The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974)

Fritz the Cat may have lost one of his lives in the comics, but in his new movie, he has eight more lives left to go! While his wife screams at him, Fritz lights up a joint and reminiscences about what could have been.

Director:

Robert Taylor

Writers:

Fred Halliday, Eric Monte

Stars:

Skip Hinnant, Reva Rose, Bob Holt

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Skip Hinnant	...	Fritz (voice)
Reva Rose	...	Fritz' Old Lady (voice)
Bob Holt	...	Many voices (voice)
Robert Ridgely	...	(voice)
Fred Smoot	...	(voice)
Dick Whittington	...	(voice) (as 'Sweet' Dick Whittington)
Luke Walker	...	(voice)
Peter Leeds	...	Juan / Various Characters (voice)
Louisa Moritz	...	Chita (Juan's Sister) (voice)
Larry Moss	...	(voice)
Joan Gerber	...	(voice)
Jay Lawrence	...	(voice)
Stanley Adams	...	(voice)
Pat Harrington Jr.	...	(voice)
Carole Androsky	...	(voice) (as Carol Androsky)

Storyline

Fritz, now married and with a son, is desperate to escape from the domestic hell he now finds himself in. Lighting up a joint, he begins to dream about his eight other lives, hoping to find one that will provide a pleasant distraction. The drug-induced journeys he takes include spells as an astronaut, Hitler's psychiatrist, a courier travelling in hostile territory during a race war, and as a pupil of an Indian guru living in the sewers of New York.

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Plot Keywords:

1970s | cat movie | fritz the cat | reincarnation | past lives | 

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Taglines:

I've come a long way, Baby!

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 September 1974 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

As Nove Vidas do Gato Fritz

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Steve Krantz Productions, Cine Camera, American International Pictures (AIP)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color Black and White (archive footage)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Because of his involvement with Fritz the Cat (1972), several film books erroneously list Ralph Bakshi as the director of "The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat", and many have come to believe that he actually directed the film. Bakshi expressed a dislike of "The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat", stating that had Warner Bros. been allowed to make the changes they demanded in order to distribute Fritz the Cat (1972), the film would have turned out similar to "The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat". "It would have been this cat that, once in a while, said something hip, and then falls in love with some girl and chases her all over town."

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Quotes

Fritz' Old Lady: You're a no-good, Fritz! Whaddya have to say fer yerself?
Fritz: Suck my dick.

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Alternate Versions

Earlier prints of the film have the live-action stock footage during the "Jump Back" sequence in black and white, while the 2001 MGM DVD release has the stock footage in sepia tone. In both prints, the animation cel of Fritz remains in color.

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Connections

References Duck Soup (1933)

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Soundtracks

Jumpback
Lyrics by Dave Palmer
Performed by Merry Clayton (uncredited)

User Reviews

Not worth my time

I woke up at a strange time and was flipping channels. I found NINE LIVES OF FRITZ THE CAT on the Showtime FAMILY channel. Anyone who reads this, please go to www.sho.com to complain. I'm no prude, but to imagine a 5 year old tuning into this is horrible.

Anyway, I only watched 5 or 10 minutes of this film. The animation is good for it's era, but the comedy & satire is worn and dated. Here's what the first few scenes entailed. A "big mama" cat with huge boobs is yelling at a stoned Fritz cat, telling him he's good for nothing, goes out all night looking for love, and she doesn't know why, 'cause he's bad in bed. Then we flash over to Fritz walking down the street, grabbing his crotch, lets out a fart and offends Juan, the stereotypical Hispanic Cat. Juan won't talk to Fritz because Fritz farted in his area. Fritz makes a lame comment about why doesn't Juan speak English so he can understand him? They talk about Fritz's plight to cash his welfare check. A few seconds later we see some black "thug" cats outside Fritz's house, talking about robbing this house in 'this' (white?) neighborhood. Fritz is sitting on the couch (yes, he's back home now, I guess? Flashback to earlier years?) about to light up a joint, and he's staring at his little sister's kitty butt. He's trying to get her high so he can "get with her." She smokes some, and we get a psychedelic menagerie of images that tries to be creative, but really, someone needs to take some lessons from "The Wall"'s animators. It was a stupid sequence. Flashback to the big mama cat yelling at Fritz again. Now that I read a few other reviews, I suppose the the whole time Fritz is supposed to be listening to big mama yelling at him, but zoning out to these different places while she's yelling.

Anyway, my description of this is probably as funny as the cartoon itself. I didn't waste anymore of my time, I don't recommend you waste your time either.