Magnificent Bastard, Lady L, Fembot and I eagerly traveled down to the Ritz on Sunday night, hyped about meeting Ralph Bakshi and watching two of his groundbreaking films, WIZARDS and STREETFIGHT (aka. COONSKIN). An hour before showtime, the line to get in was already out the door with buzz and excitement as Mr. Bakshi was in the lobby selling and signing his new book, “Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi“, original animation cells from his films, limited edition Alamo posters for STREETFIGHT and anything else people brought in to him. When I finally got to shake his hand and gush over his brilliance, I asked him why his Mighty Mouse cartoon series has yet to see the light of day officially on DVD or any other format.

RB: “I don’t know, ask CBS, Nickelodeon or Paramount. They own the rights and are afraid of ‘hidden meanings’ behind the content…that I’m trying to corrupt children. You know, like people who think playing Beatles’ albums in reverse supposedly reveals hidden messages..”

Thanking him again, I left him to the rest of the fans waiting for a few words with him, and headed outside for a smoke. On my way back in I caught up to Mr. Bakshi as he was finally headed into the theater for the screening. He paused at the foot of the stairs to shake the hand of a lone guy (Jeremy) standing there and as he mounted the steps Mr. Bakshi turned and asked, “what are you waiting for? It’s time for the film.” J: “I’m waiting to see if there is a seat left because it’s sold out” RB: “Come on, follow me in.” As we followed him through the door, Mr. Bakshi put a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder and turned him toward an aisle saying, “There you go, you’re in. Go find yourself a seat!”

I’ve heard it said that Mr. Bakshi has a reputation for being “unapproachable” and to that I say hogwash! At no time was he anything but friendly and grateful that so many fans had shown up to celebrate his work. He was introduced by Lars and got on stage to say a few words before WIZARDS started, then returned to the stage after the film for a Q&A session, smiling and openly talking about his past and process. During this Q&A he talked about his fight with the studios to get $50,000 more to finish the film because they went over budget and was denied because “they thought animation was dumb…the dog of the film industry,” so he raised his own money to get the job done. He said George Lucas was in the same room, also asking for more money to finish STAR WARS. The studio told them both that “science-fiction is not worth the trouble,” but suggested that Bakshi change his original title from WAR WIZARDS since there couldn’t be two films released with similar titles and live-action films were more marketable at the time.

He also responded to questions about some of the people he worked with during his career. One such story was a fond recollection of Brenda Lee Banks a young black woman who in 1975 traveled alone from Alabama unannounced to his studio in Brooklyn, NY asking to be an animator, so he put her to the test and on the staff where she was highly regarded, working on many of his films before going on to further success with other studios. Minutes later, Lars prompted Mr. Bakshi to put the film STREETFIGHT into context before it started, to which Mr. Bakshi responded, “what do you mean?” Lars expounded with “you know, because of the nature of the film, it might be good to explain about how it was back then”, “since we’ve defeated racism..” Mr. Bakshi was visibly upset by this. RB: “How dare you call me racist! Have you ever lived with a black person? You want controversy? You think you’re cool or something?..if you want to know what the times were like, watch the film. Fuck you, I’m gone.” He then dropped the mic, got up from his chair, left the stage and heading up the aisle to the exit he turned and added, “where do you get off asking me that? I told you before not to spin this that way. Thanks for dragging me to Austin to be embarrassed, motherfucker, don’t expect me to come back.” Now, this may seem like a harsh response to a harmless statement, but anyone paying attention heard him clearly say “..we talked about this before..” so there was obviously a line crossed that Mr. Bakshi was sensitive to. Being the pit-bull that I am, I immediately shot out of the theater following him outside to talk more.

Mexomorph: Mr. Bakshi, thank you for pouring your heart into your films. Please don’t leave thinking he represents all of your fans in Austin.
Ralph Bakshi: Do you think I was too harsh? Was I out of line?
M: I can’t say you were – it’s your life in those films. Perhaps he wasn’t aware of how you’d react.
RB: I told him not to talk about me that way before I came down here.
M: Does this kind of thing happen a lot?
RB: It’s been going on for years…it’s jackoffs like him that want to stir up controversy that gave me a bad reputation when the film was released back then. Everyone knows I don’t explain my art, I just create it.”
M: I understand. You shouldn’t have to justify your vision of the way things were.
RB: That guy really made me mad, I coulda knocked him out for that.
M: Please consider coming back tomorrow for those of us who want to see you and talk to you, don’t hold his actions against the rest of us.
B: I really wanted to watch the movie, it’s one of my favorites. I might be back tomorrow.
M: I hope so – it would be good to see you here.
B: Alright, well, I’ll see you tomorrow.

At this time another representative of the Alamo came out and began apologizing for upsetting him, starting the patching-up process and doing anything they could do to make him comfortable again. There are many good people at the Alamo – I don’t want anyone to think otherwise because of this scenario, but I think whomever was in charge of talking publicly to a guest celebrity would do a little research on who they’re talking to so situations like this don’t happen. A quick glance on the interwebs told me all about the controversy and hardship Ralph Bakshi went through during his long and influential career, and it could have been avoided. I’ll be attending AMERICAN POP tonight at 10pm (01/19/2009) to watch another great work and with any luck, talk more with an under-appreciated founding father of revolutionary animation. I encourage all interested to come and fill the theater so he feels welcome again.