Review of Fritz the Cat (1972) by Connor S — 04 Mar 2014

Every character in this film is stupid! Every character is a single-minded, ignorant & ridiculous dung pile...

In fact, if there is one character that is not accurately described by that description, then, it is Duke! It is, perhaps, besides the point that a number, perhaps a large number, of the characters in this film do, obviously, have some measure of intelligence, be it street smarts or book smarts; and in having either one of them...none of them have more than a meager amount of the other. And none of them that have any relevant level of intelligence are smart enough to know what to do with it, which is, blisteringly, obvious from what takes place throughout the film!

...except for, perhaps, Duke! So, it is not only ironic that Duke is not only the only character that dies in the film, it is also ironic that he dies proving that he is the only character that does not possess this dreadful stupidity in the film!

While it is obvious that Duke does not have to die to prove this, it is apparent that those associated with this film, such as Crumb & Bakshi, believe(d, at least at the time when this film was made) that he does. Which makes me question their very intention(s) & motivation(s) about why this film was made at all.

(I have heard that Crumb hated the script & that he was, at least ultimately, not related to the creation nor its release. If that is the case, I would love to see his version of this film!).

Given the cultural, political & societal, etc., impacts that was had on this film, by the 1960's, which was almost a character in the film, by comic books & music, etc., and given the impacts that this film has had on comic books, movies, cartoons, the 60's & beyond, etc., I feel as if I can not rate the film based on purely the film itself. I feel that to rate the film I must include things that are connected to, but, not, necessarily, related to the film. And I don't know if that does an injustice to the film or not!

I am, also, made even more confused by the fact that, since music had such an influence on the film, the music in the film isn't very good at all! And regardless of what intention(s) and/or motivation(s) influenced those associated with this film had, to make this film, i.e. Crumb & Bakshi, I can't shake the feeling they tried, desperately, to piss ppl off with this film...

Robert Crumb is to comic books what Hunter S. Thompson is to journalism. And that's not always a good thing, too!