Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Following in the footsteps of his controversial 1972 film Fritz the Cat, an X-rated cartoon that caused outrage among critics and audiences but more or less invented the adult animation sector, director Ralph Bakshi delivered the highly personal Heavy Traffic which seemed to largely be inspired by his own experiences growing up.  Like its predecessor, 1973’s Heavy Traffic is crude, somewhat shoddy in its animation, and highly sexual and violent, certainly not a film for sensitive audiences, yet the film's use of live action footage as a supplement to its animation was rather trend-setting at the time, paving the way for many of Bakshi's later films.  It's been kind of interesting for me to check out the older Bakshi films: with their extreme content and true to life scenarios, they come across as the animated counterparts to gritty street movies of their day.  Still, I can't really say any of Bakshi’s films from this period are particularly masterful; the animation on display, in my opinion, is often mediocre and the films almost seem to be novelties rather than fully developed pieces. Heavy Traffic, like Fritz before it, is almost too idiosyncratic to have mass appeal, and Bakshi’s “message” here struggles not to be drowned out by the heavy doses of sex, violence, and potentially offensive language and situations.

The story in Traffic follows a 22-year old animator living with his squabbling parents in New York City.  While his parents bicker endlessly, at times resorting to physical violence to settle their differences, young Michael escapes by creating cartoons of the various people he encounters in his day to day life.  Although this takes his mind off his problems, Michael’s life isn't really going anywhere, much to the dismay of his Jewish mother and womanizing Italian father.  After befriending a local bartender, a scrappy black woman named Carole, Michael starts to finally try to get his act together, but that's easier said than done.

The main body of the film presents the rather unfortunate realities of daily life for Michael, as he traverses the back alleys and slums of Brooklyn.  Bakshi's film seems to capture the setting quite vividly, populating the film with transsexuals, drunkards, prostitutes, and various low-lifes who all seem to be vying for attention and trying to find their place in the mess.  Bakshi's point in the film is set up through his editing scheme which often inserts images of a pinball bouncing around in a machine, basically getting across the idea that one's life is similar to the trajectory of a pinball.  A person only has control over the flippers, which don’t stop him from being bounced all over, racking up points and sometimes ending up in the gutter. It's not exactly an especially profound idea, and Bakshi doesn’t quite pull off delivering the message, choosing to awkwardly insert live action shots of the pinball in the middle of the animated scenes. The resulting “message” is probably more confusing rather than enlightening.

As it goes, then, Heavy Traffic seems to be little more than a sort of running commentary on the life faced by a struggling underground animator trying to get ahead in the game of life.  The film almost seems like a series of sketches piled up on top of one another, and though the film is only about 75 minutes long, it takes some work to really make much sense out of it.  In its final moments, the real nature of the film is finally revealed, and I think Bakshi delivers a clever ending, but I'm not sure that it's entirely worth the effort.

Technically speaking, Heavy Traffic seems slightly more accomplished than Bakshi's debut feature Fritz the Cat.  The environments seem more realistic (partially because we are dealing with humans in this film as opposed to Fritz's animal characters), and also because Bakshi frequently uses actual live action footage for his backgrounds.  These real life images are often shown in soft-focus, given them a fuzzy and dreamy sort of look, which actually ties into the film's theme.  The combinations of live footage and animation are pulled off quite well in the film, and would pave the way for future Bakshi films as well as more mainstream works like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?  Bakshi also seems to utilize actual recordings of dialogue in a way similar to the way he used recorded conversations in his debut.  There's a vibe of authenticity running through most of the dialogue in this film; it has a sort of quirkiness that seems to indicate it was taken directly from real life and not transcribed and re-created.  The characters also seem to possess this quirky and raw realism, having those little details that seem to make them true to life.

One of the main problems from my standpoint in Bakshi's early films is the rather crude animation featured in them.  While techniques seem to have improved a little since his debut film, the animation and drawing style here is somewhat shoddy at times (though nowhere near as bad as it Charles Swenson's Dirty Duck, which is easily the most poorly done animated feature I've ever seen). Created by a ragtag, loosely supervised group of individual artists, the drawings themselves alternate between highly realistic and detailed designs, and those that you'd expect to find in a cheesy TV cartoon.  Sticking these realistic designs right alongside very "cartoony" ones gives the film a unique and wacky visual style although it seems to have limited visual continuity.  I could go either way on the style; it's colorful and interesting to look at but at times seems kind of distracting and I feel it takes away from the film as a whole.

While Bakshi's film overall is somewhat inconsistent with regard to the animation, the film has several stand-out sequences.  One highlight is a brief sequence set to Chuck Berry's old rock tune "Maybelline," which relates the general story that's told by the song in slightly slowed down, crude and almost colorless animation.  This might not sound like a great sequence from the description, but as pulled off by Bakshi and crew, it's fantastic, playfully explicit in its imagery, and easily the funniest sequence in the movie, seeming to be played out in slow-mo for added emphasis.  One satirical scene has Michael attempting to get a job with a major animation studio, with the studio head depicted as being on life support, clearly illustrating Bakshi’s frustration with contemporary (i.e. Disney) animation. A scene where Michael's father gets plowed drunk in a slummy neighborhood is executed quite well on screen, perfectly capturing the feel of being highly intoxicated with the look and feel of the animation.  A final memorable sequence is a fantasy death sequence occurring near the end of the film. Intended to depict the actuality of death, Bakshi fills the screen with a swirling collage of strange and often demented images.  It's one of the few really psychedelic moments in the film, as this film is way more "straight" than the psyche-twinged Fritz the Cat.  Heavy Traffic plays out to Bakshi's usually wonderful selection of music with several rock standards (including the original “Twist & Shout used during a fight scene), and featuring a haunting, easy listening version of the Simon and Garfunkel tune "Scarborough Fair."  As is normally the case, Bakshi utilizes the music wonderfully, and it really accentuates certain scenes.

In many ways, Heavy Traffic is a much more ambitious film than Ralph Bakshi's debut feature, combining live action in with the animation and delivering a story that has a more relevant message.  The film is still very gritty, and often crude, and I can't say with certainty that the animation style has been particularly improved upon.  There's definitely more experimentation with live action, and the story is more personal and authentic, with an surprisingly pleasant ending.  Having said all that, the general feel of the film is more or less all over the place, and is at times hard to follow.  I'd probably say Heavy Traffic is a better film than Fritz, and definitely pushed the envelope in terms of what could be done with animation further than had been accomplished previously.  For animation buffs who can handle the potentially offensive material, I'd give it a recommendation, but (as with most of Bakshi's films) this one is probably an acquired taste.

CONTENT ANALYSIS:
Blood & Guts = Is Michael’s Dad gonna haveta Slap a B!tch?
Profanity = Colorful language throughout, some of which is potentially offensive
Fap Factor = Nudie cartoons and some of the rough stuff
DVD Details = Lame; only includes theatrical trailer

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age