Disowned Adaptation: In an extreme example, Robert Crumb hated the film so much, claiming it put words in the character's mouth that he would never have said, that he later drew the comic "Fritz the Superstar" to kill off the character! That didn't stop the producer from making a sequel, though Bakshi also didn't take part in it.
Executive Meddling: Steve Krantz objected to the original ending in which Fritz would have been Killed Off for Real by the neo-Nazi's bomb and convinced Bakshi to give the character a happy ending. Bakshi complied and later claimed that he liked this ending better.
Follow the Leader: A slew of quickly-forgotten animated films for adults (mostly dubbed versions of foreign language films) which weren't much more than cartoon porn came (no pun intended) in the wake of this film's success, many of which had taglines that read as some variation of "IF YOU LIKED FRITZ THE CAT, THEN YOU'LL LOVE..!" Down and Dirty Duck was probably the most well-known of these, but much like Fritz, it has a cult following, just not as big.
Genre Turning Point: Fritz is most known for being the first notable animated project aimed at adults, but many are unaware of its other groundbreaking achievements. For example, it was also the first independent animated film ever and arguably gave birth to retro scripting, with the majority of the dialogue being improvised instead of scripted, which is a practice that has become extremely common in adult animation these days. It was also the first animated movie not from Disney to be a hit at the box office, being in the top ten box office of 1972, a feat most Disney films of the 70s rarely could achieve.
Keep Circulating the Tapes: Now averted, thanks to the Blu-ray releases of both films. For a while, DVDs were hard to come by. Interestingly, you can find the soundtrack here.
Real-Life Relative: The three old Jewish men in the synagogue scene are voiced by Bakshi's father and two uncles.
Torch the Franchise and Run: The whole point of the comic "Fritz the Superstar". Crumb created this comic in response to the animated film and specifically drew it to kill Fritz off because he hated the film that much.
Troubled Production: The film had a whale of a time getting made, mainly due to the stereotype of animation being for children clashing with this film's extremely adult nature, Crumb's hatred for the project, and Bakshi's then-inexperience at directing feature-length animated films:
It took forever for Bakshi and producer Steve Krantz to find a distributor, due to its premise of being an animated film filled with sex, drugs, political themes and graphic violence. Warner Bros. had originally provided funding but backed out after Bakshi refused to cast big-name actors and tone down the sexual content. Even after he did get funding, Bakshi still wasn't safe from Executive Meddling, as Krantz forced him to change the original ending where Fritz would have died from the neo-Nazis' bomb.
Bakshi fondly remembers the Warner representatives' utterly mortified reactions to test screenings, saying that he'll remember the look on their faces until his very last breath. One man even had to leave the room!
Multiple animators were either fired or quit mid-production, either for politics (some refused to draw exposed breasts, and one didn't want to draw a black crow shooting a pig cop), or vulgarity (such as those who only joined to draw sleazy animal pornography). Veteran animator Ted Bonnicksen died from leukemia during production. When Bakshi relocated his studio to Los Angeles, he was greeted with praise and hate from various animators, with the latter camp even posting unwelcoming ads about him in The Hollywood Reporter.
What Could Have Been: Crumb's only contribution to the film was his suggestion that Bakshi himself voice Fritz, but Bakshi thought his own voice was "too Brooklyn" and thought Fritz should sound more like a milquetoast Midwesterner being culture shocked by New York, hence Virginian Skip Hinnant.
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