either arouse some primal feelings or arouse offense. A landmark film at any rate whether for good or for bad.