Ralph Bakshi

[Professor S]

Not sure if many of you know who this guy is, but I'm in the middle of rediscovering his work. He was a renegade animator back in the 70's and 80's, making adult fare such as Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic, Coonskin (aka Street Fight) and Wizards. Coonskin and Wizards are borderline brilliant. He also made more family friendly movies like the animated version of Lord of the Rings and Fire and Ice. He;s probably best known for popularizing rotoscoping, which is essentially animating overtop film to create a smooth and lifelike image. This technique was recently rediscovered (kind of) by by Linklater (sp?) in The Waking Life and is being used for the upcoming A Scanner Darkly.

I just pruchased Wizards and have ordered Fire and Ice. I recommend his work, but be forwarned, its not for everybody and can be quite explicit at times.