Tuesday, September 13, 2022

NinetyForChill: The #Podcast - An Explict Podcast for Ralph Bashki's "Fritz the Cat"

NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast

Episode 85: An Explict Podcast for Ralph Bashki's "Fritz the Cat" (Featuring Gregory Carl's live reaction to NWA 74: Night 2).

An Explicit Podcast for ”Fritz the Cat”.

September 13, 2022
Gregory Carl blesses "NinetyForChill: The #Podcast" with his presence again to discuss Ralph Bashki's "Fritz the Cat", the "first" X-Rated animated feature and the most successful independent animated film of all time. This is a movie that discusses a lot of issues that are still extremely sensitive today in regards to race relations while being as explicit as narratively possible, It is a film that needs to be chatted about, but not around the kiddies.

Allow me to get out of third-person. Happy Prof. Shurtleff of Illinois Central College? I (CM Darth) will try not to make so much light of violent death in this summation. This is my declaration of changing perspective.

It was a bit inconvenient that Gregory agreed to the scheduled Zoom meeting while forgetting it was the NWA's 74th anniversary weekend, but when we are discussing a film that should not be shown to kids, his language is forgivable. As a budget-strung wrestling fan, the updates were nice. If anything, this podcast could serve as an advertisement for Motorola phones. They hear everything. We spend the first 10 minutes of our conversation about wrestling based on the audio that I was hearing.

Because I suspect that not all of my listeners are wrestling fans, those 10 minutes are placed at the end of the episode. Trust me. There are cues telling you when the movie chatter ends.

If I recall correctly, Gregory suggested this feature as a podcast subject on the ""They Live". We Podcast with Gregory Carl" episode. It has been a film that I have always wanted to get around to, but the reputation still seemed a bit much. How can you sexualize cats? (I guess that says I am responsible cat owner/servant.) I knew that the creator of the comic, the legendary Robert Crumb, disowned the feature, but I did not know it was about race relation issues.

As a fan of "American Pop" and who is appreciative of "The Lord of the Rings" and "Fire and Ice", I was surprised and impressed to see Bashki tackle such topics, but is he the person that should be addressing them?

Of course the issues was, were there any black voices in animation to direct such a feature? I bring up that my father's favorite feature is "Putney Swope", a film directed by Robert Downey Sr. It addresses how white men just ignore the voice of African Americans, when in truth, they may have a better understanding about the struggles of the marginalized. Because of this, why do we sell to solely rich white people when there are plenty of middle and lesser classes who want to feel included?

But again, the director is a white man. Could that movie be made today? At least Mel Brooks had Richard Pryor to write "Blazing Saddles" with.

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

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The Undrafted and Wrongfully Drafted

"Bull Durham" was not drafted on the Baseball Draft (A film that can only be drafted at #1)
"No Fear of a Black Hat" on the Fictional Band Mini-Mega Draft
The entire George Lucas Draft
"The Birdcage" instead of "La Cage Aux Folles" on the Drag Draft
"Road Trip" was not even mentioned during the Road Trip Draft
"Major League" instead of "Drop Zone" on the Wesley Snipes Draft
"Black Swan" instead of "Mermaids" on the Wynona Ryder Draft
"Akira" instead of "Ghost World" on the Comic Book Movie (Non-Super Hero) Draft. Tetsuo is a Supe.
"Now You See Me" instead of "Diggstown" on the Con Artist Movie Draft
"The Onion Movie" instead of "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask" on the Sketch Comedy Anthologies Draft
"The Big Lebowski" not being marked eight on the Coen Bros. Draft
"Labrynth" or "Dark Crystal" not receiving the number 1 or 2 spot in the Jim Henson Draft
"Stage Fright" on the Giallo Draft. It is a slasher despite the presentation.
"Assault of Precinct 13" and "Prince of Darkness" Instead of "Escape from New York" and "The Thing" on the John Carpenter Draft
"Con Air" instead of "US Marshalls" and "Universal Soldier" instead of "Time Cop " on the 90's Action Draft
"WarGames" instead of "Spies Like Us" on the Cold War Draft
"Traffic" instead of "Side Effects" on the Steven Soderbergh Draft
"Fight Club" instead of "The Virgin Suicides" on the 1999 Draft ("Suicides" made the Actor Directorial Debut Draft)
Any Kirk Douglass instead of "The Shining" being on the Kubrick Draft
"Return of the Jedi" instead of "Tokyo Drift" on the Threequels Draft (there's only one "Return," okay, and it ain't "of the King," it's "of the Jedi.")

Deserves a Second Chance

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).

I find the DC movies, or at least Zack Snyder, was trying to bring comic books to the big screen as opposed to adapting comic books for the big screen. If you read, (or watch the excellent animated adaptation of) "The Dark Knight Returns", it is a very slow build to the battle between the Bat and Supe. This is regarded as one of the best threads in comics.

As a guy who fell in love with wrestling in the 1980's, the very methodical showdown is what I loved. It's a love letter to comic book fans who read and note every detail and want to try figuring out the plot before the character do. Come at the flick this way, and I think you will get something out of it.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

This is a feature that dares you to be offended. When director Ben Stiller is that forthcoming like Robert Downey Sr. was with 1969's "Putney Swope", an audience saying that something is in poor taste, hence not funny, means they are afraid to make a mockery of a concept.

My own experience with junkies bankrupting me allows me to thoroughly enjoy Jack Black's making addiction seem ridiculous. Robert Downey Jr. nails his taboo performance and I would say helps the call for actors from a demographic to be the first people called on for the roles representing them. As for the "Forest Gump" knock off jokes, they serve as a way to ridicule us for what we accepted (and encouraged) as fine a decade prior. The narrative that controls the pace in the second act can drag, but the content that is delivered cannot be cut.

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