Coonskin

I had heard much about Coonskin, mostly good, though I do know a fair few who were offended by it. Seeing this film, I can see why Coonskin won't appeal to all, due to its very gritty subject matter(racism) and the fact it is stereotypical. However, I loved this movie surprisingly and consider it one of Bakshi's better films alongside American Pop and Heavy Traffic. The visuals are wonderful, the blend of animation and live action is very clever, and some of the images are brutal but often fascinating. The music is equally great, especially the opening title sequence. The satire really does bite and hit you hard, while the story is rich and multi-layered with lots of insight(correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Bakshi has done anything as ambitious as Coonskin before). The voice acting adds a lot, in particular from Scatman Brothers and the resonant, deep voice of Barry White. All in all, Coonskin is not for all tastes, but I loved it, and appreciate it for its biting satire and its take on a very gritty and perhaps controversial subject. 9/10 Bethany Cox

After finally watching Walt Disney's Song of the South on myspace, I decided to watch Ralph Bakshi's response to that movie-Coonskin-on Afro Video which I linked from Google Video. In this one, during the live-action sequences, Preacherman (Charles Gordone) takes his friend Sampson (Barry White) with him to pick up Pappy (Scatman Crothers) and Randy (Philip Thomas, years before he added Michael for his middle name professionally) as the latter two escape from prison. During their attempt, Pappy tells Randy a tale of Brother Rabbit (voice of Thomas), Brother Bear (White), and Preacher Fox (Gordone) and their adventures in Harlem. As expected in many of these Bakshi efforts, there's a mix of animation and live-action that provides a unique point-of-view from the writer/director that is sure to offend some people. Another fascinating animated character is Miss America who's a big-as in gigantic in every way-white blonde woman dressed in skin-tight red, white, and blue stars and stripes who has a hold on a little black man and has him shot in one of the most sexually violent ways that was shockingly funny to me! There are plenty of such scenes sprinkled throughout the picture of which another one concerning Brother Bear's frontal anatomy also provided big laughs from me. There's also a segment of a woman telling her baby of a "cockroach" she was friends with who left her that was touching with that part seeming to be a tribute to the comic strip artist George Herriman. I was also fascinated hearing Grover Washington Jr.'s version of "Ain't No Sunshine" heard as part of the score. Most compelling part of the picture was seeing the Scatman himself depicted with his head in silhouette during the opening credit sequence singing and scatting to a song that has him using the N-word in a satirical way. When I saw a VHS cover of this movie years ago, it had depicted Brother Rabbit in insolent mode in front of what looked like the Warner circles with the slogan, "This movie will offend EVERYBODY". That is ample warning to anyone who thinks all cartoons are meant for children. That said, I definitely recommend Coonskin to fans of Bakshi and of every form of animation.

Sure this flick is very racist in content, but it's very entertaining if you give it a chance. The movie begins where we see Preacher (Gordone) talking to God, then go meets up with Samson (White, R.I.P.), as they head out to go break their friends, Randy (Thomas) and Pappy (Crothers) out of prison. While they're waiting outside the prison walls for Samson and Preacher to come, Pappy tells Randy the story of Brother Rabbit, Brother Bear, and Preacher Fox, about how they got runned out of the South and into Harlem. Just as they get into Harlem, the guys attend a *so-called* church social held by Rev. Simple Savior. Brother Rabbit figures out its nothing' but a big joke and takes out the phoney Reverend and tells his ex-cohorts that he and his friends are taking over, but there's one thing. Before he can take over, he must take out a crazy cop named Manigan and the Godfather and his mafia (4 homos, 1 straight, and 1 clown). Very entertaining, I recommend it to anyone who wants to see something unique and different.

Streetfight (aka Coonskin) is a very unique film directed by animation pioneer Ralph Bakshi. It is an oddity of the cinema, and is very much worth seeing. It is live action mixed with animation, seemingly influenced on Disney's legendary Song of the South, almost as if it is a response to that flick. Philip Michael Thomas, later to become Don Johnson's sidekick on Miami Vice, and Scatman Crothers, most famous for his role in Kubrick's The Shining, are prison escapees. Charles Gordone and Barry White (yes, that Barry White) are Thomas' friends and plan to help him escape prison. They are stuck at a police roadblock, and Crothers tells Thomas a story about a black rabbit, a bear, and a fox who move from the South to Harlem in order to find a more peaceful existence. The story is animated, and provides a lot of wonderous things to see. Like all of Bakshi's films, most will be annoyed and will dislike the animation. True animation lovers will forgive its clunkiness and fall in love with its inventiveness. The movie is very violent, very sexual, and it is mostly about battles between the races. For a long time, I thought I was watching something extremely important, but after a while, especially after I got done watching it, it started to seem more like a run-of-the-mill blacksploitation flick, along the lines of Superfly. It's very sloppy and doesn't really say anything. Besides, isn't Bakshi white? Whatever the answer to that, Coonskin/Streetfight is still very much worth watching for animation aficionados as well as cult movie fans. 7/10.

Street Fight is a brilliant piece of brutal satire. This is not a movie you just watch for fun. It is not a comfortable experience, although it does have some laugh-out-loud moments. This is a movie you watch when you need food for thought.

To dismiss this film as simply racist is to miss the point entirely. This is not only a satire of Song of the South, it's also a biting commentary on the prejudices that Americans still have as a society. Every ethnic group portrayed in the movie gets shown as grotesque caricatures of their stereotypes, which in turn are grotesque caricatures of real people. Through this wild exaggeration, the filmmaker shows just how absurd these tightly-held beliefs really are.

If you're the sort of person who's willing to acknowledge the ugliness of the prevalent prejudices American culture still holds, and if you're not afraid to look your own prejudices in the eye, this movie may be for you.