Coonskin (1975)

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Randy (Philip Michael Thomas) and Pappy (Scatman Crothers) escape from prison and await a pick-up from their friends Sampson (Barry White) and Preacherman (Charles Gordone). Pappy begins to tell a strange story about three crooks, Brother Rabbit (voiced by Thomas), Brother Bear (White) and Preacher Fox (Gordone), who rise up throughout the Harlem crime ring. They come up against an evangelistic maniac who teaches his followers to kill whites, a crooked white cop with a hatred of Brother Rabbit, and a fat, Italian-American, Godfather-type who put out a contract on the trio.Ralph Bakshi, one of the most revolutionary cartoonists in recent times, had a long history with the making of Coonskin. He experienced segregation first-hand growing up in Brooklyn where he was forced out of an all-black school due to the fear that the whites may discover it and cause havoc. These racist attitudes seem to have left their mark on Bakshi and he wanted to satirise it brutally, leading to the birth of Coonskin, a film that was picketed and protested against by various groups before any screenings of the film had been arranged, and a film that remained so misunderstood by many until recently.Bakshi savagely attacks stereotyping and racist iconography by using, well, stereotyping and racist iconography. He employs characters in minstrel show blackface that were so popular in Civil War-era America, and portrays the black characters as loud, crude and violent. Yet no one is safe here - homosexuals, Italians, white-trash, Jews - all are portrayed as wildly over-the-top stereotypes. Bakshi conquers the problem by facing it head on, exaggerating it ten-fold, and then throwing it in our face. If you don't get satire or if you completely miss the point of Coonskin, then this is possibly the most offensive film ever made.The animation is crude and dirty-looking, but I believe this was Bakshi's intention. By giving it a grimy, almost sloppy feel, he brings the story closer to the street, where his characters live out their lives. The mixture of animation set against real backdrops evokes Disney's still-banned Song of the South (1946), a film that Disney are so ashamed of due to the fact that it could be construed as racist, that they placed the ban on it themselves. The film is also quite strange, jumping between different styles and tones, and the result is as often confusing as it is mesmerising.They are some truly inspired moments, such as the scene when our animated trio enter Harlem (the "home to every black man") to be greeted by a wailing saxophone in the street, as well as Scatman Crothers' rendition of Ah'm a N****r Man over the opening credits. I would recommend anyone with a fleeting interest in racial history to watch this film as long as they can stomach the viciousness of the satire, as it is as powerful as it funny, and as smutty as it is sophisticated. How this film was managed to be made escapes me, and how it was made by a white man simply perplexes me. Essential viewing.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

MPAA:Rated R for Violence,Language,Nudity and Brief Drug Use. Quebec Rating:13+ Canadian Home Video Rating:18AI saw Coonskin today.This film is also known as Bustin Out and Street Fight.After watching Fritz The Cat,I wanted to see more of Bashki's films.I saw Cool World and thought it was mediocre and I saw this.When it was first released, the film was very controversial.It was considered racist and Al Sharpton wanted the film banned, he even led protests outside the theatre where the film was playing.The film was only released on VHS under the title "Street Fight".It is now considered a cult-classic film and African-American celebrities such as comedian Richard Pryor,director Spike Lee and the rap group The Wu-Tang Clan are said to have enjoyed this film.I personally thought Fritz The Cat was a much better film but this is very enjoyable as well.Worth watching for Bashki or Blaxploitation film fans.The film mixes live action and animation sort of like the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.I would have preferred it in full animation but whatever.The film starts off with a reverend and another man racing to rescue two of their friends from prison.While the prisoners wait,the older one tells a story of three men he knew.The film then switches into animation format, we see three black men who sold their house to this man.They decide to make names for themselves in Harlem.So the leader, a black rabbit, kills a big player in Harlem and he basically becomes a big shot.The film moves on as the Italian mafia want him out.The mafia involves the godfather,his three sons who are homosexual and an Italian clown.Coonskin is an entertaining animated film that's worth checking out, if you can find it.

Coming off the X-Rated FRITZ THE CAT, you'd think there would be no way for Ralph Bakshi to top it as far as controversy was concerned. Wrong. COONSKIN opened a kettle of controversy that remains to this day, and a DVD release is sorely missed. From the very first scene where Scatman Crothers soulfully belts out a tune whose lyrics can't be printed here, to the full-on unapologetic racial stereotyping encompassing race, religion, ethnic and sexual preferences (and MORE!), COONSKIN is a document of the times, unfettered by studio tampering that is inconceivable today. Does it all work? Absolutely not. Bakshi's storytelling has never been his strong suit. The film's plot follows along the traditional black men facing white bigotry gambit of so many of the pure live action efforts. Into that stew are tossed in crime, interracial sex and political repression. It's a very hot concoction, and it's too bad that it doesn't work better on the story level. Also, much of the dialog is wrought with such exaggerated accenting and vocal inflections, that much of the dialog is hard to make out clearly. The visuals are a vibrant mix of live action, traditional animation, early rotoscoping and, often enough, a mix of all of them. Music is also key, but nothing else matches Scatman's intro. Grindhouse Fest

Hard to believe that this flick ever did get made. It doesn't take much for people to label this as racist material, It came out at a time when black folks were able to get revenge on cinema. Well, they accomplish it well here. Ralph Bakshi's half animated, half live-action flick is actually a memorable one. Though it benefits from the Uncle Remus Tales as was already mentioned, Coonskin does have its own original elements that it seems no one else would touch. Watch for the clever voice-overs which perfectly fit the characters.I would'nt recommend this movie for everyone, thats for sure. But for die-hard animation freaks, here's one for ya!