Ralph Bakshi: Fritz the Cat (1972)

35mm print (color, sound) 78 min. USA

“‘Fritz the Cat’ has gathered an underground reputation for being what its creator calls ‘not a story about a cat but a fairy tale about kids in the Sixties.’ Set in Greenwich Village, the film is a satire on certain aspects of the counter- culture of the 60s and, like all true satire, it endeavors to criticize at the same time as it amuses. Mr. Bakshi, incidentally, is a graduate of what he calls "the mouse factory," or Paramount Studios' Cartoon Division. He does not deny that his cartoon is "full of sex, violence, drugs and revolution." Two years in the making, "Fritz the Cat" is now an X- rated movie. Based on the popular Zap Comic Book character drawn by Robert Crumb, a San Francisco artist, the new style "revolutionary" cartoon feature was financed at a reputed cost of one million dollars by Steve Krantz Productions, animated filmmakers recently moved to the West Coast from New York, and Cinemation Industries.” ("Museum will introduce underground cartoon"/Cineprobe: Ralph Bakshi, 1972 Press Release)