Line #47 WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat


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4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fritzcat.png]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:"We ain’t rated X for nothin’, baby!"]]
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9	->''"Hey, yeah, the 1960s? Happy times. Heavy times."''
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11	Creator/RalphBakshi's directorial debut, this 1972 feature film adaptation of Creator/RobertCrumb's comic strip ''ComicBook/FritzTheCat'' is famous for being the first feature-length adult animated film in the United States, receiving an X rating upon its original release.[[note]]Equivalent to today's [[MediaNotes/AdultsOnlyFilmRating NC-17]], though all home media re-releases go [[MediaNotes/NotRatedRating unrated]] due to stigma around the aforementioned rating.[[/note]] It streamlines three plotlines from the comic into a linear story, with more political and social commentary than what had previously been largely light entertainment.
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13	The film follows the adventures of a sex-crazed [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin cat named Fritz]] who, after deciding he's had enough of the college life, drops out and [[BigApplesauce roams]] UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity (later taking a roadtrip to UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco) in TheSixties, ostensibly looking for a cause to join in, all the while anything that could go wrong does.
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15	Over the course of the story, Fritz spends time with stoners, talks to black people (represented by crows) in Harlem where he meets Duke, very briefly meets with some Rabbis, goes on a road trip with his girlfriend Winston Schwartz, and ultimately meets up with extremists who scheme to blow up a power plant. Unsurprisingly, he spends most of the movie running from the police (represented as, of course, pigs). Of course, his goal of finding himself always seems to take a back seat to more immediate gratification in the form of either [[AllMenArePerverts carnal pleasures]] or [[StonerFlick good ol' fashioned weed]].
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17	Having previously helmed several TV shows, Bakshi came across a ''Fritz'' comic in a Manhattan book store and went straight to author R. Crumb to ask for the rights to turn the comic into a film. Although Crumb gave Bakshi a sketchbook of his to help him learn to draw Fritz, he was highly doubtful of the film's potential for success, and never agreed to sign over the rights to greenlight the film. Producer Steve Krantz, however, struck a deal with Crumb's wife, allowing the film to begin production; Crumb was paid $50,000 for the film rights. Despite its limited release, it gained favorable critical response and great commercial success, remaining one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time. This enabled a {{sequel}} to be produced in 1974, titled ''WesternAnimation/TheNineLivesOfFritzTheCat''.
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20	!!Tropes:
21	* TheSixties: The film is a little inconsistent on ''when'' exactly in the sixties it takes place. Golda Meir is mentioned as the Prime Minister of Israel and one of the crows says "Who do you think I am? Geraldine?" (a character created by comedian Flip Wilson in September 1969). This might suggest that the film takes place in the fall of 1969. However, in the opening scene, a billboard advertising Creator/JohnHuston's film ''The Bible'', released in September 1966, is visible. Given the lack of references to UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar or UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr's death (which would be fairly common topics in the late '60s, especially in a movie about race relations and political revolution), and the fact that most of the comics by Crumb were written in the mid '60s, may suggest that the film takes place circa 1966.
22	* AccidentalMurder: In a surprisingly sudden and sad turn of events, [[spoiler:Duke is shot by a stray bullet while attempting to keep Fritz safe from the gunfire. However, he appears as a ghost playing pool in [[WesternAnimation/TheNineLivesOfFritzTheCat the sequel]].]]
23	* AdaptationalHeroism: In the original "Fritz the No-Good" comic, Fritz actually ''joins in on'' Harriet's gang-rape. Here, he's horrified and tries to help her.
24	* AdaptationalVillainy: Granted, the rapist-looters in "Fritz the No-Good" were already highly villainous, but here, they're made significantly worse by being neo-Nazi anarchists who dynamite a power plant.
25	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Poor, poor Harriet.
26	* AllMenArePerverts: Especially Fritz, as every other scene is him ogling or sleeping with various women.
27	* AmbiguouslyJewish: Bakshi has referred to Winston Schwartz as such. [[CaptainObvious As if her name weren't indicative enough.]]
28	* AnimalsLackAttributes: Averted. When one of the pig cops is thrown through a church window (somehow lacking his pants and undergarments), you can clearly see his junk.
29	** Until he takes his shirt and coat off, Fritz is usually drawn with this.
30	* AnimalStereotypes: Feline Fritz is something of a coward, let alone a hypocritical coward. He rants about how much he hates college and that he could have spent his college years having fun before burning down his textbooks - ultimately regretting it in the end cause he was too afraid to rebel against and leave the education system like he had called for and then fears he'll end up without a good career or job and his parents will punish him harshly for this. Later on, he calls upon the crows to rise up against the police blaming the pig cops for keeping the wealthy in power, starting a riot and all-out war between the crows and pigs but when Fritz finds himself in the middle of the riot, he gets frightened and runs off from what he started.
31	* AnimatedShockComedy: The UrExample. While it was by no means the first adult animated film, it was the first to receive an X rating, and to market itself based on this fact.
32	* {{Anti Hero}}: Fritz is a [[{{ItsAllAboutMe}} self-absorbed]], {{manipulative\|Bastard}} and [[{{AllMenArePerverts}} sex-loving]] {{jerkass}}. However, see {{Jerk With a Heart of Gold}} below.
33	* AuthorAppeal: A big reason that Crumb disliked the film was that Bakshi took what was ultimately apolitical light entertainment and used it as a basis for his own opinions of the hippie movement and race relations. There's also the many reflections on Bakshi's own Jewish upbringing, such as the scene in the synagogue invented for the adaptation and the gang of looters from "Fritz the No-Good" being changed to neo-Nazis.
34	* TheBadGuysAreCops: At least that's what Fritz thinks. He rallies up the black crows and gives a Creator/KarlMarx-esque speech towards them (he specifically uses the word "proletariat") that the police are enforcing the rule of the "bosses" (elite rich) and putting everyone else in a relatively weak position of power. But there is no evidence to support Fritz is telling the truth, at least not on-screen.
35	* BarefootCartoonAnimal: Most of the cast.
36	* BlameGame: When Fritz rallies the crows to gang up on the pig cops, accusing them of keeping the bosses in power, the cops stupidly buy Fritz's speech themselves and blames the other one while denying that [[NeverMyFault himself is to blame]] ("Fuck you!", "You first!")
37	* TheBore: Winston Schwartz, in contrast to her more adventurous boyfriend Fritz. When the latter brings up going to a seedy truck stop to hear about truckers' experiences on the road, the former instead pulls into a [[ProductPlacement Howard Johnson's]], a former nationwide restaurant chain.[[note]]Still operating as a hotel chain.[[/note]]
38	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Occasionally, Fritz will look at the camera to react to what's going on. He makes the talking motion with his hand while Winston chews him out.
39	* CampGay: The first crow to appear, who flamboyantly tells off the girls trying to flirt with him via positive discrimination.
40	* ChickMagnet: Fritz attracts five different women throughout the plot.
41	* ClosedCircle: Averted; once Fritz gets into trouble for [[spoiler:inciting a riot]], he hightails it out of New York and never looks back.
42	* CondescendingCompassion: The EstablishingCharacterMoment for the three girls Fritz later has sex with shows them with good intentions, but the crow is clearly annoyed by their SoapboxSadie antics.
43	* CoversAlwaysLie: While Fritz appears pretty much as depicted in [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/75/Fritz_the_Cat_(film).jpg/220px-Fritz_the_Cat_(film).jpg posters]], the female cat never appears or is mentioned in the film.
44	** Though she does resemble the bespectacled, feline member of three girls Fritz engages in sexcapades with, so it's possible it's her, with a prototypical character design.
45	* CrapsackWorld: [[TheBigRottenApple New York]] in the mid-late '60s. Not unusual for a Bakshi film, however.
46	* CurbStompBattle: When Fritz rallies the crows to overthrow the pig police force, the crows and pigs are engaged in battle. The pigs easily bulldoze over the crows with better technology (including [[DisproportionateRetribution Air Force fighter-jets]]) while the crows only manage to kill three pigs. Hundreds of crows die in the process, with Fritz having to run for it.
47	* DependingOnTheArtist: There is no attempt whatsoever at uniformity when it comes to animation styles; there wasn't a high enough budget for it. On the plus side, this gives the film quite a bit of variety and allows each artist's style to be showcased more easily.
48	* DisneyAcidSequence: Both films contain one, though ''Nine Lives'' uses it to show one of the ways Fritz dies.
49	* DrivesLikeCrazy: Fritz when he and Duke steal a car.
50	* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: And not just Fritz. Nearly every scene has him or some other character either engaging in intercourse or getting felt/feeling someone up.
51	* EveryoneHasStandards: Even a {{manipulative\|Bastard}}, [[AllMenArePerverts perverted]] {{manchild}} like Fritz has zero tolerance for rape and is seen comforting Harriet after he fails to save her.
52	* FacePalm: Duke does this complete with "Aww MAN!" when Fritz calls the crow bartender "boy".
53	* FantasticRacism: Somewhat. Crows stand in for black people, however the terms "crow" and "black/negro/colored" are used completely interchangeably. From a purely InUniverse standpoint, ignoring the AnimalMetaphor, Fritz mentions to a crow that cats have historically oppressed crows, leaving him with (what he claims to be) a guilt complex.
54	* FemmeFatale: Winston Schwartz, as evidenced by the song which introduces her:
55	-->She makes men into boys
56	-->She makes giants into men
57	-->She'll have you feeling guilty
58	-->Before you can count to ten
59	* FooledByTheSound: Fritz is lying in a hospital bed, a victim of a bombing at the power substation. Three weeping furry female visitors come to see him, which leads the policeman outside his room to believe Fritz is a goner. When he hears some noises come through the door, the cop takes his hat off, certain that Fritz is in his death throes. Inside the room, Fritz isn't dying, nosiree, not even close.
60	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: When Fritz is preaching for revolt on top of the car in Harlem, someone in the crowd yells "Get the fuck off my car!"
61	* GenderBlenderName: A girl named ''Winston''?
62	* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Pretty much everyone.
63	* HairRaisingHare: Fritz later encounters a drug-addicted neo-Nazi rabbit, Blue, who isn't that friendly. The rabbit would later chain up, beat and rape a horse, his girlfriend, Harriet.
64	* HeroicSacrifice: Duke dies saving Fritz by getting shot by a stray bullet. Not only is he one of the friendlier and more sympathetic characters, but he's also [[OnlyFriend the only male character to care about Fritz's well-being]].
65	* HypocriticalHumor: Fritz refers to a black bartender as "boy" ''immediately'' after telling Duke how much he understands race relations.
66	* IHaveAFamily: Ralph tries to save himself and his partner from getting ripped to pieces by an ensuing mob by showing them a photo of his kids.
67	* {{Improv}}: A few scenes, such as the opening on the construction site and the conversation among the patrons in the crow bar, were voiced by [=NYC=] pedestrians whom Bakshi would approach at random and interview, paying them $5 each and using audio of their candid conversations as dialogue.
68	* IntellectualAnimal: Regardless of one's personal opinions on this matter, it's clear that Fritz [[KnowNothingKnowItAll only barely understands what he's talking about]] and is most likely just regurgitating words he's heard other people with more personal experience have told him.
69	* InterspeciesRomance: Fritz's girlfriend, Winston Schwartz, is a dog.
70	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Fritz is a self-righteous, self-serving, entitled, immature pervert who brings about trouble wherever he goes. He's still horrified by Harriet being gang-raped and actually tries to comfort her after it. He even delivers a ReasonYouSuckSpeech to the neo-Nazis later on.
71	* JewishAmericanPrincess: Winston Schwartz is [[FemmeFatale abrasive]], sharply-dressed (apart from her NotSoBadassLongcoat), and AmbiguouslyJewish. Despite being Fritz's girlfriend, she's never shown having sex with him or anyone else (in a film where EveryoneHasLotsOfSex), and even chastises him for his own sex life.
72	* KarmaHoudini: The [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Sadistic Satanic Neo-Nazi Junkie Terrorists]] who made Fritz plant the bomb inside the power plant near the end of the movie and made it explode along with Fritz still in there, and beat poor Harriet pretty bad. We just never hear of them again.
73	* LaResistance: [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed and Parodied]]. Fritz is a college dropout who has a naive and idealistic view of left-wing revolutions. After irresponsibly delivering a [[KnowNothingKnowItAll nonsensical pseudo-Marxist speech]] that causes a neighborhood of black people (portrayed as crows) to riot against the police and experience mass death and destruction, he cowardly flees as he witnesses the highly violent and unpleasant realities of an actual revolution.
74	* LawyerFriendlyCameo: After Fritz ends up causing a riot between crows and pigs. WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and WesternAnimation/DaisyDuck (via silhouettes) are briefly seen cheering as airplane fighter jets fly across the city.
75	* {{Leitmotif}}:
76	** A [[https://youtu.be/4VM454AVmKg smooth jazz theme]] is used for Duke the Crow.
77	** Fritz the Cat himself has this [[https://youtu.be/GOAjhhTGmyY electronic-rock theme]] performed by Ed Bogas.
78	** Bertha has a [[https://youtu.be/sUcZ5RSMYJQ groovy jazz theme with an organ]].
79	** During the car scene, Winston has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTbOJvXt2Eg chase-sounding yet catchy theme]] performed by Ed Bogas.
80	* MatureAnimalStory: One of the earliest animated films that feature a cast of anthropomorphic animals [[AnimationAgeGhetto geared towards adults and deals with heavy subject matter]].
81	* MediumBlending: The power plant explosion is {{stock footage}} of a real one.
82	* NeverMyFault: When Fritz and Winston's car breaks down in the desert, a trucker stops by and tells them that the car simply ran out of gasoline. Winston berates Fritz for this and makes him walk to the nearest gas station with a bucket in hand as if the situation was his fault, even though she's the one who has been driving the car the entire trip.
83	* OneSteveLimit: Averted with two entirely different female companions of Fritz, both named Winston. The first is a fox who engages in the orgies at the beginning and the end. The other, a dog named Winston Schwartz, goes on a road trip with Fritz, [[spoiler:but breaks up with him out of annoyance]]. Oddly, both these characters are similar enough in appearance that first-time viewers might just assume that [[TheOtherDarrin a new voice actor was brought in]]. That Other Wiki says that Bakshi may have named both characters Winston as a haphazard way of making up for the fact that Fritz's girlfriend Winston suddenly pops up in the film with no introduction and he wanted to try and make it seem like both characters were the same person to remedy that.
84	* OnlyFriend: Duke is the only male character to show Fritz any empathy.
85	* PhotoMontage: The film ends with pictures with many different location spots from New York City, including an area [[ShownTheirWork that was referenced]] in the beginning of the film.
86	* PluckyComicRelief: '''EVERYONE''', especially the titular Fritz the Cat qualifying [[BuffoonishTomcat as this]] since just about everyone is pretty goofy in this story.
87	* PoliceAreUseless: The two pig cops never successfully uphold the laws they intend to enforce.
88	* PolicePig: Police officers are portrayed as [[DirtyCop corrupt]], [[PoliceAreUseless incompetetent]], [[PigMan anthropomorphic pigs]]. The film was a major reason why the 19th century usage of "pig" as an insult for cops made a big comeback in TheSeventies.
89	* ThePornomancer: Fritz is able to bed several strange women on charisma alone.
90	* PrecisionFStrike: {{Discussed\|Trope}}.
91	-->'''Pig Cop #1:''' (to his rookie partner) "Now, you have the deeper voice so on three, you yell 'Open the fucking door.' Now, you've got to use the word 'fucking' because it makes you sound tough."
92	* ProductPlacement: Fritz and Winston Schwartz at one point eat at Howard Johnson's.
93	* RandomEventsPlot: The film opens with Fritz playing music at the park, then later visits Harlem where he starts a riot after getting drugged up by a female crow named Big Bertha, then finally encounters a neo-Nazi bunny named Blue.
94	* RapeAsDrama: Fritz sees Blue preparing to rape Harriet by hitting and tying her up her with metal chains. We don't see the rape; Fritz tries to stop him, only to get burned by the female lizard.
95	* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Harriet getting raped by her boyfriend is the only scene in which a sex act is shown in a completely negative light (along with said sex act not being shown). Even Fritz is horrified and tries to stop him.
96	* RememberTheNewGuy: Fritz's girlfriend, Winston Schwartz, isn't even mentioned until her appearance in the last third. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse Her disappearance is just as abrupt.]] Supposedly this is why Bakshi gave the fox character in the female trio the same name, to try and pass off both characters as the same person so the real Winston's sudden and unexplained appearance wouldn't be so jarring. However, it's arguably ''more'' jarring this way, since the fun and easygoing "Winston" in the beginning suddenly becomes a nagging, hateful, abusive wench without explanation.
97	* RevolutionariesWhoDontDoAnything: Applies to a few characters, notably Fritz has some moments where he is one. This was more so the case in the comics.
98	* ShutUpHannibal: Fritz's response to what the revolution was about.
99	-->'''Revolutionist:''' Me and you have been assigned to blow up the power plant. That's all I care about. The revolution. ''(turns the radio on)''\
100	'''Fritz:''' ''(turns the radio off)'' You're full of shit! All you care about is a reason to hurt, to destroy, to blow up! You don't know what a real revolution is! None of you sons of bitches do!
101	* SimpletonVoice: The unnamed pig-cop partnered with Ralph. Ironically, he seems to be the smarter of the two.
102	* SlidingScaleOfAdaptationModification: Somewhere between 3 and 4. It adapts three stories from the comic, the first two wholesale but the last only slightly, retrofitting it to make sense within the narrative, and is bookended by two completely original scenes.
103	** The opening scenes of Fritz and his friends in Washington Square Park leading up to the bathtub orgy is adapted from the comic simply called "Fritz the Cat", adding the girls' being InnocentlyInsensitive to the crow, who originally ran off because Fritz lied to him about where he could get some drugs rather than left of his own accord, and the ending scene in the synagogue. The bear cops are also changed to pigs.
104	** The bulk of the plot is adapted from "Fritz Bugs Out" and only changes the beginning and the end. In the comic, Fritz's rant about wanting to see the world and live life to the fullest was the direct result of an encounter with a hippie girl he meets at a party, then goes back to her house and has sex with. Here, it begins in the dorm and his rant is depicted more as [[SmallNameBigEgo pretentious]] [[ContemplateOurNavels navel-gazing]]. Later, when he's stranded in the desert, he train-hops his way back to New York and his dorm, promptly getting mugged on the way.
105	** The last act is the [[InNameOnly loosest adaptation]], "Fritz the No-Good". Originally, Fritz was a [[LazyHusband deadbeat husband and father]] who hooked up with Winston and, later, a gang of small-time crooks after getting kicked out by his wife, eventually winding up in jail. The only aspect that remains is the gang, here [[AdaptationalVillainy neo-Nazi anarchists]]. Also rather than try and stop them from raping Harriet, Fritz originally [[WhatTheHellHero joined in]].
106	* SpoofAesop: The ending, in which [[spoiler:Fritz concludes that he should stick to having sex with everyone he can and let the world take care of itself]].
107	* SinisterSwine: The [[BadCopIncompetentCop incompetent, antagonistic police officers]] are pigs.
108	* StonerFlick: A cartoon version of this trope to boot.
109	* TeenyWeenie: Fritz is supposedly turned down for sex by Big Bertha (who he got high with) because of this (and is euphemistically described as "[not] black enough"), but as it turns out, she was just teasing.
110	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Winston gives one to Fritz after he calls her a bitch:
111	--> '''Winston''': I see the hard facts of life! I am realistic, something you're incapable of! You'd be better off with one of those stupid little morons like Charlene who you could just sleep with and throw away when you're done! You can't cope with a mature woman! You haven't the faintest idea how lucky you are, than an intelligent woman loves you, and wants to give you something of value; something that will inflame your creative potential!\
112	''[Fritz rolls his eyes, gives an AsideGlance, and makes a "talking too much" gesture with a smirk]''
113	* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Duke the Crow is one of the few genuinely nice characters who cares about Fritz's well–being. He gets killed by a stray bullet during a shootout which Fritz himself incited, trying to get him out of danger.
114	* UndergroundComics: The film is based on the Robert Crumb comic of the same name.
115	* VaporWear: Bertha and Harriet both wear no underwear and skirts too short to cover their butts.
116	* WhiteMansBurden: How Fritz sees the race relations problem in America. He strolls into a bar in Harlem not knowing much more than what he learned in an [=NYU=] class and immediately assumes it's enough to be accepted by the black community, on which Duke makes no hesitation calling his bluff. Even after spending more time socializing with black characters, he doesn't grow sympathetic to their plights so much as offended on their behalf, encouraging them to express their anger towards racism with riots. It gets them all gruesomely gunned down, including Duke himself.
117	* WorkingThroughTheCold: Real-life example. Animator Ted Bonnicksen, gravely ill with leukemia during production, was so dedicated that he took his work home with him and worked until his death.
118	* WorldOfFunnyAnimals: The entire film mostly takes place in this setting, except for the chickens and seagulls.
119	----
120	-->''"Far out."''

Context WesternAnimation / FritzTheCat