Agent Palmer

“What makes you happy? What makes you happy? Where do you go? Where do you go? Where do you hide? Where do you hide? Who do you see? Who do you see? Who do you trust? Who do you trust?” Thus begins Ralph Bakshi’s sophomore work Heavy Traffic. These are very poignant questions. Ones that main character Michael must traverse through the city streets.

“Hey, yeah. The 1960’s? Happy times, heavy times.” Those are the first eight words of Ralph Bakshi’s “Fritz the Cat.” This isn’t your average animated flick. The movie was a trailblazer as it was the first animated film to receive an X rating from the MPAA.

In 1978, the first film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was released directed by Ralph Bakshi. This epic only covered The Fellowship of the Ring and most of The Two Towers.

Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards is just as relevant today as it was when it first came out in 1977, if not more so. The story is set after celebrating 3000 years of peace, since the world blew up in “a thousand atomic fireballs.”