History WesternAnimation / HeavyTraffic

* {{Irony}}: Angie, Michael's dad, is definetely against his son dating Carole, enough to try and order a hit on him for it. [[spoiler: It turms out he was right to be suspicious of her, but for an entirely different reason than his racism when Carole [[ToxicFriendInfluence drags Michael into running a crime racket together.]] And just when Michael starts going down a path of crime like his mafia dad before him, Shorty comes along to pull off the hit on the now corrupt Michael.]]

** Shorty for Carole's bouncer, a man missing half of his body and moves via a wooden cart with his own arms.

* BrokenBird: Ida, if her remembering of the past is a clue. Apparently, she was once happy and, once, loved her husband ("Oh, your father used to love me in this dress."). Obviously, Angie having mafia connections and cheating on her turned her '' very'' bitter.

* GenerationXerox: [[spoiler: Michael ends up going down a path of crime not unlike his mafioso father, but he doesn't last long in it due to his dad ordering a hit on Michael for dating Carole.]]

* HandicappedBadass: Shorty, a man who is literally missing half of his body, but is quite fast on his wooden cart and, given his profession as a bouncer, will kick your ass with his own bare hands.

* GainaxEnding / BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The film ends with Michael getting shot in the head by Shorty, which leads to a nightmarish death sequence...and then the film switches to the real life Michael, who, after losing a game of pinball, storms off and then meets up with the real life Carole, dancing her with in the park after bickering with her. The end.]]

The film was eventually rereleased on UsefulNotes/BluRay by ShoutFactory for its [[MilestoneCelebration 40th anniversary.]]

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* AnimatedMusicVideo: Although only in one segment, Music/ChuckBerry's "Maybellene" is played while in the style of UndergroundComics and the design sense is a homage to [[KrazyKat George Herriman.]]

* ShoutOut: The loosely drawn comic art seen in parts of the film (notably the "Maybellene" segment) is an homage to the art style of pioneering cartoonists Creator/OttoMessmer and [[KrazyKat George Herriman.]]

* DomesticAbuser: Michael's parents do ''not'' get along with each other; Ida actively tries to kill Angie, and he fights back in turn.

Creator/RalphBakshi cites ''Heavy Traffic'' as his favorite film in his career. This was originally to be Ralph's first film; however, it was [[DevelopmentHell "put on hold"]] because the producer believed that he couldn't sell this film due to Bakshi's inexperience as a film director; the success of ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat'', the first animated film to be [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids rated X]] in the United States, [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell saved the production]] of ''Heavy Traffic''. In a sense, the film could be seen as an animated companion piece to Creator/MartinScorsese's ''MeanStreets''.

* [[AllJustADream All Just A Day Dream]]: [[spoiler: After Micheal gets shot in the head at the climax, it turns out the films animated sequences were all in his head as the film switches to a real life Micheal for the last several minutes. And given it happens after Micheal loses a game of pinball (a recurring symbolism piece) and how closely his real life parallels that of the cartoon fantasy, and not to mention the films POV driven nature was constantly foreshadowed throughout the film (with the frequent mixing of animation and live action, and film literally starting with a real life Micheal playing the pinball game) this twist actually comes off as very well thought out.]]

* TheBigRottenApple: Micheal lives in New York, which is presented as being very run down, seedy and run by TheMafia. Ironically, Micheal draws his inspiration directly from this environment.
* BeingPersonalIsntProfessional: The reason why the Mafia refuses to honor Angie's request to off Micheal, citing his reasons as being personal and not business related. Given how much Bakshi despises the Mafia, this is obviously meant to be a satire on the fickle "honor" system used by them.

* DerangedAnimation: The whole film is a surreal fantasy loaded with metaphors and symbolism and a load of topical and biographical undertones. And besides the rugged and sometimes bizarre designs, the animation really does get pretty crazy, especially [[spoiler: the scene where Micheal gets shot, and it's nightmarish aftermath.]]

* GainaxEnding / BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The film ends with Micheal getting shot in the head by Shorty, which leads to a nightmarish death sequence...and then the film switches to the real life Micheal, who, after losing a game of pinball, storms off and then meets up with the real life Carole, dancing her with in the park after bickering with her. The end.]]

* GenerationXerox: [[spoiler: Micheal ends up going down a path of crime not unlike his mafioso father, but he doesn't last long in it due to his dad ordering a hit on Micheal for dating Carole.]]
* GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity: It's clear that Carole, with her stubborn, no nonsense attitude, just can't hold a job. She quits her first job as a bartender right after bickering with her boss over Shorty initiating a bar brawl, and gets fired from her second job shortly after starting it by flashing her gams at an old man (which gave him a heart attack). [[spoiler: She and Micheal eventually turn to forming a racket so they can make enough money to move out to California. And after the films ending switches to real life, we find out the real Carole has no luck holding a job either.]]

* GreenEyedMonster: Shorty hates Micheal for Carole preferring a relationship with him over himself (as Carole clearly finds Shorty unpleasant to be around). [[spoiler: This makes Shorty more than willing to carry out Angie's hit on Micheal at the end.]]

* IHaveNoSon: Angie, Micheal's racist father, tries to get the Mafia to put out a hit on Micheal for "disgracing the family" by dating Carole, a black woman. The mafia refuses on the grounds that the hit is personal and not business related, [[spoiler: but then Angie meets up with Carole's devoted bouncer Shorty, who is jealous of Carole dating Micheal and is more than willing to deliver the hit, which he successfully carries through.]]
* {{Irony}}: Angie, Micheal's dad, is definetely against his son dating Carole, enough to try and order a hit on him for it. [[spoiler: It turms out he was right to be suspicious of her, but for an entirely different reason than his racism when Carole [[ToxicFriendInfluence drags Micheal into running a crime racket together.]] And just when Micheal starts going down a path of crime like his mafia dad before him, Shorty comes along to pull off the hit on the now corrupt Micheal.]]

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Shortly after starting a racket with Carole and willingly murdering a man for money, Micheal gets shot in the head by his dad's new hitman. Shorty. Of course, it turns out it's [[{{Pun}} literally all in his head.]]]]

* OffingTheOffspring: Angie tries to do this twice in the film. First, he tries and fails to get the Mafia to put a hit on Micheal, [[spoiler: and the second time, he enlists the aid of Shorty to pull the hit, and he succeeds.]]

* RageQuit: [[spoiler: When the final part of the film switches to live action, Micheal smashes apart a pinball machine that he lost at, and storms off.]]

** After Carole briefly walks out on him, Micheal jokingly remarks "[[Music/TheRollingStones Mick Jagger]], I'm not."
** Micheal, when posing as Carole's manager, refers to her as "the fourth Andrews Sister", saying they kept her in the background because she was black.

* StealthPun: [[spoiler: In the films ending, Micheal gets shot in the head by Shorty, and after the nightmarish death sequence, snaps back to reality in a pinball arcade. In other words, the whole film was "All in his head."]]

* {{Symbolism}}: The recurring pinball machine Micheal plays is meant to be symbolic of fate and peoples place in the universe, per word of Ralph; that once you step outside, ''anything'' can happen, and the only influence you have over the universe is the flippers. Sometimes you make it big and get the high score, other times you have to put another quarter in.

* TheWorldsOldestProfession: Carole poses as a prostitute [[spoiler: in order to set up a businessman for Micheal to kill, so they can both make off with his money.]]
* ToxicFriendInfluence: [[spoiler: Carole, with her uncompromising, hardheaded attitude towards her goals, eventually drives Micheal along with her into a life of crime to making the money so they can both move to California, even resorting to murder for profit.]]
* UndergroundComics: Michael is an underground cartoonist. He even tries to get a job at a syndicate by pitching a story to it's elderly CEO, but he literally dies upon hearing Micheal's very bleak, satirical story idea.
* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler: Micheal becomes this near the end.]]
* YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler: Micheal gets shot in the head by Shorty, and it is depicted in very gruesome detail, all filmed in slow motion. Then it turns out that's just an animated metaphor for Micheal losing a game of pinball in real life--and given the films recursive symbolism, losing a game of real life in general.]]

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Creator/RalphBakshi cites ''Heavy Traffic'' as his favorite film in his career. This was originally to be Ralph's first film; however, it was [[DevelopmentHell "put on hold"]] because the producer believed that he couldn't sell this film due to Bakshi's inexperience as a film director; the success of ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat'', the first animated film to be [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids rated X]] in the United States, [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell saved the production]] of ''Heavy Traffic''. In a sense, the film could be seen as an animated companion piece to MartinScorcese's ''MeanStreets''.

* DomesticViolence: Michael's parents do ''not'' get along with each other; Ida actively tries to kill Angie, and he fights back in turn.

* AxCrazy / MamaBear: Ida, Michael's Jewish mother, who is really over zealous about keeping him out of the influence of Angelo / Angie, his Italian Catholic father, who is part of the mafia and frequently cheats on her. [[spoiler: She even tries--and fails--to stop Shorty from killing her son.]]

* BlackComedy

The film was eventually rereleased on BluRay by ShoutFactory for its [[MilestoneCelebration 40th anniversary.]]

** The Godfather is obviously inspired by the [[Film/TheGodfather film of the same name] (and is meant to be a jab at its depiction of TheMafia).

Creator/RalphBakshi cites ''Heavy Traffic'' as his favorite film in his career. This was originally to be Ralph's first film; however, it was [[DevelopmentHell "put on hold"]] because the producer believed that he couldn't sell this film due to Bakshi's inexperience as a film director; the success of ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat'', the first animated film to be [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids rated X]] in the United States, [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell saved the production]] of ''Heavy Traffic''.

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: The film ends with Micheal getting shot in the head by Shorty, which leads to a nightmarish death sequence...and then the film switches to the real life Micheal, who, after losing a game of pinball, storms off and then meets up with the real life Carole, dancing her with in the park after bickering with her. The end.]]

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Shortly after starting a racket with Carole and willingly murdering a man for money, Micheal gets shot in the head by his dad's new hitman. Shorty. Of course, thats all in his head.]]

** Micheal, when posing as Carole's manager, refers to her as "the fourth Andrews Sister".

* BeingPersonalIsntProfessional: The reason why the Mafia refuses to honor Angie's request to off Micheal, citing his reasons as being personal and not business related. It's obviously meant to satirize the fickle "honor" system used by the Mob.

* NighthawksShot : The painting is homaged in a brief scene late in the film.

* BeingPersonalIsntProfessional: The reason why the Mafia refuses to honor Angie's request to off Micheal, citing his reasons as being personal and not business related.

* SoundtrackDissonance / StandardSnippet: [[http://m.youtube.com/watch?autoplay=1&v=6LAPFM3dgag Vivaldi's "Four Seasons: Spring"]] plays during the entire Godfather sequence.

* UndergroundComics: Michael is an underground cartoonist.

* GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity: It's clear that Carole, with her stubborn, no nonsense attitude, just can't hold a job. She quits her first job as a bartender right after bickering with her boss over Shorty initiating a bar brawl, and gets fired from her second job shortly after starting it by flashing her gams at an old man (which gave him a heart attack). [[spoiler: She and Micheal eventually turn to forming a racket so they can make enough money to move out yo California. And after the films ending switches to real life, we find out the real Carole has no luck holding a job either.]]

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Shortly after starting a racket with Carole and willingly murdering a man for money, Micheal gets shot in the head by his dad's new hitman. Shorty.]]

* CrapsackWorld: Micheal lives in New York, which is very run down, seedy and inhabited by the Mafia. Ironically, he draws a lot of his inspiration directly from this environment.