If you asked people to name great animators you’d get Disney, Hanna-Barbera maybe and then…
Not the Fleischer brothers (Betty Boop, Popeye), not Walter Lanz (Woody Woodpecker) or Chuck Jones (Warners) or the “Great” Bob Godfrey. Maybe Terry Gilliam (Monty Python) and possibly Richard Williams (“Who Framed Roger Rabbit”) or John Lasseter (“Toy Story”).
And Ralph Bakshi.
Who? Well, Mr B is an answer to a great trivia quiz question: “Who made the first feature film about Lord Of The Rings”. I have seen it, and it’s interesting. I think you need to have read the books first to appreciate it though.
“Fritz The Cat” comes from 1972. We saw it in a double bill with “Heavy Traffic” in the mid-70s at a genuine flea pit in South Woodford, London, now long gone.
It’s based on the cartoon strip by R Crumb, who was not happy with it.
It’s certainly not a film for children, and was given an X certificate when it was released in the UK, for its scenes of sex, nudity, racism, drug abuse… you name it. But it was a huge success.
In a world full of computer created animation, this has a style all of it’s own.
It is possible to find it on home media, and it’s not too expensive.