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Fritz the Cat – The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat

Blu ray

Kino Lorber

1972, 74/ 1.85:1/ 80, 76 Minutes

Starring Skip Hinnant

Directed by Ralph Bakshi, Robert Taylor

The typical toddler tends to relate more to the cuddly animals in a Disney cartoon than their own flesh and blood playmates. Robert Crumb and his brother Charles were anything but typical toddlers yet the boys were preoccupied with what was known as “funny animal comics”—everything from Bugs Bunny to Pogo. Their fascination took on an obsessive twist; for Robert the material was inspiration for his remarkable future as an artist, for Charles it was a trip down a long, dark rabbit hole. Those who weathered Terry Zwigoff’s harrowing Crumb learned a lot about the bleak side of childhood fantasy but they also learned about Robert’s compulsive work ethic and his focus on a house cat named Fred—a “typical big old...

The great cartoonist/provocateur Robert Crumb disowned this 1972 film based on his comic strip about the low-down adventures of a randy tom-cat. Clearly a labor of love for director Ralph Bakshi, he spent years finding backing and several more years producing it. With the help of long-time Disney animator Edwin Aardal (Fantasia), Bakshi finds a reasonable approximation of Crumb’s densely populated visual style but he doesn’t capture the passive-aggressive humor of the misanthropic artist’s shaggy-dog storytelling. The movie flaunted its adults only rating, not only to cement its counter-culture cred but to distance itself from more juvenile animation fare. Producer Steve Krantz began his career in animation with the bottom-of-the-barrel syndicated shows, The Mighty Thor and Spider-Man in 1966-67. Nsfw!

The post Fritz the Cat appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Judith Krantz, whose novels have more than 80 million copies in print, has died. She passed away from natural causes on June 22 in her Bel Air, California home at age 91.

Krantz was born Judith Tarcher on January 9, 1928 in New York City, the eldest child of an advertising executive and an attorney. After growing up in New York City where she graduated from the Birch Wathen School at age 16, she enrolled at Wellesley College, graduating in 1948.

After graduating, Krantz moved to Paris, where she worked as a fashion publicist. The following year, she returned to New York, where she embarked on a career in magazine journalism. She worked at Good Housekeeping before being promoted to Fashion Editor.

In 1953, Krantz attended a Fourth of July party hosted by her high school friend Barbara Walters. There she met her future husband, film and television producer and writer Stephen Falk Krantz. They were married for 53 years,...

Seminal horror films sure do cast an imposing shadow, especially for others that try to bear similar fruit in its shade; usually what grows is withered and nothing more than a mere husk of what came before. And some films simply don’t give a horse’s patootie. Welcome to Jennifer (1978), the ultimate Mad Libs homage to Carrie (’76) that, while not in the same league, works as a fun (and somewhat observant) high school horror - with snakes. A whole lot of ‘em.

Released by Aip in May, Jennifer opened to mixed reviews at best and indifference from audiences who felt they’d already been there, DePalma’d that. They weren’t wrong of course; Jennifer gulps thirstily from Carrie’s water fountain, but adds a couple other prevalent genre staples of the ‘70s to arrive at something decidedly weird (and vicious) enough to set itself apart.

Our film opens...

A major horror hit from ’77, Ruby surprised all that made it including its director Curtis Harrington, who struggled with an interfering producer for control of the set. Despite everything, star Piper Laurie still shines, and there’s some good atmosphere — for an Exorcist rip-off, it’s not bad.

Ruby

Special Elite Edition Blu-ray + DVD

Vci

1977 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 85 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available at Vci Entertainment / 29.95

Starring: Piper Laurie, Stuart Whitman, Roger Davis, Janit Baldwin, Crystin Sinclair, Sal Vecchio, Len Lesser, Fred Kohler.

Cinematography: William Mendenhall

Film Editor: William P. Magee

Original Music: Don Ellis

Written by George Edwards, Barry Schneider story by Steve Krantz

Produced by George Edwards, Steve Krantz

Directed by Curtis Harrington

Curtis Harrington had as rough a directing career as anyone, but not without an artistic triumph or two. Fascinated by fantasy and horror, he was filming avant-garde short subjects while still a teenager. He also...

Your favorite movie is going to be remade or re-imagined. Just take a breath and accept that. Speaking of: Deadline announced yesterday that the 1975 coming-of-age tale Cooley High will be getting the reboot treatment. Devon Franklin, Tony Krantz (son to Steve Krantz, who produced the original) and Chicago’s own Common will be teaming up to bring a new version of the Chicago-shot classic to to theaters.

Cooley High was more sentimental than most of its blaxploitation counterparts, with more in common with American Graffiti and The Wanderers than Dolemite and Black Caesar. The story focused on the characters of Preach (Glynn Turman) and Cochise (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) as they make their way through teenage life on the south side of Chicago circa 1964. The film was lauded for mixing comedy and drama upon its release, dealing with themes of education and sexuality during teens’ formative years as well as ...

When we asked our staff to vote on the best comic book movie adaptations, we were afraid the results would consist only of superhero films. While there are many superhero movies listed below, it is great to see a bulk of non-Hollywood films appearing on the list as well. We set out to compile a list of 50 movies but as it were, we ended up with 5 ties, and so the list consists 55 films instead. Let us know if you think we missed something. Enjoy!

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55. The Adventures of Tintin

Spielberg’s first venture into animation is one of his best. Taking notes from the classic Raiders of the Lost Ark playbook, Spielberg crafted another spirited, thrilling, and always entertaining adventure. The Adventures of Tintin is one of the most pleasurable, family-friendly experiences, that boils down to one grand treasure hunt. There’s much to admire on-screen, but it is the spectacular...

Marc Webb is a lucky man. Not just because of the lucrative The Amazing Spider-Man 2 paycheck that’s headed his way. Or the fact that he has finally put an end to the hotly debated “nuh uh, Spider-Man could totally beat Rhino, Electro and the Green Goblin if he wanted to” standoffs of his childhood. Webb’s lucky that he’s even been able to make a Spider-Man movie at all. Because slingin’ ain’t easy. Not for Spider-Man, and not for the trail of corpses that dot his long and troublesome road to the big screen. Not human corpses, obviously (if there actually was a trail of bodies left in the wake of a Spider-Man movie, you’d probably hear about it on a site slightly more serious than this one), but the desiccated remains of countless Spider-screenplays and Spider-pitches, which for one reason or another just couldn’t cut it in the big leagues...

Trailers from Hell's Mick Garris takes a look at another film by animation legend Ralph Bakshi, "Fritz the Cat," from 1972. Nsfw! The great cartoonist/provocateur Robert Crumb disowned this 1972 film based on his comic strip about the low-down adventures of a randy tom-cat. Clearly a labor of love for director Ralph Bakshi, he spent years finding backing and several more years producing it. With the help of long-time Disney animator Edwin Aardal ("Fantasia"), Bakshi finds a reasonable approximation of Crumb’s densely populated visual style but he doesn’t capture the passive-aggressive humor of the misanthropic artist’s shaggy-dog storytelling. The movie flaunted its adults only rating (“We’re not rated X for nothin’, baby!”), not only to cement its counter-culture cred but to distance itself from more juvenile animation fare. Producer Steve Krantz began his career in animation with the bottom-of-the-barrel syndicated shows, "The Mighty...

The great cartoonist/provocateur Robert Crumb disowned this 1972 film based on his comic strip about the low-down adventures of a randy tom-cat. Clearly a labor of love for director Ralph Bakshi, he spent years finding backing and several more years producing it. With the help of long-time Disney animator Edwin Aardal (Fantasia), Bakshi finds a reasonable approximation of Crumb’s densely populated visual style but he doesn’t capture the passive-aggressive humor of the misanthropic artist’s shaggy-dog storytelling. The movie flaunted its adults only rating (“We’re not rated X for nothin’, baby!”), not only to cement its counter-culture cred but to distance itself from more juvenile animation fare. Producer Steve Krantz began his career in animation with the bottom-of-the-barrel syndicated shows, The Mighty Thor and Spider-Man in 1966-67. Nsfw!

The post Fritz the Cat appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

There comes a point in everyone’s life when it’s time to gather one’s herd and leave the hustle and bustle of the big city. For Elaine and Michael Fresco, that time is now. And although the herd in question numbers only two, they’re much beloved – and they’re goats.Yes, Laurel Canyon, long a home to musicians and other entertainment industry folk, is also the home of two Mini Mancha dairy goats, Snowflake and Pumpkin.But not for long. “I like Laurel Canyon,” says Elaine, “but not La.” So, after about thirty years of living at the urban-wilderness interface that’s characteristic of Laurel Canyon – including three years with the goats – the Frescos are moving to a rural area near Santa Cruz, and taking their petting zoo with them.(Check back soon for photos of the goats.)Animals of many types are common in the canyon,...

We've got a whole bunch of news including stuff we didn't put up last week, so hold on to your horses.

Takashi Miike will be remaking the 1963 Eiichi Kudo film Thirteen Assassins. HanWay will be introducing the films to buyers at Cannes (they also backed Franklyn) and principal photography begins in July. The epic is set in the era of the shogun and follows thirteen assassins who undertake a suicide mission to kill an evil young Lord.. Nice, but I'd rather he do Afro Samurai next. via screendaily

A Production Weekly twitter says that Liv Tyler is in talks to star in Neuromancer which already has Hayden Christiansen reportedly starring and Joseph Kahn directing. I don't have high hopes for this and if Liv will be in the film, consider it ruined.

Some Mortis Rex concept art over at Bd. This thing has been in development forever, hurry up!

Christian Bale...

Steve Krantz, who produced the X-rated animated movie Fritz The Cat and created successful TV mini-series out of wife Judith Krantz's romance novels, has died. He was 83. Krantz died of complications from pneumonia on January 4 in Los Angeles. During his TV career, he wrote for Milton Berle and Arthur Godfrey and helped create several comedies, including Dennis The Menace and Bewitched as head of creative development at Columbia Pictures Television. He was also executive producer for Steve Allen's The Tonight Show. Krantz later turned to feature films such as Fritz the Cat, based on the Robert Crumb underground comic and Cooley High, about black high school students in the 1960s. In the 1980s and 1990s, he produced mini-series based on his wife's steamy novels, including Scruples, Mistral's Daughter and Dazzle. After his retirement, Krantz was involved with mental-heath counseling and former California Governor Pete Wilson appointed him to the board of the California Mental Health Council.