Based on a series of comics by underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, this X-rated animated film brings a cynical eye to the idealism of the 1960s. It's a world where black people are crows, cops are pigs, rabbis are lions, and cats--like New York University student Fritz (voiced by Skip Hinnant)--are substituted for guilt-ridden white guys who want to be poets but mainly smoke pot and engage in group sex. After a drug bust by a couple of bumbling pigs makes him an outlaw, Fritz sets fire to his NYU dorm and hits the road in search of self-discovery. The crazy cat steals a car, starts a race riot in Harlem, and ends up stuck outside San Francisco
with a group of sadistic revolutionaries led by a junkie biker rabbit. Throughout
these adventures, Fritz's pot-addled self-righteousness gradually gives way
to a deeper understanding of life, but perhaps too late to extract himself
from a terrorist plot.

FRITZ THE CAT was director Ralph Bakshi's first feature, and it carries many
of his future themes--ultra bleak urban landscapes, cynically guarded idealism, grotesque sexuality, and raucously over-the-top moments of violence.

FRITZ THE CAT is an exceptionally imaginative, X-rated animated feature film, loosely based on R. Crumb's underground comic character. Fritz is a not-so-cartoonish character whose life is populated by the squalid individuals that haunt every large city.

Theatrical Release: April 12, 1972.

The film was followed by a sequel--THE NINE LIVES OF FRITZ THE CAT--in 1974, though neither director Ralph Bakshi nor creator Robert Crumb had anything to do with its production.

FRITZ THE CAT was actually made against Crumb's wishes, thanks to his estranged wife having power-of-attorney. He later killed off the character in protest.

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
Single Side - Dual Layer
Audio:
Mono - English, French
Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Trailer - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer

Ralph Bakshi: Animator of "Fritz the Cat," "Wizards"