Ralph Bakshi

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Ralph Bakshi
Born October 29, 1938
Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel)
Occupation Filmmaker, animation director

Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938, in Haifa, Palestine [now Israel]) is an American director of animated and occasionally live-action films. As the American animation industry fell into decline during the 1960s and 1970s, Bakshi tried to bring change to the industry and pioneered adult animation using political commentary and satire.

Bakshi started his career as a cel polisher at the Terrytoons studio, working his way up from cel painter to inker, then animator, and eventually began to direct animated television shows for the studio. Bakshi moved to Famous Studios in 1967, before starting his own studio in 1968. Through developing a work relationship with producer Steve Krantz, Bakshi made his debut feature film, Fritz the Cat in 1972, the first animated film to receive an X rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. The film was followed by Heavy Traffic and Coonskin. All three films were extremely controversial for their content and approach to animation.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bakshi became a spokesperson for a new direction in animation with American Pop and the fantasy films Wizards; Fire and Ice, with legendary painter Frank Frazetta; and the first film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, a film that laid the groundwork for future adaptations of the book. In the mid-1980s, Bakshi returned to his roots in TV cartoons with a revival of the Mighty Mouse character, and the animated specials Christmas in Tattertown and The Butter Battle Book, based on the book by Dr. Seuss.

Following the troubled production history of Bakshi's 1992 feature film Cool World, he did not work on another animated feature film for 13 years, until renewed interest in his work prompted the production of Last Days of Coney Island in 2006. Bakshi's films have created controversy while continuously breaking new ground in the form. He encouraged the public to look at animation in a new way by creating worlds that are sometimes familiar and sometimes alien, whose power and strangeness are completely absorbing.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

[edit] Early days

Ralph Bakshi was born of Krymchak descent on October 29, 1938, in Haifa, then part of the British Mandate of Palestine. In 1939, his family came to New York to escape World War II.[1][2] He grew up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. As a child, Bakshi loved comic books and art in general.[1] He was also a boxer during his teen years.[3] Bakshi first attended the Thomas Jefferson High School then was transferred to the School of Industrial Art,[2][3] where he graduated with an award in cartooning in 1957.[1][4]

Bakshi made a name for himself in animation during the fading days of theatrical studio cartoons. At the Terrytoons studio (best known for the Mighty Mouse cartoons), he started as a cel polisher then graduated to cel painting. Practicing nights and weekends, he quickly became an inker and then an animator, working on characters such as Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Deputy Dawg, Foofle, and Lariat Sam. By age 25, he was directing these shows as well as Sad Cat, James Hound and others.[1]

At 28, he saved the jobs of the studio when he attended a series pitch meeting with the CBS Television Network, and improvised a superhero spoof cartoon proposal called The Mighty Heroes when the network rejected all the studio's prepared ones as well as directing it.[1] Bakshi was introduced to the work of J. R. R. Tolkien by a director at Terrytoons in 1956. In 1957, he started trying to convince people that the Lord of the Rings books could be animated and tried to obtain the rights,[5] finally succeeding in the mid-1970s.

In 1967, Bakshi moved to Famous Studios, the animation division of Paramount Pictures, where he was placed in charge of this famous cartoon studio during what were to be its final days. Here he hired Mort Drucker, Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Joe Kubert, Jim Steranko, Gray Morrow, and Roy Krenkel,[1] and produced several experimental animated short cartoons, although none of them had a major impact with audiences. Paramount closed its cartoon studio for good in 1967. In 1968, Bakshi founded his own studio, Ralph's Spot, and headed a low-budget but distinctive animated series for television based on the Spider-Man comic book; new episodes appeared until 1970. After 1970, Bakshi left the world of television and went into full-length animated feature films.

[edit] Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic and Coonskin

Fritz the Cat.
Fritz the Cat.

In 1971, Steve Krantz tagged on as a producer on what was to be Bakshi's first feature film. They mulled over various projects, finally deciding on Robert Crumb's successful underground comic book Fritz the Cat. In April 1972, Fritz the Cat opened in LA and New York to rave reviews and was a box office smash, the first independent animated film to gross more than US$100 million at the box office.[6] It was also the first animated feature film to receive an X rating in the United States,[7][3] and it was unquestionably aimed primarily at adult audiences—something that had previously been unheard of. Creator Robert Crumb, however, hated the film, and eventually wound up killing off the title character in retaliation.[8][9]

Coonskin.
Coonskin.

The financial success of Fritz the Cat gave Bakshi the opportunity to produce two more adult-oriented feature films, Heavy Traffic and Coonskin, which revealed Bakshi's interest in Black history in America,[10] another subject largely overlooked by Hollywood movie studios. Coonskin was sold to Al Ruddy during a screening of The Godfather by Bakshi who told Ruddy that he wanted to make an adaptation of the storybook Uncle Remus. Bakshi Productions was opened and they began pre-production.[1] Heavy Traffic was still in production at this time with Steve Krantz, who responded to the news of Bakshi's work with Ruddy by locking Bakshi out of the studio. After two weeks' time, Krantz relented and asked Bakshi back to finish the picture. Live action was shot for Heavy Traffic to complement the animation. In 1973, Heavy Traffic was screened at the Museum of Modern Art where it continued to shock audiences and generate controversy and acclaim.[1][4] In 1973, production of Coonskin began at Bakshi Studios on Melrose in Hollywood. Live action was also used in this film. Coonskin opened in 1975 with a screening at the Museum of Modern Art to much controversy and protests by the Congress of Racial Equality, leading Paramount Pictures to withdraw the film's release. Bryanston Distributing Company attached itself to the project and released it to theaters to continued fevered controversy.[1][4]

[edit] Wizards and The Lord of the Rings

A poster for The Lord of the Rings, which illustrates a scene that was not featured in Bakshi's film and may have been intended for the unproduced sequel.
A poster for The Lord of the Rings, which illustrates a scene that was not featured in Bakshi's film and may have been intended for the unproduced sequel.

Bakshi turned away from race and cultural issues and began producing fantasy films. His first was Wizards in 1976. Bakshi ran into trouble when he was unable to complete the battle sequences with the budget 20th Century Fox had given him, and the studio refused to raise his funds.[11] So he paid for the film's completion out of his own pocket and used rotoscoping for the battle sequences, which borrowed live-action material taken directly from World War II stock footage and feature films.[11][12] In 1977, the film was released and received with great acclaim.[1][11]

Bakshi's next project was an animated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. This was the first attempt at filming the epic novel to actually see release. Originally pitched as a trilogy, the adaptation was reduced to two parts after negotiation with United Artists, and released as a standalone film in 1978. The studio refused to fund the sequel, which would have picked up half-way through the story and adapted the remainder of the book.[13]

[edit] Unfinished projects

Aside from The Lord of the Rings Part 2, Bakshi had also approached various other projects which never came to pass. Among these was an animated adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's legendary novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, done in the style of Ralph Steadman's legendary illustrations. Though Bakshi pursued the project, the person holding the rights, a girlfriend of Thompson's, presumably producer Laila Nabulsi, refused because she wanted the film to be made in live action.[14]

Bakshi also tried to produce a live-action film based on Hubert Selby Jr.'s controversial novel, Last Exit to Brooklyn. Bakshi acquired the rights from Selby after Heavy Traffic was completed, and Robert De Niro accepted a major role, but the project never came to pass.[15] Last Exit to Brooklyn was eventually filmed by director Uli Edel in 1989.[16]

Another unmade Bakshi project was to be called Bobby's Girl, which he co-wrote with a young and ambitious Canadian named John Kricfalusi. Bakshi had worked with Kricfalusi (who later went on to create Ren & Stimpy) on a series of other projects during the 1980s. Bobby's Girl, an R-rated teen exploitation film set in the 1950s, was greenlighted by TriStar, but canceled after its then-current president, Jeff Siganski, got fired. Both Kricfalusi and Bakshi have stated that they doubt the project will ever be made.[17]

Other projects Bakshi planned, but never made, include an anthology film called The City, and The History of American Music, which, according to Bakshi, was "basically following a musician around in his travels." Neither of these projects came to pass.[18]

[edit] Later work

Ralph Bakshi on the set of Cool World.
Ralph Bakshi on the set of Cool World.

Bakshi returned to street-smart movies in the early-1980s, but Hollywood had, for the most part, turned its back on animation at the time and Bakshi worked behind the scenes for most of the decade. American Pop and Hey, Good Lookin', came next, followed by Fire and Ice, with famed fantasy illustrator Frank Frazetta. In the mid-1980s, he returned to his roots in TV cartoons. His biggest success in the 1980s was a TV cartoon series aired in 1987, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures. The series ran for two years. Complaints from television watchdog groups about perceived drug references were a driving force in its cancellation.

In 1986, the Rolling Stones hired Bakshi to direct the music video for their version of "The Harlem Shuffle". The video featured a combination of live-action footage of the band lip syncing the song and Bakshi-esque animation, including early work by animator John Kricfalusi.[19]

Bakshi returned to the big screen with another variation on "animated characters interacting with real-world people" in 1992 with Cool World. The film was originally pitched as an animated horror film, but the original screenplay was scrapped and heavily rewritten during production.[20][21] The final film was a critical and box office disappointment.

Bakshi did not produce any animated feature films for 13 more years, instead working on various television projects. Bakshi worked on a short-lived animated TV series called Spicy City in 1997, and in 2003 he was the model for and the voice of the eccentric, circus-midget-hating Fire Chief in protégé John Kricfalusi's Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon. The same year, The Bakshi School of Animation and Cartooning, founded by Bakshi, went into operation. It is currently being run by artist and educator Jess Gorell and Bakshi's son Eddie.[22][23]

Availability of his work on the Internet spiked a recent resurgence of interest, resulting in a three-day retrospective at American Cinematheque at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California, and the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, California, in April 2005. At the proceedings, Bakshi announced plans to finance and produce a low-budget animated feature titled Last Days of Coney Island. Other projects, such as American Beat[24] and sequels to Bakshi's earlier films Coonskin[25][26] and Wizards[20][26] have been reported, but these projects have not yet been greenlighted. The Museum of Modern Art has added his films to their collection for preservation. He currently lives in southwestern New Mexico, working as a painter.

[edit] Controversy and criticism

Bakshi has encountered much controversy and criticism during the span of his career. When it was first released, Fritz the Cat was criticized by some for its style and subject matter. Top animators of the era took a full page ad out in Variety telling Bakshi to "take [his] garbage back east."[27]

"A lot of people got freaked out. The people in charge of the power structure, the people in charge of magazines and the people going to work in the morning who loved Disney and Norman Rockwell, thought I was a pornographer, and they made things very difficult for me. The younger people, the people who could take new ideas, were the people I was addressing. I wasn't addressing the whole world. To those people who loved it, it was a huge hit, and everyone else wanted to kill me." - Ralph Bakshi[28]

When it was originally released, the film Coonskin was seen as being racist. During a showing at the Museum of Modern Art, the building was surrounded by members of the Congress of Racial Equality, led by a young Al Sharpton, none of whom had seen the movie. Bakshi asked why Sharpton didn't come in and see the movie, to which Sharpton replied, "I don't got to see shit; I can smell shit!" Eventually, the group was persuaded to view the film. After the screening, Sharpton charged up to the screen, but there was no one behind him. He could hear voices behind him saying, "It wasn't that bad!"[29]

Bakshi has also been accused of plagiarism by Mark Bodé, son of famed underground comix legend Vaughn Bodé, who saw Bakshi's film Wizards as being a rip-off of his father's Cheech Wizard comic book series.[30] However, Bakshi acknowledged Bode's influence on his website:

Vaughn Bode was one of the world's great cartoonists. Vaughn, his wife and his newborn son at that time used to hang around my apartment in Manhattan and talk about doing an animated film together. Sure, he influenced me and many others, as I influenced him. He told me his secret to his Lizards was a simplification of Daffy Duck and Vaughn really loved Fritz the Cat—what I had done with it. We were gonna do the Amorous Adventures of Puck after Wizards. The script he wrote was hysterical, something about a Don Juan Lizard with a wooden dildo because in those days lizards had no balls. At any rate, I loved Vaughn and his family very much and never speak of him because of what he did to himself. [Bode died in an accident related to autoerotic asphyxiation.] I try to erase that whole part of my life out of my mind. I really miss him and all the wonderful, brilliant things he would have done by now. Victoria's [Bakshi's daughter.] website forced me to finally admit that Vaughn was gone.[31]

In the same light, some critics have seen the film Cool World as being an attempt by Bakshi to try and imitate the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Unfavorable comparisons between the two films (including a quote from actor Brad Pitt who stated that the film is like "Roger Rabbit on acid"[32]) added to this belief.

[edit] Influence

Peter Jackson took inspiration from Bakshi. Peter Jackson took inspiration from Bakshi.
Peter Jackson took inspiration from Bakshi.

Bakshi's reputation as a spokesman for the medium has led to his being caricatured in various animated projects, usually as an obese, slovenly figure. Noted fans of Bakshi's include directors Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee,[29] who are both credited as being big fans of Bakshi's 1975 feature Coonskin. Tarantino featured the film in the third of a series of film festivals he hosted, where it was the fourth feature shown at the festival.[33] Tarantino also spoke about the film at the Cannes Film Festival.[25]

Director Peter Jackson was inspired to read The Lord of the Rings after seeing Bakshi's film.[34] Jackson is quoted as saying of the film "I enjoyed it and wanted to know more."[35] Jackson's live-action adaptation borrows from Bakshi's film, such as in the two images to the right. The scene where the Ringwraiths arrive in the hobbits' room and begin slashing at their beds only to find that they are not there is not in the book, wherein the hobbits only find the aftermath of the attack before dawn of the next day.[36]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] As writer/director

[edit] As director

[edit] As actor

[edit] Interviewed

  • Frazetta: Painting with Fire (2003)
  • Ralph Bakshi: The Wizard of Animation (2004)

[edit] Other

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Biography. Ralph Bakshi.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-23.
  2. ^ a b Tom Buckley (February 20, 1981). Ralph Bakshi, an immigrant's son, looks back. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  3. ^ a b c Michael Barrier (1972/73). The Filming of Fritz the Cat. Funnyworld, Nos. 14 and 15. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  4. ^ a b c Cohen, Karl F (1997). Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc.. ISBN 0-7864-0395-0. 
  5. ^ Jim Korkis. If at first you don't succeed ... call Peter Jackson. Jim Hill Media. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  6. ^ Pat Saperstein (Jan. 9, 2007). Producer Krantz dies at 83. Variety. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
  7. ^ Maltin, Leonard (1987). Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. Plume. ISBN 0-978-0452259935. 
  8. ^ Donald D. Markstein. Fritz the Cat history. Toonopedia. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
  9. ^ Barrier, Michael (Fall 1973). The Filming of Fritz the Cat: Feedback from R. Crumb. Funnyworld, No. 15. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  10. ^ Bakshi Board Exclusive Interview #7. Ralph Bakshi Forum. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  11. ^ a b c Ralph Bakshi: The Wizard of Animation making-of documentary.
  12. ^ Bakshi, Ralph. Wizards DVD, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2004, audio commentary. ASIN: B0001NBMIK
  13. ^ Tasha Robinson (January 31, 2003). Interview with Ralph Bakshi. The Onion A.V. Club. Retrieved on 2007-01-09.
  14. ^ Ralph Bakshi. your thoughts on the passing of hunter s thompson. Ralph Bakshi Forum. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  15. ^ Ralph Bakshi. Re: Heavy Traffic & Last Exit To Brooklyn?. Ralph Bakshi Forum. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  16. ^ Last Exit to Brooklyn. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  17. ^ Ralph Bakshi. Re: Your Project with John K.. Ralph Bakshi Forum. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  18. ^ Bakshi Board Exclusive Interview #4. Ralph Bakshi Forum. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  19. ^ Harlem Shuffle Gallery. Ralph Bakshi.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  20. ^ a b Judge Patrick Naugle (August 2, 2004). Rotoscoped Memories: An Interview with Ralph Bakshi. DVD Verdict. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  21. ^ Interview with Ralph Bakshi. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
  22. ^ THE BAKSHI SCHOOL OF ANIMATION AND CARTOONING. Ralph Bakshi.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  23. ^ David A. Fryxell (January 2006). A Different 'Toon. The Desert Exposure. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  24. ^ American Beat (PreProduction). Ralph Bakshi Forum. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  25. ^ a b Susan King (April 24, 2005). Bakshi's game of cat and mouse. LA Times. Archived from the original on May 4, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  26. ^ a b Daniel Robert Epstein. Ralph Bakshi Interview. UGO.com Film/TV. Retrieved on 2007-01-16.
  27. ^ Ralph Bakshi. biography. Ralph Bakshi Forum. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  28. ^ Who flamed Roger Rabbit?. The Guardian (August 11, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  29. ^ a b Richard von Busack (February 27, 2003). Here He Comes to Save the Day. Metroactive Movies. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  30. ^ An interview with Mark Bodé; Retrieved on January 2, 2007.
  31. ^ Ralph Bakshi. Re:No mention of Bode. Ralph Bakshi Forum. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  32. ^ Jeff Giles (August, 1992). Brad Pitt's Cool World. Details Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  33. ^ THE 3rd QUENTIN TARANTINO FILM FESTIVAL. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  34. ^ Peter Jackson, as quoted at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, on February 6, 2004. Audio
  35. ^ Peter Jackson interview, Explorations (the Barnes & Noble Science Fiction newsletter), October/November 2001. Link; Archive; Retrieved on November 29, 2006.
  36. ^ J. R. R. Tolkien (1987). The Fellowship of the Ring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony". ISBN 0-395-08255-2. 

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
v • d • e
Ralph Bakshi

Feature films: Fritz the Cat • Heavy Traffic • Coonskin • Wizards • J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings • American Pop • Hey Good Lookin' • Fire and Ice • Cool World • Cool and the Crazy • Last Days of Coney Island
Short films: This Ain't Bebop •Malcom and Melvin •Babe, He Calls Me
TV series: The Mighty Heroes • Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures • Spicy City
TV specials: Christmas in Tattertown • The Butter Battle Book

Persondata
NAME Bakshi, Ralph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Animator
Filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH October 29, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Haifa, Palestine
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../r/a/l/Ralph_Bakshi_008e.html"