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IMDbPro

Heavy Traffic

  • 19731973
  • XX
  • 1h 17m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
3.3K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
10,545
429
Heavy Traffic (1973)
An underground cartoonist contends with life in the inner city, where various unsavory characters serve as inspiration for his art.
Play trailer1:58
2 Videos
99+ Photos
AnimationComedyDrama
An underground cartoonist contends with life in the inner city, where various unsavory characters serve as inspiration for his art.An underground cartoonist contends with life in the inner city, where various unsavory characters serve as inspiration for his art.An underground cartoonist contends with life in the inner city, where various unsavory characters serve as inspiration for his art.
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
3.3K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
10,545
429
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Ralph Bakshi
    • Writer
      • Ralph Bakshi
    • Stars
      • Joseph Kaufmann
      • Beverly Hope Atkinson
      • Frank DeKova(voice)
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Ralph Bakshi
    • Writer
      • Ralph Bakshi
    • Stars
      • Joseph Kaufmann
      • Beverly Hope Atkinson
      • Frank DeKova(voice)
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 36User reviews
    • 48Critic reviews

    Videos2

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:58
    Trailer
    Heavy Traffic
    Clip 1:21
    Heavy Traffic

    Photos122

    Heavy Traffic (1973)
    Heavy Traffic (1973)
    Heavy Traffic (1973)
    Heavy Traffic (1973)
    Heavy Traffic (1973)
    Heavy Traffic (1973)
    Heavy Traffic (1973)
    Heavy Traffic (1973)
    Heavy Traffic (1973)
    Heavy Traffic (1973)
    Heavy Traffic (1973)
    Heavy Traffic (1973)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Joseph Kaufmann
    • Michael Corleone
    Beverly Hope Atkinson
    • Carole
    Frank DeKova
    Frank DeKova
    • Angelo "Angie" Corleone
    • (voice)
    Terri Haven
    • Ida Corleone
    • (voice)
    Mary Dean Lauria
    • Molly
    • (voice)
    Jacqueline Mills
    • Rosalyn Schecter
    • (voice)
    Lillian Adams
    Lillian Adams
    • Rosa
    • (voice)
    Jamie Farr
    Jamie Farr
    Robert Easton
    Robert Easton
    Charles Gordone
    • Crazy Moe
    • (voice)
    Michael Brandon
    Michael Brandon
    • Voice characterization
    Morton Lewin
      Bill Striglos
        Jay Lawrence
          Lee Weaver
          Lee Weaver
            Phyllis Thompson
              Kim Hamilton
              Kim Hamilton
                Carol Graham
                  • Director
                    • Ralph Bakshi
                  • Writer
                    • Ralph Bakshi
                  • All cast & crew
                  • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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                  Storyline

                  Edit

                  Did you know

                  Edit
                  • Trivia
                    Half way into production as Bakshi was fired (before being re-hired). A different director stepped in and animated a train sequence in which Michael goes to visit his brother-in-law. He is on a subway and witness' a woman sleeping while two men begin to undress her. Michael just watches. As the woman wakes up, she screams "rape" toward Michael. This was in the original script, but was scrapped when Bakshi returned to the project, as he felt the scene was in bad-taste.
                  • Quotes

                    Moe: Hey, It's Michael Corleone! What's you doin' now?

                    [makes pigeon noises]

                    Moe: What's you doin' now?

                    Michael: Hey, crazy man! How come you're not down in your basement?

                    Moe: Well, I, I came to kill your pigeon, boy.

                    Michael: Ah, that's bullshit, Moe, you're probably peekin' down at the ladies.

                    Moe: Yeah! My peekin' days long shut down, Michael.

                    [sadly]

                    Moe: I ain't there no more. I just ain't there.

                    [plays his harmonica]

                    Michael: Ah, you're just a crazy nigger, Moe. Just a goddamn crazy nigger.

                    Moe: We's all niggers, boy! Ha ha! You an' me, just goddamn crazy niggers! We's all niggers boy. Most of us don't know it yet.

                    Michael: [passing a joint to Moe] Hey, listen, you want some of this shit?

                    Moe: Even your pigeon's a nigger! Ha ha ha ha ha! That's why I'm gonna kill him.

                    Michael: Moe, you ain't gonna do shit!

                    Moe: Moe: I just ain't there. Every - everybody plays like they there... but they ain't there. I ain't there. Your pigeon ain't there! He flies high like he there, but he don't fly 'less you open that cage. And he got to come back 'cause he's trained to! He ain't there.

                  • Alternate versions
                    In 1974, the film was cut and rereleased with an "R" rating, replacing the previous "X" rated version.
                  • Connections
                    Edited from 42nd Street (1933)
                  • Soundtracks
                    Take Five
                    Composition by Paul Desmond

                    Performed by Dave Brubeck Quartet

                    Courtesy Columbia Records

                  User reviews36

                  Review
                  Review
                  Top review
                  6/10
                  Twisted and bizarre... NOT for the Kiddies!
                  Heavy Traffic is everything you've heard it is... laced with some kind of bizzare sexual reference every other second (it seems) as well as totally insane violence, this brutal, bizarre and strangely sad film is worth one viewing, if for no other reason that to show that in the early '70's, Bakshi was pointing towards a concept of animated film that is only now hinted at.

                  I would suggest (okay, I AM suggesting) that a lot of Anime, and the useage of animated clips in both Natural Born Killers and Kill Bill (vol. I) point back to this particular film.

                  My take: watching the hero in "real time" is what the film is showing, with the animated bits being more inside of his head, until the end, where he is blown off by the beautiful woman that he dreams of, where we see one event that exists in his head (notice that it fails, but begins with an act of violence against the pinball machine, and also notice that the man playing with the artificial gunfighter is gunned down while a man >?< is getting naked in the photo booth) and another that ends with a sense that in a few seconds the Mary Tyler Moore theme song is going to begin.

                  What is real? Well, in the head of someone that creates movies held by the only boundries made inside one's own head, it is a pointless question...
                  helpful•7
                  3
                  • Mr_Mirage
                  • Jul 27, 2004

                  Details

                  Edit
                  • Release date
                    • February 1, 1974 (United States)
                  • Country of origin
                    • United States
                  • Official site
                    • Official site
                  • Languages
                    • English
                    • Italian
                    • Yiddish
                  • Also known as
                    • Starker Verkehr
                  • Filming locations
                    • New York City, New York, USA
                  • Production companies
                    • Cine Camera
                    • Steve Krantz Productions
                  • See more company credits at IMDbPro

                  Box office

                  Edit
                  • Gross US & Canada
                    • $1,343,341
                  See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

                  Technical specs

                  Edit
                  • Runtime
                    1 hour 17 minutes
                  • Color
                    • Color
                  • Sound mix
                    • Mono
                  • Aspect ratio
                    • 1.85 : 1

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