The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
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| The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat | |
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 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Robert Taylor |
| Produced by | Steve Krantz |
| Written by | Robert Taylor, Fred Halliday, and Eric Monte |
| Starring | Skip Hinnant, Reva Rose & Bob Holt |
| Music by | Tom Scott & The L.A. Express |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 26, 1974 |
| Running time | 79 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Fritz the Cat |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat is an R-rated animated film from 1974. It was produced by Steve Krantz, directed by Robert Taylor, co-written by Taylor, Fred Halliday, and Eric Monte, and distributed by American International Pictures. The music score was composed and performed by Tom Scott. It was the sequel to the groundbreaking 1972 film Fritz the Cat, based on Robert Crumb's underground comic book of the same name, which was the first feature-length animated movie from the United States to receive an X rating. It features a series of drug-induced vignettes both related and unrelated to life in the 1970s, each ending with the title character being killed at the end.
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[edit] Plot
The film begins with several long pans across the apartment of Fritz the Cat (voiced by Skip Hinnant) who is now married, with a child. He still hasn't learned anything. As his wife (voiced by Reva Rose) screams at him, and his infant son masturbates, Fritz sits on the couch, staring off into space, smoking a joint. Tired of listening to his wife nag at him, he fades off into his own little world, imagining what life would be like for him if things were different. The first character he meets on his stoned journey is Juan (voiced by Peter Leeds), a Puerto-Rican type character who brings Fritz to his home, where the tomcat finds Juan's sister (voiced by Louisa Moritz), Chita, to be somewhat of a hot little number.
Juan goes to the store, leaving Fritz and Chita alone. As Fritz lounges in the couch, smoking a joint, Juan's sister complains that he blows smoke in her eyes. His reaction is to tell her to loosen up and embrace her fellow man...and before she knows what hit her, he has shoved a joint into her mouth, taking her off into her own hallucinogenic fantasy. The pot makes her horny. Meanwhile, outside, a pair of crows are about to rob the place, but decide to stay outside and watch what happens inside instead. A car pulls up: it's what Fritz perceives to be Juan's old man, who blows Fritz apart with a shotgun. This violent display turns off the two crows, who decide that it's best to rob the place at a later time. As this story ends, Fritz is swung back into reality with his nagging wife, who continues on ranting, saying that he has done nothing for his son, "Ralphie," other than teaching him how to masturbate.
A conversation with God leads up to the next story, in which Fritz hallucinates that he is a soldier in WWII-Era Nazi Germany. After being caught having a Ménage à trois with two German girls by a commanding officer (the two girls being the poor swine's wife and daughter), Fritz escapes, and winds up being an assistant to Adolf Hitler. Fritz takes the form of a therapist, and analyzes Hitler, telling him that his world domination plans were just a way of trying to get attention. In the showers, Hitler "accidentally" drops his soap, and urges Fritz to pick it up, in an attempt to rape him, and ends up getting his single testicle blown off. In this segment, Fritz meets his death by way of the US Army.
Back in '70s-era New York, Fritz attempts to sell a used condom to a liquor store owner who bets he knows who Fritz used it on. The two break out laughing as they take turns describing the woman. Fritz at one point blurts out "You know what...? She's got the clap!" When the liquor store owner asks who her name is, Fritz responds by telling him "Gina." The liquor store owner responds: "But that's my wife's name! She don't have the clap!" Fritz tells him "she does now," causing the store owner to curse and shout at Fritz.
As he walks out of the store, Fritz bumps into a pig named Lenny. Fritz tells him that he was an irresistible stud in the 1930s. A psychedelic montage of old stock film and animation follows, vaguely illustrating Fritz's downfall in the 30s (losing everything to excessive partying and drinking). In the next story, NASA hires Fritz to go into space on the first mission to Mars. While waiting for the shuttle to take off, Fritz decides to have sex with one of the reporters, a black girl. However, the space shuttle takes off a little early, and, once in space, it explodes.
In Fritz's next life, we flash-forward to a future where New Jersey is a separate country from the rest of the United States. The crow-dominated city-turned-country has been renamed "New Africa." Fritz is just starting his job as a courier, and he is asked by President Henry Kissinger to deliver a letter to New Africa. In New Africa, Fritz finds a high crime rate, corruption, and violence. Once Fritz is lead to "The Black House," we find the president of New Africa and his vice-president talking about how low his popularity is, and how an assassination attempt would boost his popularity. The president of New Africa refuses to get shot.
However, the vice president needs his president's popularity to increase so he will not lose the upcoming election. So, in order to do so, he kills the president, and blames the assassination on Fritz, because he is the only "white" cat in New Africa. In the final story, Fritz finds himself living in the sewers of New York, where he meets an Indian guru, and the devil. However, Fritz is given a rude awakening from his drug-induced reality by his wife, who finally throws him out of the apartment. After a quick look at all of his lives, Fritz sighs and says "This is about the worst life I've ever had."
[edit] History
Because of the success of the 1972 film, Krantz had asked director Ralph Bakshi to write and direct a sequel for him, but Bakshi refused and instead moved on to Heavy Traffic. He later stated that he had said all he had to say about the character with the first film, and wanted to move on to different material. Bakshi has also stated that to this day, he has not seen The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat[1] (despite this fact, several film guides erronously credit Bakshi as the director for the sequel). Directoral duties were given to Robert Taylor, an animator who had worked on The Mighty Heroes, a superhero spoof Bakshi created in the 1960s.
The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat was the first animated feature in Cannes history to compete as part of the official competition. Ironically, the film was released shortly after creator Robert Crumb had published a story which ended with Fritz's death (at the hands of a psychotic ex-girlfriend). Crumb had drawn the story attempting to prevent the production of any future films featuring the character. The film had a relatively short life at the box office, was denounced by critics, and faded into obscurity. It was re-released by Orion Pictures Corporation during the 1980s. It is currently available on DVD through MGM in the USA, and Arrow Films in the UK as part of a DVD box set entitled The Fritz the Cat Collection. A VHS edition of the film released in the UK had the warning: "Adult Cartoon, totally, absolutely and unashamedly unsuitable for children."[2]
[edit] The music
The music for this film was performed by Tom Scott and the L.A. Express. A full soundtrack album was planned for official release, but the album never came out because of the film's failure to garner significant box office revenue. However, a 45 RPM single featuring two songs from the film, "Jump Back," and "TCB in E" was released in 1974.[3] A live version of "TCB in E" was later released on Tom Scott's Smokin' Section album in 1999. The album's liner notes do not mention the film.
[edit] Trivia
- During the 30s montage, the words (from left to right) "NOTHING TO FEAR! WE HAVE NOTHING" can be seen in the animated marquee lighting several times, at varying speeds.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Ralph Bakshi, as quoted on the official Ralph Bakshi forum
- ^ Amazon.com (UK)
- ^ Blaxploitation.com
