Heavy Traffic

"More Spice from the makers of Fritz the Cat!"

1973 1h 17m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 90

AnimationComedyDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A white dropout struggles to become a cartoonist and filmmaker, drawing inspiration from the harsh, gritty world around him. Still sharing his rundown apartment with his middle-aged parents, an oafish slob of an Italian father and a ditzy nutcase of a Jewish mother, he's ridiculed and looked down upon by his friends, hypocrites who run with violent gangs and the Italian Mafia, and a shallow Black girl who makes her living downtown with the pimps and pushers. The cartoonist gets a chance to pitch a film idea to a movie mogul, but the story proves too outrageous: a far-future Earth, depleted by war and pollution, where a mutant antihero challenges and kills God.

“More Spice from the makers of Fritz the Cat!”

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Cast

Joseph Kaufmann
Michael Corleone
Beverly Hope Atkinson
Carole
Frank De Kova
Angelo "Angie" Corleone (voice)
Terry Haven
Ida Corleone (voice)
Mary Dean Lauria
Molly (voice)
Jacqueline Mills
Rosalyn Schecter (voice)
Lillian Adams
Rosa (voice)
Jamie Farr
Arcade Owner

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ralph Bakshi
Writers: Ralph Bakshi
Languages: English, Italian, Yiddish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 77-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.9M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

53 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Italian, Yiddish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ralph Bakshi, shot by Gregg Heschong. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Ray Shanklin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Donald W. Ernst shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Joseph Kaufmann and Beverly Hope Atkinson and Frank De Kova carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ralph Bakshi directs. Gregg Heschong behind the camera. Ray Shanklin scores. Donald W. Ernst cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Italian, Yiddish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 77-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $0.9M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
353 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Italian, Yiddish.
5Directed by Ralph Bakshi, shot by Gregg Heschong. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Ray Shanklin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Donald W. Ernst shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Joseph Kaufmann and Beverly Hope Atkinson and Frank De Kova carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "More Spice from the makers of Fritz the Cat!".
10IMDB entry: tt0070165 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Only 90 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
12Classified under 9 themes, including "virgin", "sexual frustration", "surrealism", "urban life".