Wizards

WIZARDS-1977-I realize 1977 was a long time ago but I found this Ralph Bakshi production a little disappointing. It's very crude and cartoonish and I thought some of the voices and characters don't quite mesh with the overall story of two wizard brothers: Avatar, a good guy who uses magic and Blackwolf, who uses the last remains of technology to conquer the post-apocalyptic Earth which resembles Tolkien's Middle Earth. There are elves, fairies, wizard, mutants and strange robots. Avatar is joined by a fairy princess Elinore, the elf warrior Weehawk and a rebel robot named Peace. To get his armies in a frenzy Blackwolf shows his troops WW2 footage including speeches by Hitler. There are some violent scenes but it almost seems to be aimed at children.

Despite some obstacles WIZARDS was a success for Bakshi and it led to him doing the first half of his often criticized THE LORD OF THE RINGS the next year. (the second half was never made).

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Bakshi Pop

AMERICAN POP-1981-This is an unusual musical mostly animated drama from Ralph Bakshi. It goes through several generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant who come to the US to escape the Cossacks. He winds up as a Burlesque Singer, marries, gets involved with organized crime, loses his son in WW 2 and turns state's evidence in the '50's. It touches on The Beats, TV, alienation and restless youth. His grandson becomes a Kerouac type character hitching across the US, hanging out with hobos, washing dishes, smoking dope with hippies, tripping on acid and writing song lyrics. He becomes an addict and eventually a runaway he befriends becomes a pusher/lyricist (?). Many famous songs are partially performed but none by the original artists.

Bakshi made this three years after his disappointing version of LORD OF THE RINGS.

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