ada the leading man is my tpye

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

tomgillespie2002 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

No Nukes This is much better fare than Ralph Bakshi normally cranks out,probably because most of his other "political cartoon" films arepretty static and boring. This one acts almost as a self-parody ofBakshi's style of storytelling. All his pitch-black humor is present,along with the outrageous character sterotypes that come with it.But this time, it's put together in a way that does NOT wander intoan aimless mess and actually has something worthwhile to say.And it has "furries" sprinkled liberally throughout it to keep interestup (a rabbit, a bear, a fox, a mouse, a lion, an anteater, a monkey,a duck, etc.). The slapstick routines add a nice touch too, and itmanages to be funny. This is one of those rare occasions Bakshigot his head out of his butt, stopped whining and complainingabout how no one notices him, and made an actual CARTOON,dammit. Great viewing for people who are actually mature-mindedand not just over 17 with the brains of 10-year-olds. Keep a sharpeye out for references to "Song Of The South"!Definitely worth putting on DVD!

San Franciscan "WARNING: This movie offends EVERYBODY!"That was what the cover of the first video release of this tape I ever saw said right on the front.I first learned about this one over ten years ago, and was determined for the longest time to not see it. Being a sensitive animation viewer, I was positive that it would only upset me with offensive stereotypes and ugly pictures. But after recently learning that Ralph Bakshi had had nothing but the best of intentions when he created this film, curiosity finally overpowered me and I decided to rent it simply because I was curious to see what Bakshi really was attempting to say. If he had stated that he had made it merely as a sarcastic and mean racist statement against African Americans, especially since I am proud to say that I am one of the only two white members of a wonderful all-black church filled with beautiful and kind people who have shown me nothing but the most wonderful love and respect I have ever known, I would ***NEVER*** have watched it.I was familiar with all of Bakshi's other works by then, many which I found unsettling, to say the least. Bakshi's biggest scream of pain that I had encountered up to that time was "Heavy Traffic", which had been to me his loudest and most disturbing contribution to the industry. The only thing I knew for certain about THIS film was that it had CAUSED a scream of its own, being picketed and disowned by Paramount almost immediately.So what was my personal reaction to it?Well, first let me start by saying that this is easily the angriest animated film I have ever seen in my entire life.And believe me, I've seen hundreds of them from all over the world. I've seen all sorts of outraged statements on all sorts of subjects from the simple to the profound, but I have NEVER, EVER seen anything even remotely APPROACHING the sheer frothing-at-the-mouth disgust that emotionally bleeds off the screen here. Animation has caused joy, laughing, sorrow, concern and even grief, but very rarely can they cause rage towards a particular problem in the way this one does. As a result, it blares across your mind like an ambulance siren. I guarantee you right now that if you should ever choose to do what I finally did-- to prepare yourself the best you can emotionally and watch this film--I hereby guarantee you that you will never forget the experience.It's very rare that a movie has the power to affect us so strongly. When I first saw "Heavy Traffic" in 1991, I found myself shrinking in my chair shaking because of all the powerful suggestions that Bakshi was showing me--all of his convincing arguments of what it can really be like to live in today's world for those less fortunate than myself. He was showing me how ugly and brutal an everyday existance could really be in the city, something which I had never known because I was born and raised in a polite suburb of the bay area where neighbors all got along cheerfully and everybody was innocently colorblind of each other's skin tones. While watching "Coonskin", I was shrinking in my chair shaking even worse--but this time it wasn't from the convincing arguments Bakshi was showing me, it was from the raw, ugly, horrifying attack that my senses were being assaulted with. Bakshi doesn't use metaphor or mere words here as he did in "Heavy Traffic", here he is instead more in-your-face that you could possibly imagine. This is a film that refuses to be ignored. It doesn't just drift by like most entertainment does on the TV, it grabs you and sinks its teeth into your throat.Next, let me talk about the character design. The movie has, as has been pointed out by many out there, some of the most chilling animated sequences ever created here. I was repulsed and nauseated by the horrific looks of the characters. It's an all-too-powerful reminder of just how African Americans have been drawn and portrayed by Hollywood in the past, and that's exactly what it's meant to be--Bakshi exaggerates already-exaggerated stereotypes so strongly that he shows even the stonehearted just how cruel it really is. But around midway into the film, I discovered something--EVERYBODY is drawn this way, not just the African American characters! For example, I had first gasped in horror at "bottle-shaped" heads of the women characters here because I had thought that the shape was meant to be a cruel and grotesque "parody" of the African skull's natural shape. But then I later encountered white boys with THE EXACT SAME DESIGNS! In other words, NOBODY gets out of this film in one piece--but the MOST horrifying design of all here, one so hideous that he singlehandedly makes all the others in this movie look gentle and affectionate in his shadow, is the ITALIAN GODFATHER! When I saw him, I nearly lost my stomach he was so horrendous. I'm serious, I was positive I was going to throw up. For Pete's sake, he even makes Jabba The Hut look downright cuddly! Even the most "normally designed" character, Miss America, is so obviously a symbol of ugliness that has haunted the USA that she comes across as disgusting and a plague to our country.The main three though (Rabbit, Fox and Bear) gave me a different reaction: Rabbit I thought looked cool except for those awful exaggerated lips (but I wish to state that he looks absolutely tame compared to other characters you encounter later on), Fox looked alright although I kept wondering where his tail and ears were, and Bear...I liked his appearance the most. His looks genuinely flattering and gives a great impression of a well-meaning "loveable lunk" guy (and I don't mean in the stupid Archie comic "Moose" sense either). Unlike all the others, he would have looked outstanding in any cartoon. All three were genuinely likeable characters who had gotten themselves into far worse trouble than they were prepared for.The voice talent behind all three was absolutely spectacular. Philip Michael Thomas has such a--there's no other word for it--COOL speaking voice that he fuses Rabbit with a slickness and attitude reserved only for the best cartoon characters. Charles Gordone is a natural match for Fox and sounds like he had a lot of fun voicing his part in quite a few scenes, and Bear is voiced by one of my all-time favorite talents, Barry White! In a way, it was good for me personally that White was in the film as one of the "heroes" here because his familiar deep voice which has always sounded so gentle in his wonderful music gave me a comforting little something from my own life--a mental "security blanket" to hold on to during the movie, if you will--that helped a bit to cushion the concussive force of this film.And that was a good thing for me. I actually started to cry watching this film. It upsets and enrages you so much with the sheer injustice and cruelty that is prejudice that I couldn't help but break down as I watched it (it also made me more thankful than ever that my OWN family's relatives came to America AFTER slavery was done away with, so I can honestly say MY family had nothing to do with any of that!).This is, in short, a film that is meant to be seen by bigoted people who hate others just because of race--that is the film's target after all. Bakshi obviously never intended for his film to be yelling at an audience already on his side concerning this issue.But even though this is a movie I would never personally buy or want to watch again, I have to tell you: for what it's created to be, this is an excellent movie. It succeeds all too well in delivering its message, and the creepy visuals make it all the more effective (I have the feeling that people would have been less offended if the characters had been drawn like, for example, the appealing character designs of Filmation's "Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids" instead of the nightmarish ones we see here). Why is it so extreme? Well, that's because this is a movie made in sheer justifiable rage, and that's not the sort of emotion you can keep carefully under control very well when art is concerned.The movie has forms of icy attempts at gags which are so sharp and revealing that (for somebody like myself) they seem more an example of daring rather than good judgement. That's not meant to be a criticism towards anyone who does find it hilarious, as I know people out there do, but I didn't laugh much. But that's only because I found the film so strong and vicious that I couldn't laugh. The few scenes where I really did laugh came out of the few traditionally cartoony gags that added fun personality to the three main characters, such as the scene where Fox almost carries off the tombstone from the graveyard ("Put him back, Fox!") and the clever tar baby sequence.As for the animation itself, its movement and craft are superb. No matter what one's opinion of everything else here, one is still forced to admire the skill in putting it together.While a part of me is relieved to see someone attempt to make such a powerful statement about such a terrible wrong, at the same time I can't really recommend the film. I doubt very much I would ever recommend this film to anyone...except to some jerk I might encounter someday who loves to badmouth people of other races. I personally doubt I would ever watch it again because I didn't "enjoy" it or "like" it but very much admire what it attempts to do all the same. And even if one attempts to put all the most controversial elements of it aside, it *still* carries a huge weight of violence and profanity guaranteed to offend a lot of viewers. But even so, it is a strong and bold movie. One that deserves applause for pointing out injustice.

QKnown 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!