Ralph Bakshi

When I was about 14 years old, me and my friends somehow got a hold of a movie called Street Fight on VHS. Later I realized this movie was originally titled Coonskin, and changed because of it's racial controversy.

"Coonskin is a 1975 film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi, about an African American rabbit, fox, and bear who rise to the top of the organized crime racket in Harlem, encountering corrupt law enforcement, con artists and the Mafia. The film, which combines live-action with animation, stars Philip Michael Thomas, Charles Gordone, Barry White and Scatman Crothers, all of whom appear in both live-action and animated sequences. Coonskin utilizes a number of references to various elements from African American culture, ranging from African folk tales to the work of cartoonist George Herriman, and satirizes racist and other stereotypes, as well as the blaxploitation genre, Song of the South, and The Godfather.
Originally produced under the titles Harlem Nights and Coonskin No More..., Coonskin encountered extreme controversy before its original theatrical release when the Congress of Racial Equality strongly criticized the content as being racist, although none of the group's members had seen the film. When the film was finally released, Bryanston gave it limited distribution and initially received negative reviews. Later re-released under the titles Bustin' Out and Street Fight, Coonskin has since been reappraised, with many considering it to be one of Bakshi's finest works." -Wikipedia-(The most reliable source in the world)


I remember loving this movie when I was 14, but not understanding the importance of it until later. I think it was so shocking and exciting to see cartoon ultra violence, and sex, and it was so bizarre and funky, but the visual style wasn't all that different than the cartoons that I watched with my dad when I was a child. Which kind of makes sense because he started out working at Terrytoons and was involved in a ton of cartoons, before he even started doing his own feature films. Eventually I watched some of his other movies including Wizards, Heavy Traffic, American Pop, Cool World, Hey Good Lookin, and the 1978 animated version of Lord of the Rings. He also directed Fritz the Cat, which was the first x rated cartoon ever. I actually didn't see Fritz the Cat until about a year ago and it was my least favorite of all of his films. Many of his films are still trapped in VHS hell(you can't get them on DVD), but if you can get an avi file of them, I would definitely recommend CoonSkin. If you can only aquire dvds, then check out Heavy Traffic. This is probably my second favorite Bakshi film. I have been able to get my hands on almost every one of his feature films, but his resume is a mile long and he's worked on all sorts of projects. I would definitely consider him one of my largest influences as an artist, and I don't think there will ever be anything like his work ever again. If you don't know. You should. I actually saw a Kanye West music video the other day. The song was called Heartless. First of all, I think of Kanye West as kind of a joke. He seems like an okay producer, and an awful rapper. I don't know if Hype Williams and Kanye were paying Homage to Bakshi, or if he was just trying to bite his style, but if you've ever seen Bakshi's American Pop then you might think that Ralph Bakshi himself directed the video.

If you don't know about Ralph Bakshi. I think you should.