Ralph Bakshi

Ralph Bakshi
File:Ralph Bakshi Wizard of Animation.JPG American filmmaker
"Sweetheart, I'm the biggest ripped-off cartoonist in the history of the world, and that's all I'm going to say."
Born	October 29, 1938 Haifa, Palestine (now Israel)

Ralph Bakshi (October 29 1938) 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 by creating and directing a number of animated feature films that were aimed at adults instead of children.

Ralph 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. He pioneered animation with adult themes using political commentary and satire.

Life and career

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. He grew up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. As a child, Bakshi loved comic books and art in general. He was also a boxer during his teen years. Bakshi first attended the Thomas Jefferson High School [1] then was transferred to the High School of Industrial Arts, where he graduated with an award in cartooning in 1957. 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 & Lariat Sam. By age 25, he was directing these shows as well as Sad Cat, James Hound and others. At 28, he created and directed a series of superhero spoof cartoons called The Mighty Heroes. 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 [2], finally succeeding in the mid-70s.

In 1967, Bakshi moved to Paramount Studios, 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, and produced several experimental animated short cartoons, though 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.

Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic and Coonskin

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Fritz the Cat

In 1971, Steve Krantz tagged on as a producer on what was to be Bakshi's first feature film. Bakshi had written several original scripts that would later become Heavy Traffic, Wizards, and Cool and the Crazy, but Krantz suggested that Bakshi first develop a film adapted from someone else's work. They mulled over various projects, finally deciding on Robert Crumb's successful underground comic book Fritz the Cat.

Bakshi and Krantz flew out to Oakland to find Crumb and secure the rights. Dana Crumb was only too happy to join them in the venture. Crumb saw the film as a perfect opportunity to immortalize his name in film, and agreed to give Bakshi and Krantz the film rights to the character.

In April of 1972 Fritz the Cat opened in LA and New York to rave reviews and was a box office smash, taking in $90 million worldwide. It was the first animated feature film to receive an X rating in the United States, 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.

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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, 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.

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. 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 theatres to continued fevered controversy.

Wizards and The Lord of the Rings

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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 became a self-proclaimed spokesperson for a new direction in animation during the 1970s, and he turned to the process of rotoscoping to cut costs while still trying to produce quality animation. This sparked a new controversy over the use of traced-over live action in his films: animation scholars accused him of not producing "real" animation, but simply training artists to trace over live action.

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. 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. In 1977, the film was released and received with great acclaim.

Bakshi's next project was to become his best known work after Fritz the Cat. In 1978, he began an ambitious animated adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. This was the first successful attempt to film the epic novel. Bakshi had originally intended his adaptation to be made in three parts, later reduced to two parts after negotiation with the studio. The first part adapted half of the story, or three of the book's six parts (The Lord of the Rings is really one novel in six books but published in three volumes, and not a trilogy as is often believed). The second part was to pick up half-way through the story and adapt the remainder of the book.

The final project cost $8 million to make and grossed over $30 million at the box office, but it was considered a flop by the film's original distributors. They opted to release the unfinished story as a standalone film—dropping "part 1" from its original title—and refused to fund a sequel, leaving Bakshi's vision forever incomplete.

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. [3]

Bakshi also tried to produce an animated 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. [4] Last Exit to Brooklyn was eventually made as a live-action film by director Uli Edel in 1989. [5]

Another unmade Bakshi project was to be called Bobby's Girl, to be made from a screenplay he had co-written 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 set in the 1950s, was greenlighted by TriStar, but cancelled after its then-current president, Jeff Siganski, got fired. Both Kricfalusi and Bakshi have stated that they doubt the project will ever be made. [6]

Later work

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Ralph Bakshi on the set of Cool World

Bakshi returned to "street smart" movies in the early 1980s. American Pop and the completed version of Hey Good Lookin', came next, followed by Fire and Ice, with famed fantasy illustrator Frank Frazetta, 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. In the mid-80s, 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 was widely hailed by TV critics, and it is still prized by collectors of TV series today. It ran for two years. Complaints from television watchdog groups about perceived drug references were a driving force in its cancellation.

In 1987, 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. [7] Bakshi returned to the big screen with another variation on "animated characters interacting with real-world people" in 1992 with Cool World. The film ended up being a very different film from Bakshi's original concept, and 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, 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. [8] [9]

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 [10] and sequels to Bakshi's earlier films Coonskin [11] and Wizards [12] 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.

Controversy and criticism

Bakshi has encountered much controversy and criticism during the span of his career. His first film, Fritz the Cat was criticized by some former Disney animators, who saw the film as being a "bastardization" of a "children's" art form. Other critics were opposed to Bakshi's live-action approach to animation. However, these critiques ignore the concept that these unique qualities about the film are two of the things that set it apart from other animated films.

When it was originally released, the film Coonskin was wrongly seen as being racist. During a showing at the Museum of Modern Art, the building was surrounded by members of C.O.RE., led by a young Al Sharpton, none of which had seen the movie. Bakshi asked why Sharpton didn't come in and see the movie, and Sharpton responded by saying "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!" [13]

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. [14] 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 Manhatten 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 love 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 website forced me to finally admit that Vaughn was gone." [15]

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. This was never Bakshi's intention, and he had no control over the final screenplay. However, unfair comparisons between the two films (including a quote from actor Brad Pitt who stated that the film is like "Roger Rabbit on acid" [16]) added to this belief.

Bakshi's extensive use of the rotoscoping device has also been called into question, and some critics have wondered whether American Pop should have been animated or not, as the film tells a realistic story. Despite criticism, it is generally agreed upon that Bakshi is an influental force in the animation art form.

Influence

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. He is widely believed to be the inspiration for the character of Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons and Ralph the Guard on Tiny Toons Adventures and Animaniacs. Noted fans of Bakshi's include directors Quentin Tarantino [17] and Spike Lee [18], 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. Tarantino also spoke about the film at the Cannes Film Festival [19]. Director Peter Jackson was inspired to read The Lord of the Rings after seeing Bakshi's film. Jackson is quoted as saying of the film "I enjoyed it and wanted to know more." [20] Jackson's live-action adaptation borrows heavily from Bakshi's film.

Filmography

As writer/director:

• Fritz the Cat (1972)
• Heavy Traffic (1973)
• Coonskin (released on video as Street Fight) (1975)
• Wizards (1977)
• Hey Good Lookin' (1982)
• Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures (TV series) (1987)
• Christmas in Tattertown (TV special) (1988)
• This Ain't Bebop (live action) (1989)
• Cool and the Crazy (TV movie, live action) (1994)
• Babe, He Calls Me (1997)
• Malcom and Melvin (1997)
• Last Days of Coney Island no official release date announced, possible 2007 release

As director:

• The Lord of the Rings Part 1 (1978)
• American Pop (1981)
• Fire and Ice (1983)
• Dr. Seuss' The Butter Battle Book (1989) (TV special)
• Cool World (1992)
• Spicy City (TV series) (1997)

As actor:

• Fritz the Cat (1972) - Additional voices
• Heavy Traffic (1973) - Additional voices
• Coonskin (1975) - Additional voices
• Wizards (1977) - Additional voices

• Spicy City playing "Stevie" (voice) in episode: "Mano's Hands"
• Spicy City playing "Connelly and Goldblum" (voice) in episode: "Love Is a Download"
• Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon playing "Fire Chief" (voice) in episode: "Fire Dogs 2"
• Ralph Bakshi: The Wizard of Animation - Himself
• Frazetta: Painting with Fire (2003) - Interviewed (himself)

Miscellaneous Crew:

• Cannonball Run II (1984) - director: animation sequence
• Vanilla Sky (2001) - artwork provider: Ralph Bakshi's painting courtesy of

References

Ralph Bakshi/Biography

Ralph Bakshi Forum

External links

• Ralph Bakshi at IMDb
• Template:Nndb name
• Ralph Bakshi's Official Website
• Man behind original 'Lord Of Rings' speaks out
• An interview with Ralph Bakshi
• Ralph Bakshi quotes