1971-1985

In the spring of 1971, almost halfway through the production of Fritz the Cat, the entire studio moved from New York to Los Angeles because the East Coast Cartoonists Union refused to cooperate with the studio production. Instead of shutting the film down, they moved to the coast where the Los Angeles Union was happy to have the work. Fritz was done completely in 2D animation. The audio track was recorded almost entirely on the streets of New York, with the exception of Fritz and the girls, and Big Bertha.

 

In April of 1972 Fritz the Cat opened in LA and New York to rave reviews. Bakshi was invited to Directors Week at the Cannes Film Festival. The Museum of Modern Art screened Fritz the Cat and added it to their collection. That year Bakshi wrote Heavy Traffic, and went back into production still working with Steve Krantz as producer.

 

Bakshi met Al Ruddy at UCLA in 1972 where they were screening The Godfather and Fritz the Cat the same evening. They became instant friends. He sold Ruddy on making the first black animated feature based upon the “Uncle Remus" characters. It was called Coonskin No More.

 

Bakshi Productions, Inc. was created in 1973, and they began pre-production. Heavy Traffic was still in production at this time with Steve Krantz, who locked Bakshi out of the studio when he heard the news that Al Ruddy and Bakshi were working together. After two weeks they asked him back to finish the picture, quickly realizing no one else could handle the job. Live action was shot for Heavy Traffic and was married with the animation but not rotoscoped. In 1973, Bakshi’s second feature, Heavy Traffic, was screened at the Museum of Modern Art where it shocked and awed the public.

 

In 1973, the production of Coonskin No More began at the new Bakshi Productions Studio on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Live action was also used in this film and joined with the animation. Here he enjoyed working with artists such as John Sparey, Jim Tyler, Virgil Ross, Irv Spence, Manny Perez, Bob Carlson, Johnnie Vita and Ed Barge. Coonskin opened in 1975 with a screening at Museum of Modern Art in NYC. There was so much controversy that Paramount soon withdrew its release. Bryanston Distributing Company quickly attached itself, and released it in theaters to continued controversy. Today it is one of his most highly acclaimed films.

 

Wizards, written, directed and produced by Bakshi, was begun in 1975, and released in 1977 to great reviews. It is an all animated anti-war film with original Nazi war footage.

 

In 1977, production was immediately started on JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Saul Zaentz agreed to a two-part version of the story. Bakshi shot the entire film in live action first, and used rotoscoping technique to animate it. In 1978, The Lord of the Rings was released. The second part, which was already in production, was halted, and never completed, because of a budget dispute.

 

In 1980, Hey Good Lookin' was released. It was written and directed and produced by Bakshi. This film was entirely animated, and also contained some live action footage. This film was started in 1974, but was held up by Warner Brothers. The original Lookin' was a marriage of live and animation characters that Warner thought would never be accepted by the public. They insisted the film must be completely animated, and refused to pay for the changes. It took 6 years to complete independently. Years later, Who Framed Roger Rabbit became a huge success using the same technique.

 

In 1982, created and directed by Bakshi, American Pop – about five generations of a gifted musical family – was released to popular acclaim. In 1983, Fire & Ice, a sci-fi fantasy collaboration between Frank Frazetta and Bakshi, was released. Both American Pop and Fire & Ice were rotoscoped. Bakshi’s main motivation for doing film after film was not to lose his artists.