Bakshi is a very good director
Fritz is interesting counterculture and a funny movie
this is a nice addition to criterion
I agree, it would be. I can imagine some awesome special features and booklet for a set like that too, especially if Bakshi or Crumb are in on the project! My research on this led to my discovery that “Coming on Strong” was the name of an early Fritz comic from Harvey Kurtzman’s old Help! magazine in 1965.
More likely it’s Zwigoff’s Crumb
Yeah, I mentioned Crumb in my original post, and I agree it’s more likely in the sense that Criterion hasn’t released animation before and documentaries fit more conventionally into their product line. But I think Fritz the Cat had a much bigger impact than Zwigoff’s doc ever will and it would make a fine companion piece to the upcoming Oshima box. :o)
Yeah, I mentioned Crumb in my original post, and I agree it’s more likely in the sense that Criterion hasn’t released animation before and documentaries fit more conventionally into their product line. But I think Fritz the Cat had a much bigger impact than Zwigoff’s doc ever will and it would make a fine companion piece to the upcoming Oshima box. :o)
I doubt Crumb himself would have anything to do with a DVD of FRITZ. Isn’t he on the record as hating the film?
Yes — he says so at the very beginning of the aforementioned documentary Crumb.
An ECLIPSE perhaps?
Fritz the Cat
Heavy Traffic
The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
and Keep on Truckin’ !!!!
(responding to the above post)
I highly doubt that “The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat” would ever be considered for an Eclipse/Criterion release. since it doesn’t even involve Ralph Bakshi. Still would be nice to have Heavy Traffic released into a nice DVD package, Criterion or not.
Heavy Traffic or Hey Good Lookin or Wizards
theyd all make good choices
I love Zwigoff’s Crumb. Too bad I bought the regular DVD the other day. I actually kind of hope it’s Fritz The Cat (which is a pretty cool movie, too) because of this reason. Wouldn’t this be the first animated feature in the Criterion Collection if it is Fritz that’s coming to Criterion?
I love Zwigoff’s Crumb. Too bad I bought the regular DVD the other day. I actually kind of hope it’s Fritz The Cat (which is a pretty cool movie, too) because of this reason. Wouldn’t this be the first animated feature in the Criterion Collection if it is Fritz that’s coming to Criterion?
Crumb is only one of the greatest documentaries ever made. Has to be that, right?
CRUMB as a “proper” Criterion release would be great, while an Eclipse set of Bakshi films, preferably the grittier street films, would be even better:
FRITZ THE CAT
COONSKIN
HEAVY TRAFFIC
HEY, GOOD LOOKIN’
The latter seems entirely unlikely, but Criterion has astounded me before.
To hell with Fritz, I want Louie Bluie, the doc he made before Crumb! It was only released on vhs, and that’s out of print
There’s been some buzz in theauteurs’ thread for the past year for COONSKIN to get proper release by Criterion. Any Bakshi would be amazing and totally appropriate, I think.
@DAVE: “I think the animated and X-rated Fritz the Cat feature from 1972 ranks as a lot more important in cultural terms. I was just a kid back then and still haven’t seen it, but I remember a lot of buzz surrounding that release.”
Definitely see the movie. If you haven’t seen HEAVY TRAFFIC, maybe see that first. I actually find FRITZ to be incredibly dark, brutal, violent, and mean-spirited, to the point where I am rarely in the mood to watch it. I think Bakshi’s subsequent work is even better.
But, yeah, I’m sure this newsletter bit will turn out to be in reference to the documentary. Really doubt they’d touch Bakshi with a ten foot pole.
Now if we could all just pool our money together to help finance Bakshi’s current half-completed movie, that would be really cool….
It feels like the consensus is swinging toward the documentary Crumb; if that’s what they have in store, so be it. But since we’re on the topic of underground comix film adaptations, has anyone else been tracking this?
http://www.grassrootsthemovie.com/gr/Pilot.html
I’d enjoy seeing The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers drop in at my local cineplex within the next few years or so…
I do not need another copy of either Crumb nor Fritz the Cat, but again I have to act chorus and state that if any film became the first Criterion Collection animated film, Fritz the Cat would be a badass choice!
(Though I rarely double-dip for Criterion’s sake, this would be one I’d want merely as a “dollar vote” to Criterion to inform them that animation on Criterion is what I want—and because I could watch those special features, I could watch those special features mad times.)
—PolarisDiB
Just realized, Criterion sometimes releases squarebound books in their dvd sets-for example Breathless and The Furies. So they could include reprints of some Crumb comics work, which would be more appropriate than the Fritz movie. The Fritz comic the movie is based on is a much better work, imo.
Logo,
That makes sense to me. Without a doubt Crumb and his work (though not, perhaps, Zwigoff’s doc), are more culturally significant than Bakshi’s film.
“The Fritz comic the movie is based on is a much better work, imo.”
Crumb thought so too. In a big way. Apparently, his wife signed over the rights for the production against his will.
edit: check out this…definitely cool footage of Bakshi collecting photos of New York for backgrounds and interviewing people, I presume for the process of inclusion in the film (some dialogue in the final product was just culled from interviews on the streets and in bars).
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/animators/rare-footage-of-bakshi-working-on-fritz-the-cat.html
Just saw the preview for WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY last night and couldn’t help but imagine Bakshi pulling his hair out amidst a stream of profanity.
I would much rather see “Fritz the Cat” instead of the “Crumb” documentary but…I don’t know, I could be in the minority here.
Criterion would never put this is out but its wishful thinking
Fritz The Cat
Human Traffic
Coonskin
Wizards
American Pop
I’ve always felt that Bakshi’s film was way better than Crumb’s comics – largely because the film didn’t have the misogyny and promotion of leftist terrorists that were in the original comics, I.E., “Fritz the No-Good”, where Crumb seems to be under the impression that if you’re really good at fucking, it’s OK to rape someone because she’ll eventually start to enjoy it. Sorry, no dice. And how is it that leftists are so quick to support terrorism?
Most of the artists Crumb influenced are actually better than Crumb. There’s significantly better stuff in “American Splendor” and Martin Kellerman’s “Rocky” than in any of “Fritz the Cat”. Not to mention that Gilbert Shelton’s comics (the Freak Brothers and Wonder Wart-Hog) and Frank Stack’s “Adventures of Jesus” were significantly better drawn and funnier than Crumb’s comics.
And, personally, if you want my opinion, I’m 20, and I can draw better than Crumb did when he was 20. Course, my drawings are shit compared to the drawings Crumb is doing now, but that’s obvious.
“Fritz the Cat” is a great film, though. But it’s not as good as “Coonskin” or “Hey Good Lookin’”. Still one of my favorites, though!
Sorry for the double post.
Crumb drew the “Fritz the Cat” comics as escapism, where he got to imagine himself in situations he would never attain – popular musician, poet, ladies man, etc. in order to entertain himself. Ralph Bakshi has shown himself a significantly better storyteller by combining the better aspects of Crumb’s comics – the humor – with some depth that Crumb’s comics didn’t have. I.E., the Jewish pigs, commentary on unintentional white racism, etc.
Crumb often gets credited for autobiographical comics, but most people don’t realize that he only started doing autobiographical stories only after he saw the ones that Harvey Pekar wrote (storyboarded in stick figures, because Pekar cannot draw). Before that, Crumb was doing the kind of intentionally offensive stuff that was leading underground cartoonists in the wrong direction. Art Spiegelman, for example, drew a set of Crumb-inspired comics that were so sick that Crumb’s wife banned him from their house.
The really good stuff in adult comics came as the result of people inspired by Crumb. “Fritz the Cat” paved the way for better things. Spiegelman’s “Maus” is significantly better than “Fritz the Cat”, but Spiegelman credits “Fritz” as being part of the reason that an adult-oriented funny animal comic would be acceptable. Even though there’s a word of difference between a holocaust metaphor and silly comedy.
Likewise, Kellerman’s “Rocky” is a significantly more mature, realistic strip, drawn from real life, not from adolescent fantasy. And it’s funnier than “Fritz”.
Stating that the film “Fritz the Cat” is less culturally significant than the comics it was based on implies that you don’t respect animation.
The comic strip was only important in that it was the first funny animal strip aimed at adults only, and that, in turn, paved the way for significantly better “funny animal” and more serious anthropomorphic comics. That’s only one accomplishment.
Ralph Bakshi’s first film was integral to the success of adult-oriented animation. That is immensely more culturally significant than being the first adult funny animal comic.
Without Bakshi’s work, there would not be “The Simpsons”, “Ren & Stimpy”, “Family Guy”, “South Park”, or more importantly, “Persepolis” and “Waltz with Bashir” would not be widely released or have shots at Oscar nominations. Bakshi’s work has incredible significance in popular culture, in film, and animation, and “Fritz the Cat” was the film that allowed him to do his other great films – even if it wasn’t his best film.
It was also, in my opinion, the first stoner comedy, paving the way for a very profitable film genre.
For these multitude of reasons, it comes off as incredibly fucking ignorant to say that the comic strip was more culturally significant than the film.
Actually, Bakshi’s work, as a whole, is more culturally significant than Crumb’s comics. And if Criterion wants to issue a documentary honoring an overrated misogynist instead of issuing any of Bakshi’s films, they can go fuck themselves.
I think they should release Coonskin on Criterion, I think it is his best work. While Fritz the Cat was more influental and succesfull , it seems to be much more easy find a copy of it. While I have never read the Fritz comic,R. Crumb hated the culture of the counterculture of the 60s (despite being part of it) so I think he would hate any adaptation of Fritz the Cat.
The Crumb documentary is awesome.It would be a fine addition to the Collection I think even people with no interest in Robert Crumb as an artist would find him and his familys bizarre lives interesting.
I totally agree that Coonskin should be on Criterion.
As well as Human Traffic
and Fritz the Cat.
Very cool trilogy they would make indeed. .:Yoda voice:.
Uh.
HUMAN TRAFFIC?
I have no doubt Bakshi COULD make a great movie with that title, but I strongly doubt he ever has.
Anyways, yeah, the three would make a killer Eclipse box, but as HEAVY TRAFFIC and FRITZ are already out on decent discs, I think COONSKIN would be a fantastic addition, having never been released in an acceptable format. Also, as his edgiest film, probably, it’s both a great candidate for the same reasons its probably something they would never touch.
CriterionRefs
The Criterion newsletter came out today and includes a picture of R. Crumb’s “Fritz the Cat” character saying “Comin’ on Strong in ’10.” Speculation on the Coming Soon… thread (which I can’t access for some reason due to my worksite’s software filter) is that the documentary Crumb might be issued by CC in the months ahead. But I think the animated and X-rated Fritz the Cat feature from 1972 ranks as a lot more important in cultural terms. I was just a kid back then and still haven’t seen it, but I remember a lot of buzz surrounding that release. It grossed $100 million! Could this be Criterion’s first foray into animated features?