Plot: What’s it about?
A young man tries to climb above his rundown surroundings, but no one thinks his skills at art and pinball will bring him much success. He doesn’t go to school anymore and spends his time working on comic books and cartoons, which he bases on the things he sees in the areas around him. He takes the violence and sickness he sees and places it into his work, which he hopes will take off at some point. But so far, he isn’t doing that well and still lives at home with his Jewish parents that always bicker and fight. His friends laugh at him and his dreams, his parents are tired of him loafing around, and even the girl he wants ignores him and makes fun of him. But he keeps pushing ahead and tries to make his dreams come true, and when he gets a break with a movie maker, he think his time has come. Will things ever work out for this troubled young man, or will he end up as simply another bad element in his neighborhood?
Written and directed by Ralph Bakshi, Heavy Traffic is a strange and often confusing film that blends animation with live action sequences. Bakshi is best known for his work with the character of Fritz The Cat, but he has also directed many other known pieces, such as American Pop, Cool World, and The Ghost Monster, among others. This is an animated feature, but keep the kiddies away from this one, as it is loaded with sex, violence, and other cool stuff. These are the type of characters that would be banned from the Disney lot, but they seem to fit in perfectly in this film. This is a rated R picture though, so no one should be surprised when they see the adult natured images. Now I like all those elements, but they seem to be wasted in this movie or at least not used in the correct fashion. Perhaps back in the days when it was release this type of subject matter was shocking, but these days it’s expected and as such, the film loses it’s main draw, shock value. The animation is good though and fans of Bakshi will for sure want to look into this disc. MGM has issued a full frame, bare bones disc though, so a rental is the best option for most.
Video: How does it look?
Heavy Traffic is presented in a full frame transfer, which seems to be an open matte of the original 1.66:1 aspect ratio. This looks pretty good for how old it is, but some grain and marks on the print lower the score a little. I am also unclear why a widescreen transfer wasn’t used, which also knocks the grade somewhat. Get past the grain though and you’ve got a solid transfer. Colors are rich, but never bleed and I was pleased with the overall saturation levels present. The contrast is good too, no serious blemishes to muck up the image at all. The live actions scenes look pretty bad though, with poor contrast balance and frequent edge enhancement.
Audio: How does it sound?
The original mono is track is used and while few will complain, no one will be raving over this mix. The music sounds the best of all the elements, but even here some distortion is evident at times. The wacky sound effects sound good, but lack the punch they need to work in an effective manner. The dialogue is sharp and clear most of the time, but again some age troubles cause some hiss and harshness. This isn’t a bad track when you take into consideration the age of the film, but I think it should have been better.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes the film’s theatrical trailer.
