...so anyway, there I was at work, browsing through the DVD section on my lunch break (most of the time I'm relegated to the back room with the rest of the freaks and weirdoes...) when what with my wandering eyes did I see! Nestled snugly next to a Charlotte Church DVD was that underground classic Fritz the Cat! When I inquired of the music staff as to why a most adult film was merchandised with the pop idol of Christian music, the response I got was "It's just a cartoon." Yes, and the "Mona Lisa" is just a painting.

Fritz the Cat was the creation of Robert Crumb, icon of underground artists during the 1960s. He first appeared in the comic book ZAP! and later in many of the other Kitchen Sink underground comics coming out of San Francisco at that time. Ralph Bakshi wrote a framing sequence for Crumb's vignettes, and then turned it into "the world's first X-rated cartoon" and what a cartoon it is...

The film's story is simple enough - Fritz the cat is a college student in New York, out to get laid. At the park he meets three girls, whom he impresses enough with his hackneyed "philosophy" to entice them to an apartment for sex. From there, Fritz goes on a series of misadventures, running from the cops (who are represented as pigs in Bakshi's anthropomorphic universe), burning his college dorm, winding up stoned in Harlem with the crows (the politically incorrect depiction of blacks), starting a riot, and ultimately meeting up with the "real" revolution with tragic consequences.

Beyond the fact that animated characters are naked and have sex, Fritz broke other "rules" of animation. Most of the backgrounds are minimalist, with only line drawings instead of the rich "Disney" detail. Bakshi overlays his animation with color gels, reinforcing the "psychedelic" world that Fritz lives in sometimes. There are parts of the film in which the characters react against a black background, with few, if any, further detailing. A lot of Bakshi's pioneering techniques are now commonplace in TV animation. Just look at Cartoon Network and you'll see how the minimalist approach is used in the majority of today's 'toons. Bakshi also uses music extremely well, using it to add depth to the animated scenes as opposed to "Fantasia" imagery. The most important break from tradition; however, is that Fritz is written for adults. Bakshi (and Crumb in the comics) pull no punches when he depicts Fritz living the life of a "radical", oblivious of the consequences of his actions until it's too late. Walt never had the guts to make such a stand. Although it's use of racial stereotypes is improper in today's society (and rightly so), Fritz is still a viably historical landmark movie, and should be required viewing not only for film buffs, but anyone who studies the history of the Sixties.

MGM has released Fritz on DVD as part of their Avant-Garde Cinema series. The film is 16 X 9 widescreen, and features the original (and uncut) theatrical trailer. The image and sound are very clean for such a relic. Languages available are English and French, as well as English, French or Spanish subtitles.