Rating: 
Summary: Genius
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: bleak and unpleasant...perfect
Review: Being a fan of Bakshi's "Fritz The Cat" and "American Pop" I decided to check this one out..and enjoyed it very much. A very depressing and bleak look at urban life in New York as Michael is sickened by the sites and sounds around him retreating to his drawing board. Not for the kiddies.
Rating: 
Summary: Nitty-Gritty
Review: Here's a highly textured down and dirty look at the urban world through the eyes of Ralph Bakshi. Though this piece is a fine companion to the Bakshi work "Fritz The Cat" it doesn't hold a candle to his magnum opus "WIZARDS". Still, it's about as slice-of-life as Ralph gets. If you like Bakshi, you'll find this to be a must for your collection.
Rating:
Summary: UNCENSORED
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: All the world's a TOON ....
Review: I remember very well the effect this film had on me right after leaving the theater; everywhere I looked on the drive home, people looked like cartoons. In Heavy Traffic, animation artist Ralph Bakshi presents us with a look at life in the early 70s (late 60s?), city style .... and this city is gritty, not entirely pretty ....Michael Corleone (not the only reference to other popular films of the times) scribbles away at his drawing board while his Catholic father and Jewish mother wage Armageddon outside his door. He finds comfort and release seeing the world as an absurd, psychotic cartoon. Pretty much a loner, his main connection to the outside world is a black bargirl named Carol who works right downstairs from him and slips him drinks for his entertaining sketches. An unfortunate incident with a drag queen associate costs Carol her job, and she and Michael end up out on the streets together, since he can't seem to make ANY sort of job situation come together. They form a sort of hustling alliance, with him as her pimp, and they nosedive into dark urban realms of the quick buck and the inevitable personal compromises involved. All this is interposed with images of live city backdrops and numerous references to a pinball game. Ralph Bakshi's animated vision is a moving work of underground pop art which, despite limitations, was a groundbreaking achievement that pushed the frontiers of American animation thousands of miles. I can see the influence of this film (and Bakshi's work in general) on the likes of Matt Groening, Don Bluth, and yes, even parts of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Heavy Traffic is dark, rude and dangerous. At times it has an almost experimental feel, moving at a stream of consciousness pace more than any conventional narrative. Its portayal of characters is raw and extreme, has an exaggerated sort of believability to it. It also has the feel of a semi-autobiography, with its portayal of a creative misfit struggling against the odds for survival, if not personal validation. This very personal work goes places other animations of the time wouldn't even consider, was rated X at the time of its original release, and was re-released very shortly afterward in a lightly watered-down R-version. The recent DVD release appears to be a restoration of the original artwork, is a nice clean print, despite the full-frame format and mono soundtrack. It would be nice to see this touched up with a slightly refurbished soundtrack (it IS animation, after all); at the same time the compressed sound lends to the quaint sort of 70s feel to it, creating an air of nostalgia rivaling that of The Iron Giant. And these guys weren't even trying! My appreciation for this special film has not diminished over the years; indeed, I understand it a bit more as an adult. It captures the dark, skewed out, surrealistic beauty of the urban underbelly, delivers some nasty bellylaughs, shows us the world as an oversized cartoon arcade game, and reminds us that all we can do sometimes is just keep playing that game. Even if we do end up getting our head blown off by a paraplegic midget on a skateboard. This stuff happens .......
Rating:
Summary: Please pass the butter.......
Review: I saw this film back in '73 with my best bud, Juan during the time when it was rated "X". I was only 16 but we didn't let that stop us from getting in with a bottle of orange flavored vodka. Hell...if we could score some vodka we sure weren't going to worry about getting into an "X"-rated film. It was the first time I saw an "X" rated anything and the first time I drank alcohol. Not a good idea. About all I remember from the film is a couple of rats going at it on a roof. Then the vodka kicked in and I got sick...repeatedly. It seems that hot-buttered popcorn and orange flavored vodka don't mix very well. Now they tell me! In any event I wound up being so sick that for the next 3 days I couldn't feel any pain (aside from a massive hangover) and I haven't touched vodka since. So if there is a moral to the story....well I haven't figured it out. But after nearly 30 years I thought I'd get the dvd and see how much of it I remember seeing. Yeah, the rats on the roof was all I remember.
Rating: 
Summary: crumb ripoff!
Review: 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..
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Fritz the Cat Movie
Review: If you've seen the movie Fritz The Cat and wish there was more, you're in luck. This movie picks up where Fritz The Cat ends. Excellent adult cartoon, with the same "Fritz" humor. I highly recommend this movie.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF BAKSHI'S BETTER ONES
Review: 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 [Coonskin]). An excellent addition to your animationed DVD collection. Just don't forget about Wizards.
Rating:
Summary: Finally!
Review: It is about time that studios started looking into their back catalogues and releasing some old gems especially animated ones. This is a surreal reality cartoon from the genius Ralph Bakshi, a blighted but brightly lit urban landscape filled with far out characters. NOT FOR KIDS Now if we could get them to release all of Bakshi's work Wizards- Fritz the Cat- Fritz the Cat 2- Streetfight- Lord of the Rings- I would especially love to see the short lived but spectacular Mighty Mouse series he did put on dvd! Even todays animated laugh fests on tv don't compare to this mans work.
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