Heavy Traffic (1973)

I remember very well the effect this film had on me right after leaving the theater; everywhere I looked on the drive home, people looked like cartoons. In Heavy Traffic, animation artist Ralph Bakshi presents us with a look at life in the early 70s (late 60s?), city style .... and this city is gritty, not entirely pretty ....

Michael Corleone (not the only reference to other popular films of the times) scribbles away at his drawing board while his Catholic father and Jewish mother wage Armageddon outside his door. He finds comfort and release seeing the world as an absurd, psychotic cartoon. Pretty much a loner, his main connection to the outside world is a black bargirl named Carol who works right downstairs from him and slips him drinks for his entertaining sketches. An unfortunate incident with a drag queen associate costs Carol her job, and she and Michael end up out on the streets together, since he can't seem to make ANY sort of job situation come together. They form a sort of hustling alliance, with him as her pimp, and they nosedive into dark urban realms of the quick buck and the inevitable personal compromises involved.

All this is interposed with images of live city backdrops and numerous references to a pinball game. Ralph Bakshi's animated vision is a moving work of underground pop art which, despite limitations, was a groundbreaking achievement that pushed the frontiers of American animation thousands of miles. I can see the influence of this film (and Bakshi's work in general) on the likes of Matt Groening, Don Bluth, and yes, even parts of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Heavy Traffic is dark, rude and dangerous. At times it has an almost experimental feel, moving at a stream of consciousness pace more than any conventional narrative. Its portayal of characters is raw and extreme, has an exaggerated sort of believability to it. It also has the feel of a semi-autobiography, with its portayal of a creative misfit struggling against the odds for survival, if not personal validation.

This very personal work goes places other animations of the time wouldn't even consider, was rated X at the time of its original release, and was re-released very shortly afterward in a lightly watered-down R-version. The recent DVD release appears to be a restoration of the original artwork, is a nice clean print, despite the full-frame format and mono soundtrack. It would be nice to see this touched up with a slightly refurbished soundtrack (it IS animation, after all); at the same time the compressed sound lends to the quaint sort of 70s feel to it, creating an air of nostalgia rivaling that of The Iron Giant. And these guys weren't even trying!

My appreciation for this special film has not diminished over the years; indeed, I understand it a bit more as an adult. It captures the dark, skewed out, surrealistic beauty of the urban underbelly, delivers some nasty bellylaughs, shows us the world as an oversized cartoon arcade game, and reminds us that all we can do sometimes is just keep playing that game. Even if we do end up getting our head blown off by a paraplegic midget on a skateboard. This stuff happens .......

Heavy Traffic will likely never receive the attention or respect it deserves as a piece of honest to goodness Americana. Like most of Ralph Bakshi's most personal work, it is rough hewn, obscene (though never pornogaphic) outrageous and damn honest. Along with Coonskin and Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic is about life in the 60's (in fact, taken together these three films form a kind of animated triptych). All three films are about revolution of one kind or another, personal or social, contain plenty of poetry, both visual and narrative and are more about life as we know it then the fantasy of life as we might wish it to be, which seems to be the standard for most animation today. Let's hope that eventually Ralph will get his due as a pioneer of animation.

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"Heavy Traffic" is a masterpiece of animation, despite the flaws it has. It dares to tackle with more complex human emotions and issues, far more than had ever been done since the Golden Age of Animation. The story deals with the trials and tribulations of young Michael Corleone (yes, that's his name), a 22 year-old Half-jewish, Half-Italian aspiring cartoonist. He lives with his parents, Angelo and Ida Corleone, whose relationship make Al and Peg Bundy look like Ozzie and Harriet. The film also talks about life in 1973 New York (tough place to be).

First off, there is a lot of great animation in here, although it lacks precision and professionalism , although I chalk that up to lack of funds for pencil testing and Bakshi's relative inexperience with feature animation. However, the animators do manage to get the personality of the characters across quite well. The characters in this film feel real, although they have caricatured appearances, but in some ways, the cartoony drawing style of the movie enhances the emotional realism of the characters. They're both lovable and deplorable at the same time, which makes them feel like real people. You'll never see Mickey Mouse or even Bugs Bunny do any of the stuff they do in this movie. One of the most interesting aspects of this movie is that it prides itself on being a animated movie. A lot of animated films have followed the Disney pattern of trying to disguise the animated factor by following a live-action pattern (trying to emulate live-action). This film tries to do what can only be done in animation. As such, there is a lot of surreal moments loaded with symbolism, although you will have to watch it a few times to get them. A key strength to any Bakshi film, but particularly his early ones, is collage of different styles. The characters are sometimes traced over live backgrounds (actual photographs), or the animation takes a whole new turn and transforms into something like the brilliant Maybellene sequence (set to the classic Chuck Berry song). Bakshi in those days was all about forging ahead and trying to create something new.

However, despite its brilliance, this film has a few rough patches. There are many good parts to this movie, but it's only after multiple viewings that the film connects as a whole. This shows a lack of clarity in storytelling, which isn't surprising since Bakshi tended to improvise as he went along. Although it adds a sense of adventure for production, it doesn't help create a coherent film. Also, did we really need to see Ida's breasts or have the gag about Angelo crapping his pants. I could have done with out those.

Aside from these minor complaints, "Heavy Traffic" is a great movie that is lightyears beyond Bakshi's previous film, "Fritz the Cat". This DVD does no justice to the films. We need a DVD commentary from the man himself, along with the animators who worked on this. Thank you for reading.

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It is about time that studios started looking into their back catalogues and releasing some old gems especially animated ones. This is a surreal reality cartoon from the genius Ralph Bakshi, a blighted but brightly lit urban landscape filled with far out characters. NOT FOR KIDS Now if we could get them to release all of Bakshi's work

Wizards Fritz the Cat Fritz the Cat 2 Streetfight Lord of the Rings I would especially love to see the short lived but spectacular Mighty Mouse series he did put on dvd! Even todays animated laugh fests on tv don't compare to this mans work.

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What is to be highlighted: The highest quality of this truly classic surrealistic piece. I take it as a qualifying American answer to such European surrealistic classics as Luis Bunuel's "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie." Each absurd of our life, pictured there, is blown-up to a quite visible and sensible proportion. It is my opinion, that "Heavy Traffic" even surpasses "Fritz the Cat," regarding such qualities as range and depth of depicted ugliness of the "dark side" of human nature.

Also important is than not everybody appreciates surrealism. Therefore, this item is not for everyone, and especially is unsuitable for not mature audience (because of quite credible quality of certain graphic scenes).

I find as no surprise that some of the most notorious faces from "Heavy Traffic" can be spotted in recent times in many places, take "The Simpsons" as example.

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