Hey Good Lookin' (film)
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| Hey Good Lookin' | |
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 VHS cover. |
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| Directed by | Ralph Bakshi |
| Produced by | Ralph Bakshi |
| Written by | Ralph Bakshi |
| Starring | Richard Romanus David Proval Jesse Welles Tina Bowman |
| Music by | John Madara Ric Sandler |
| Cinematography | Ted C. Bemiller |
| Editing by | Donald W. Ernst |
| Distributed by |  Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | October 1, 1982 |
| Running time | 77 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Hey Good Lookin' is a 1982 animated film written, directed, and produced by Ralph Bakshi. The film takes place in Brooklyn, New York, during the 1950s[1] and focuses on Vinnie, the leader of a gang named "the Stompers," his friend, Crazy Shapiro, and their girls, Roz and Eva. It features the voices of Richard Romanus, David Proval, Tina Bowman and Jesse Welles. The film was produced during the same period as Bakshi's other street life-related films Heavy Traffic and Coonskin. Hey Good Lookin' was first completed in 1975 as a live-action/animated combination, in which only the main characters were animated and the rest were portrayed by live actors. However, the studio financing the film found the concept to be unbelievable and forced the director to go back and animate the live-action sequences.[2][3]
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[edit] Plot
In Brooklyn during the Eisenhower era,[1] Vinnie (voice of Richard Romanus) serves as the leader of a gang named "the Stompers". He values, in equal measure, the perfection of his hairstyle and having sex with girls. His best friend, Crazy Shapiro (David Proval), more than lives up to his moniker. Crazy's detective father, Solly, hates his son and routinely tries to kill him. Vinnie meets and falls for Rozzie (Tina Romanus). The next day, Vinnie waits until evening for Roz to show up before leaving with Crazy for a night on the town. Meanwhile Roz has been chained to her bed by her father so she won't be tempted to "do anything." At the end of the night, Vinnie and Crazy go to sleep on the beach, and when they wake up the next morning, they find that they're a few feet away from a group of showering women and their Sicilian mobster husbands. While Crazy inches over to the ladies, Vinnie finds a dead body buried in the sand. The screams of both Vinnie and the women alert the mobsters who begin to beat up Crazy.
Vinnie runs off, finding himself on the black area of the beach where he bumps into Boogaloo (Philip Michael Thomas) and his gang, the Chaplains, and finds himself in a position to set up a rumble between their gang and the Stompers. This is a problem since Vinnie isn't nearly as tough as he makes himself out to be. Elsewhere on the beach, Vinnie meets up with Roz and the girl Crazy's dating, fat Eva (Jesse Welles). We find out that Crazy has killed all of the mobsters. The four head out to a party, where Vinnie tells the Stompers that they're going to fight with the Chaplains, to which the gang responds with adverse negativity. Much of the gang and their girls head out to a rock and roll show. Sal (Candy Candido) and his girl have a run-in with Boogaloo while driving, and wind up in a car crash. Vinnie finally persuades the Stompers to rumble with the Chaplains.
At a drive-in fast food restaurant, Vinnie and Crazy make out with their girls. When Roz spots a car that she thinks Boogaloo is in, Crazy is quick to drive off after it. Crazy ends up shooting both of the black gang members in an alley, much to Vinnie's shock. When Vinnie heads out of town, Crazy has sex with Roz on the pier. Meanwhile, Solly investigates the death of the two black gang members. He questions Boogaloo, who tells him that he should be looking for the Stompers, noting that Solly's son is a member of the gang. Back at the pier, Solly fights with Crazy. As he's losing, Crazy tells his father that Vinnie killed them. Vinnie returns in time for the rumble between the Chaplains and the Stompers. As the two gangs wait for Boogaloo to show up, Solly drives up, ready to arrest Vinnie. On the rooftop of a nearby building, Crazy begins shooting randomly towards the street, and fights against his own hallucinations—including garbage can monsters and giant naked women. Vinnie tries to run and is shot by Solly. Crazy jumps off the rooftop, landing on Solly, killing himself and Solly at the same time. As Roz calls up a radio station to make a memorial request in honor of Vinnie's apparent demise, he stands up and walks away, leaving Brooklyn. In 1980s-era Long Island, Vinnie explains to Roz why he left, and the two lovers reunite.
[edit] Production
Bakshi completed the initial version of Hey Good Lookin' in 1975.[4] Hey Good Lookin' was originally going to be a live-action movie with a few animated characters (similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit). Bakshi's rationale was that "the animated characters were such clichés of the period - balancing them with more realistic actors would be interesting".[2] When Bakshi's original cut of the film was shown to Warner Brothers executives, they loved it. A week later, they told Bakshi that the idea of having live-action and animated characters in the same frame was too unbelievable, and delayed the film's release, forcing Bakshi to go back and animate the live action sequences in-between the making of three other films.[2][3] It took 4-5 more years to complete the film as the studio requested.[5] Karl F. Cohen, in his book Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America, gives a different account. According to Cohen, the film's release was delayed in the aftermath of the controversy over Bakshi's film Coonskin, which had been branded as racist by the Congress of Racial Equality.[4]
"There was really nothing wrong with live action and animation productions," Bakshi said. "It was just that nobody thought about them making money till Roger Rabbit came out. Then they realized they made a mistake. But it was too late for Hey Good Lookin'."[6] It is unknown who currently has the original live-action footage.[6] One notable sequence in the released version of the film that was originally in live-action was the "rumble" ending: the black gang members are rotoscoped from the original live actors.[5] A live-action scene cut from the film featured glam-punk band, New York Dolls, taking place at the party before Vinny attempts to convince the Stompers to brawl the Chaplains. While Vinny and Crazy are in the bathroom, the other Stompers fight with the Dolls back and forth outside the bathroom. Many photographs of the scene were taken during filming.[6] A soundtrack album was released in 2006.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Ralph Bakshi Filmography - Hey Good Lookin'. The official Ralph Bakshi website. Retrieved on 2007-05-19.
- ^ a b c Bakshi, Ralph. Re: Most enjoyable film to make?. Ralph Bakshi Forum. Retrieved on 2006-12-31.
- ^ a b Maltin, Leonard (1987). Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. Plume. ISBN 0-978-0452259935.
- ^ a b Cohen, Karl F (1997). Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., page 88. ISBN 0-7864-0395-0.
- ^ a b Bakshi, Ralph. Hey Good Lookin' (1980). Ralph Bakshi Forum. Retrieved on 2006-12-31.
- ^ a b c Bakshi Board Exclusive Interview #4. Ralph Bakshi Forum. Retrieved on 2006-12-31.
[edit] External links
- Hey Good Lookin' at the Internet Movie Database
- Hey Good Lookin' at the official Ralph Bakshi website
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