heavy traffic

Up until a decade or so ago, animation could be divided into two categories: Disney and everybody else. By its very nature, the animation process was so labor intensive and commercially risky that very few independents ever achieved notoriety besides an odd Oscar nomination now and then during a lull in the show. Ralph Bakshi is one of the rare exceptions. Fritz the Cat (1972), a lewd, crude and X-rated cartoon based on the work of R. Crumb was a bonafide sensation and a legitimate hit, which brought Bakshi to the attention of other producers quick to capitalize on his uniquely adult approach to the previously kid-friendly animation genre.

Heavy Traffic, released just a year later in 1973, provided a bit more mature palette. The self-reflexive story follows a struggling cartoonist caught between his obnoxious Jewish-Italian parents and a street-smart female bartender who shows him just what kind of hard knocks it takes to survive in the city. Fully embracing the squalor that is ‘70s era NYC, Bakshi’s film is actually a precursor to the gritty youth pictures of Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader. Only with an uncomfortable obsession with oversize animated T & A.

To call Bakshi’s films offensively immature is like criticizing a horse for crapping in the street during a parade. It’s simply in his nature. Heavy Traffic tries to get as much mileage as it can out of nip-slips and straight-up sexuality to cause a sensation. Remember, we’re talking about an era when the only other animation onscreen was Disney’s adaptation of Robin Hood with heroic foxes and dancing rhinoceroses. Heavy Traffic’s only chance of success rode on capturing the same vulgar Fritz the Cat vibe.

But to Bakshi’s credit, the film actually is a creative progression. The story might have its fair share of pointless exploitive segues, but the atmosphere it creates is authentically urban; mixing interracial romance, ethnic animosity and back-alley blowjobs into a film that is both an exaggerated spoof and accurate reflection of the time in which it was made.

Shout Factory’s blu-ray debut is a welcome gift for Bakshi collectors. The director’s better-known works like Wizards and Lord of the Rings have already made the jump to hi-def, but Heavy Traffic is the sort of film that only appeals to folks who know the secret handshake. The transfer looks great but the lack of a commentary seems like a missed opportunity as the film was taken out of Bakshi’s control at several points and hearing the behind-the-scenes dirt would have been icing on the cake.