[.ca] Heavy Traffic (Full Screen) (ISBN 0792846818)

From Amazon.com:
Heavy Traffic is writer-director Ralph Bakshi's follow-up to Fritz the Cat, so if you're looking for a little something to watch with the kids, you might want to search elsewhere. It's an odd little movie, one that seems to both condemn and celebrate depravity at the same time. The hero is Michael, an artist who still lives with his battling parents. Michael is far too sensitive for the cruel city, though he sure seems to draw an awful lot of pictures of it. Michael hooks up with cool bartender Carole and the two of them set off to... well, they plan to do something. More engaging than the story are Bakshi's visual techniques, which include blending animated and live-action sequences and layering old film clips into cartoon backgrounds. Though interesting as a piece of animation, Heavy Traffic is difficult to recommend. There is a running thread of misogyny that makes the film off-putting, to say the least. Yes, all of the characters are unpleasant and yes, most of the violence is over-the-top enough to make a case for it being comic. It is the constant, casual misogyny that's unsettling--at one point Michael backhands Carole across the face and everyone, including Carole, seems to be fine with that. Keep an ear out for Jamie Farr and watch it for the animation, not the plot. --Ali Davis

ONE OF BAKSHI'S BETTER ONES:
In anticipation of the upcoming DVD release of Bakshi's Wizards, I ordered several of his other films on DVD. Of the ones I ordered, this is the only one I've never seen. It's also turns out to be one of his better ones (as in as good as Fritz The Cat but way better then American Pop and Streetfight \oCoonskin\c). An excellent addition to your animationed DVD collection. Just don't forget about Wizards.

crumb ripoff!:
i started liking this movie, i thought the pinball metaphor and wild characters and lifes a cartoon shiz could have worked out, if it werent for the fact that bakshi is thinly disguising himself and his own frustration as being an unoriginal "underground" cartoonist who caught on to the scene too late...if you like the depressing, gritty, wild, fastpaced style of this movie, check out the original master ROBERT CRUMB, toward whom bakshi is obviously seething with jealousy and riding anxiously on the coattails of...this is crap in noncomformity, and dont say i "didnt get it", i just think hes being hugely self-indulgent and this whole thing is an homage gone awry, lacking the wit, psychedelia, and pornographic brillinace that crumb could create so effortlessly..

UNCENSORED:
I only have one thing to add to the other reviews. The DVD version of "Heavy Traffic" has parts of scenes restored that were cut out of the VHS version. Since this is usually a selling point I'm suprised it's not advertised as an un-cut version. Compare the "Maybellene" sequence on VHS and DVD and you'll see what I mean. It's quite a bit more, uh, graphic on the DVD. If you have an old VHS copy and like the movie, getting the DVD is definitely recommended.

Genius:
A schizophrenic journey through the dark urban world. Michael, A young writer, comes from a dysfunctional household and uses his cartoons as an outlet. Eventually he begins to delve himself into his dark toon world and the movie is beautifully animated and stuffed full of creativity, sex, bigotry, and ultimately a true grim view of society. As dark as it sounds I found parts of this movie very amusing. Housewives, pass on this one it's not 'Finding Nemo'. If you enjoy a truly stunning visual experience and dark humor/satire I'd reccomend you watch this....A true must see for the inebriated.

2-1/2 stars -- Maybe I came in late:
This part-live action, part-animated movie from 1973 seemed to get rave reviews, and I was up late one night, so I decided to check it out. But I'm sorry; I just didn't get this movie. I did understand that the main character, Michael, had a hard life and some very dysfunctional (divorced) parents. But then the movie got all twisted. By watching the movie, you can tell that was sort of the point, but it was still weird in that a lot of the scenes and secondary characters didn't seem to have anything to do with each other. Also, the "n" word was thrown around a lot, but I guess I can let that side since it was the '70s. Maybe you have to be drunk to understand this movie or something. Anthony Rupert