Fritz the Cat: It is debatable whether or not a movie like “Fritz the Cat” would receive a theatrical release if it was made in this day and age. It’s graphically sexually, sexist, full of stereotypes (some of them racist; Black people are portrayed as crows, for example). There is just way too much there to offend in these, our easily offended times. Based on the comic strip by Robert Crumb, “Fritz the Cat” is one of the first full-length films by director and animator Ralph Bakshi (who gave us the superior “Lord of the Rings“ animated film several years later). Fritz is an aimless young cat in New York and America of the 1960’s, looking for sexual and personal fulfillment and encountering all sorts of folks along the way, including militants, “pigs” (cops portrayed as pigs), sexual promiscuous young women, with a focus on the political left. Some would argue that this film has aged well. I would not be one of those people - it feels and plays like very dated material. Not nearly as risqué today as it was 30 years ago and animation has clearly advanced since then. Woodchuck sez, “Good as a curio, and that’s about it.”
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