Sometimes it is REWARDING to dive into your past just to check if back then you had the right perceptions. This evaluation of the cartoon picture Fritz the Cat is such a moment. When the film was first released I was still a student. I remember seeing a trailer of it in the picture theater. It was clear, that Fritz the Cat is not just entertainment. No Flintstones here (Wilmaaaaa!). In fact it thrives with sadistic violence and soft pornography. It transcended the range of what I then was willing to accept. I never watched it, even though it beamed excitement. For even back then its cultural and intellectual aspirations were plain to see. Many decades later, when the amazing sixties had sunk in, the time had come to make a mature judgment. I wondered how the makers had portrayed the moral questions of the time. It always pays to engage in a debate about artistic quality, doesn't it? So I bought and watched the film (its sequel The nine lives came free with the pack). Actually the plot is indeed interesting. Fritz gets bored with his study at the University of New York. Following the naive spirit of the sixties he suspects that experiences in real life may be more valuable than studying books. As a first step he pays his respects to the black community. However, he soon discovers that the great rewards do not emerge in the black slums and ghettos. So his next step is a career as a political activist and agitator. It is pay back time. And he is indeed gifted. When the riots become life-threatening, he goes into hiding. Together with a girl friend, Winston, he travels to the east coast, first of all to San Francisco. Alas, no flowers between his ears. Instead he gets acquainted with motor devils, Nazis and terrorists. Meanies wanting to pay out liberalism. During an effort to sabotage a chemical plant, Fritz is critically injured. Amazing, there must be some symbolism in this. In his hospital bed he repents. Fortunately, Winston and some other girl friends visit him, which more or less revives him - that is to say, the material parts. This slot scene is peaceful with yet another orgy. So, how should we value the thing? Let is not be niggardly: it surely is cult. The makers tried to grasp the essence of what they probably read in the head lines of the media. And undoubtedly hippies and flower power were at times accompanied by excessive and even dangerous phenomena and symptoms. But unfortunately the film and the plot degenerate into a bizarre caricature. The innocent attempts of young people and idealists to probe new boundaries are rudely ridiculed. As such its message is essentially hostile and reactionary. So was I right, many decades ago? Yes - the film IS mean and ugly, an ensemble of violence and instrumental intercourse. Amazing, my gut feeling paid off. Even today, frankly, I prefer Garfield. Should you avoid it? I did not say so. For the drawings are creative and the plot is fast and stirring. Judge for yourself. Just don't count on a moral or even intellectual re-compensation. That won't work.
Review of Fritz the Cat
