Coonskin (1974) User Reviews

Don't Let The Title Throw You. This Is Definitely One To See....

[abyoussef · 7/10 · 25 October 2007]

by Dane Youssef

"Coonskin" is film, by the one and only Ralph Bakshi, is reportedly a satirical indictment of blaxploitation films and negative black stereotypes, as well as a look at life black in modern America (modern for the day, I mean--1975). Paramount dropped it like a hot potato that just burst into flame.

But this is a Bakshi film, controversial, thrilling, and a must-see almost by definition alone. Not just another random "shock-jock" of a movie which tries to shock for the sake of shock. It's by Ralph Bakshi. Anyone who knows the name knows that if HE made a movie, he has something big to say...

Although it's roots are based in cheap blaxploitation, "Coonskin" isn't just another campy knock-off of mainstream white film or any kind of throwaway flick. "Coonskin" wants to be more. It aims it's sights higher and fries some much bigger fish.

The movie doesn't just poke fun at the genre. Nor does it just indict black people, but actually seems to show love, beauty and heart in the strangest places.

"Coonskin" tells a story out of some convicts awaiting a jail-break. The fact that it's even possible to break out of a prison in the "Coonskin" world alone makes it old-fashioned.

One of the inmates tells a story about a trio of black brothers in Harlem named Brother Bear, Brother Rabbit, Preacher Fox who want respect and a piece of the action and are willing to get it by any means necessary. The Itallian mob is running all the real action.

Big name black musicians star: Barry White and Scatman Crothers, as well as Charles Gordone, the first black playwright to take home the Pulitzer. Something big is happening here obviously.

The movie plays out like a descent into this world, this side of the racial divide. From an angry, hip, deep, soulful black man with a hate in his heart and a gun in his hand.

Bakshi's films never know the meaning of the word "sublety." This one looks like it's never even heard of the word. But maybe a subject like this needs extremism. Real sledgehammer satire. Some subjects can't be tackled gently.

Bakshi is god-dammed merciless. Here, no member or minority of the Harlem scene appears unscathed.

The characters here are "animated" to "real" all depending on what the mood and situation are. The animated characters and the human ones all share the same reality and are meant to be taken just as literally.

Bakshi never just shows ugly caricatures just for shock value. He always has something to say. Nor is black-face is gratuitously. Here, unlike in Spike Lee's "Bamboozled," he seems to be using it to try and really say something.

Like 99.9% of all of Bakshi's films, this one incorporates animation and live-action. Usually at the same time. Bakshki isn't just being gimmicky here. All of this technique is all intertwined, meshing together while saying something.

Somehow, this one feels inevitably dated. Many of these types of films (Bakshi's included) are very topical, very spur of the moment. They reflect the certain trend for the day, but looking back of them years later, there's just an unmistakable feeling of nostalgia (as well as timeless truth).

Even though the music, clothes, slang and the city clearly looks like photos that belong in a time capsule, the attitude, the spirit and the heart remain the same no matter what f--king ear it is. Anyone who's really seen the movies, the state of things and has been in company of the people know what I'm talking about.

Even some of the of the black characters are a bunny (junglebunny), a big ol' bear and a fox. One of the most sour and unsavory racist characters is a dirty Harlem cop who's hot on the trail of these "dirty n-----s" after the death of a cop. But for him, it's not just business. Nor is it for the rest of the brothers who wear the shield. It's just pure sadistic racist pleasure of hurting blacks.

The sequence involving the Godfather and his lady is one of the most moving pieces in the whole film, of which there are many. It plays out like an opera or a ballet.

The promo line: WARNING: "This film offends everybody!" This is not just hype. Proceed with extreme caution.

You have been warned...

--Happy Viewing, Dane Youssef

Ralph Bakshi's Coonskin is indeed a movie that would "offend EVERYBODY"

[tavm · 7/10 · 21 November 2008]

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.

Brutal satire on stereotyping and racism

[tomgillespie2002 · 7/10 · 8 February 2012]

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.

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The most enraged animated film I have ever seen in my entire life.

[San Franciscan · 8 October 2001]

"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.

Very interesting

[zetes · 7/10 · 2 January 2002]

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.

an exploitation film on the surface, but really about exploitation, and done in a crazy, free-for-all satirical form

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 26 July 2008]

Coonskin might be my favorite Ralph Bakshi film. Like the best of his work, it's in-your-face and not ashamed of it for a second, but unlike some of his other work (even when he's at his finest, which was before and after Coonskin with Heavy Traffic and Wizards), it's not much uneven, despite appearances to the contrary. Bakshi's taking on stereotypes and perceptions of race, of course, but moreover he's making what appears to be a freewheeling exploitation film; blaxploitation almost, though Bakshi doesn't stop just there. If it were just a blaxploitation flick with inventive animation it could be enough for a substantial feature. But Bakshi's aims are higher: throwing up these grotesque and exaggerated images of not just black people but Italians/mafioso, homosexuals, Jews, overall New York-types in the urban quarters of Manhattan in the 70s, he isn't out to make anything realistic. The most normal looking creation in looking drawn "real" is, in fact, a naked woman painted red, white and blue.

In mocking these stereotypes and conventions and horrible forms of racism (i.e. the "tar-rabbit, baby" joke, yes joke, plus black-face), we're looking at abstraction to a grand degree. And best of all, Bakshi doesn't take himself too seriously, unlike Spike Lee with a film like Bamboozled, in delivering his message. This is why, for the most part, Coonskin is a hilarious piece of work, where some of the images and things done and sudden twists and, of course, scenes of awkward behavior (I loved the scene where the three animated characters are being talked at by the real-life white couple in tux and dress as looking "colorful" and the like), are just too much not to laugh at. It's not just the imagery, which is in and of itself incredibly "over"-stylized, but that the screenplay is sharp and, this is key for Bakshi this time considering, it's got a fairly cohesive narrative to string along the improvisations and madness.

Using at first live-action, then animation, and then an extremely clever matching of the two (ironically, what Bakshi later went for in commercial form with Cool World is done here to a T with less money and a rougher edge), Pappy and Randy are waiting outside a prison wall for a buddy to escape, and Pappy tells of the story of Brother Rabbit, who with Brother Bear and Preacher Fox go to Harlem and become big-time hoodlums, with Rabbit in direct opposition to a Jabba-the-Hut-esquire Godfather character. This is obviously a take off on Song of the South with its intentionally happy-go-lucky plot and animation, here taken apart and shown for how rotten and offensive it really is.

Yet Bakshi goes for broke in combining forms; animated characters stand behind and move along with live-action backgrounds; when violence and gunshots and fights occurs it's as bloody as it can get for 1975; when a dirty cop is at a bar and is drugged and put in black-face and a dress, he trips in a manner of which not even Disney could reach with Dumbo; a boxing match with Brother Bear and an opponent as the climax is filmed in wild slow-motion; archive footage comes on from time to time of old movies, some and some from the 20s that are just tasteless.

Like Mel Brooks or Kubrick or, more recently, South Park, Bakshi's Coonskin functions as entertainment first and then thought-provocation second. It's also audacious film-making on an independent scale; everything from the long takes to the montage and the endlessly warped designs for the characters (however all based on the theme of the piece) all serve the thought in the script, where its B-movie plot opens up much more for interpretation. To call it racist misses the point; it's like calling Dr. Strangelove pro-atomic desolation or Confederate States of America pro slavery. And, for me, it's one of the best satires ever made.

This combination live-action and cartoon feature is pretty much guaranteed to offend everyone.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 14 November 2020]

If you are worried about being offended, it's best you avoid the films of Ralph Bakshi. While he did make a few mainstream movies, such as the "Lord of the Rings" pictures, much of his work is edgy and offensive....the sort of animation you wouldn't want to watch with your mother or children in the same room with you. Nudity, foul language and offensive behavior....all of these are in films like "Fritz the Cat" and "Heavy Traffic". However, the most offensive is probably this film, "Coonskin". While it lack the X-rating of "Fritz the Cat", it's chock full of pretty much anything that could offend. Much of it is so offensive that I can't even repeat it, as IMDB standards won't let me write about it in the review. The most noticeable of these is the pervasive use of the n-word...and the film begins with Scatman Crothers singing a song about the "N-man" (again, IMDB standards prevent me from using that n-word). But there's much more....apparently racist drawings (though I don't think that was director Bakshi's intent), nudity, calls to 'kill whitey', anti-homosexual humor and more.....it's all the sort of stuff you simply cannot get away with today....and, I am not sure how much I'd want to see more stuff like this!

The story is a weird re-working of Disney's "Song of the South" with many twists. For example, instead of the nice Uncle Remus, the film's animated portions are introduced by a long-time prisoner (Crothers), as he's trying to teach some moral lessons to his young and impulsive black cell-mate. The stories involve Rabbit, a black anti-hero much like the anti-heroes of Blaxploitation films of the day....a character who fights and kills folk from the mob, cops and blacks who have sold out to The Man.

So is it any good? Well, it is creative and occasionally funny. It also has some great points to make about what it's like to be black in a white America and seem to be asking black people "what makes you mad?". But some of this insight is lost because Ralph Bakshi isn't black....and a white guy speaking for black America seems a bit paternalistic...though I appreciate the risks he took with this film and his desire to show a different sort of black experience....the type you just won't see in other folks' cartoons!

My feeling is that this is the sort of movie you watch once....and only once. It's offensive and weird...but also a film that made me feel a tad embarrassed to watch it...so I watched it when my family wasn't around. It's THAT sort of film! An interesting glimpse into the 1970s....warts and all!

This can be a difficult watch

[Tug-3 · 5/10 · 28 March 2021]

"Coonskin" earned critical reappraisal in the 1990s and is now regarded as one of Ralph Bakshi's best films. However, time has still not been kind to this movie. When it premiered, its audience was familiar with the broad stereotypes it was mocking. For example, a Sunday newspaper comic strip continued the adventures of Br'er Rabbit from "Song of the South" until 1972. To today's audiences, the big-lipped, jive-talkin' characters of "Coonskin"-and its very title-likely feel every bit as offensive as the tar baby or Uncle Remus.

Watching "Coonskin" today can feel like an exercise in assuring yourself you're not a bad person. I read about the film before watching it and was glad to learn that Bakshi employed Black animators who were overlooked by traditional studios. Watching the credits, I felt assured by Bakshi's collaboration with prominent, outspoken figures in the 1970s-Scatman Crothers, Barry White, and Charles Gordone foremost among them. My mind struggled, though, to reconcile their participation with what was onscreen.

As with other Bakshi movies, "Cookskin" feels drug induced. The plot is related in zany fragments, with rambling dialog that often seems unconnected from the characters. Some sequences follow the progression of a standard cartoon setup-Brother Rabbit begging Savior not to kill him in a very Bugs Bunny-esque moment, for one example-only to be undercut by a "punchline" that makes little sense.

As a result, I'm not sure what this movie _is_. It's not surefooted or precise enough to be parody. It's also not funny enough to be comedy. And in spite of its cast and writers, it's not incisive enough to be good social commentary. Again, I'm approaching this as a viewer in 2021, hyper-attuned to the offensiveness of this movie's imagery. But I can't help feeling that Bakshi was exploiting and almost celebrating racial and ethnic caricatures rather than destroying them.

a hard, uncomfortable look at racism in America

[abracadaver · 9/10 · 19 April 2006]

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.

Still sticks most of its stereotype potshots 40 years later

[pebsdad · 7/10 · 4 March 2016]

Just seeing this 1975 blacksploitation film in 2016, it still holds up to its jab at stereotypes of black, whites, gays and, mostly, Disney's "Song of the South". It also isn't as pointed as many of the current late night comedians of the present day are about race and didn't make this honky feel like he needed to close his curtains while he watched it (like Boondocks does). I was surprised how tame it was...but loved the nods to Disney.

It uses a mix of (mostly)animation by the wonderful Bakshi as well as new footage to set a very loose story, as well as using vintage footage for backdrop and storytelling. It doesn't make much sense at times but will quickly move on to skewer another stereotype from the time and it is very entertaining throughout. Very bonus kudos to the fact that Barry White plays a main character, both in new footage and animation. It's surprising he turned down the South Park creators years later when clearly his tongue is in his cheek here.

Don't let the title scare you away...it's worth a look 40 years later.

Very dated

[lovejam · 3/10 · 28 January 2019]

Hated the ugly drawings of the black characters, hated the sexploitive female characters, hated the racial slurs throughout, but I hated it less than that Melvin Van Peeples movie.

Not for everybody, but I consider it one of Bakshi's better films

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 3 April 2012]

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

A bit uneven, but memorable nonetheless

[Rectangular_businessman · 7/10 · 26 March 2024]

Ralph Bakshi's most controversial film without a doubt, mostly due its use of satirical use of racist iconography, being some sort of 70s antithesis of Disney's Song of the South, putting the Br'er Rabbit folk tales into a urban setting.

Pretty much like the previous films as Bakshi (Such as his adaptation of Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic) the plot is a bit disjointed and episodic, which combined with the surreal imagery of several scenes ends feeling like some sort of fever dream. Or perhaps, a drug-induced hallucination.

But like in Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic, there is also room for some little melancholy amidst all the shocking humor and nastiness of the characters, like in the scene where the godfather's wife rejuvenates and turns into a fairy while being shot to death by her own family, or the story of Malcolm the cockroach parodying Herriman's Krazy Kat.

Definitely not a film for everyone, not only for its explicit content, but its almost experimental approach to both visuals and narrative.

It might not be a masterpiece, but I do admire the way it holds no punches to deliver its message in such a bizarrely memorable manner.

6.5/10.

Bakshi doesn't know how to tell a story

[davidmvining · 3/10 · 24 February 2023]

This might be all of Ralph Bakshi's worst impulses in one film. I know that the reappraisal of Bakshi's work has placed this near the top, but this might be the most incoherent thing he's made up to this point in his career. It's all over the place with something incredibly indistinct to say about the black experience in America while poorly balancing its stylistic and thematic concerns against each other. Derided as deeply racist in its day for the use of racial caricature, in particular around its black characters (the hideous caricature of the Italian characters got less attention for some reason), I'm inclined to believe that Bakshi was trying to make a counterpoint to the caricatures he was using instead of an unironic use of them (his personal history and obvious affinity for black culture born of his being raised in the lower income parts of Brooklyn are key points). Still, despite his goals, Bakshi still proved himself incapable of managing a sustained narrative over the course of 80 minutes.

In a live action wraparound narrative, Sampson (Barry White) and the preacher (Charles Gordone) get into a car to break their friend Randy (Philip Michael Thomas) and Pappy (Scatman Crothers) from prison. They get delayed in getting to the prison in the middle of the night while Randy and Pappy remain glued to the outside wall of the prison, waiting. As they wait out the night, Pappy tells Randy an urbanized version of the Brer Rabbit story starring Brother Rabbit (Thomas), Brother Bear (White), and Preacher Fox (Gordone). They show up in New York after having need to flee the South after killing the local sheriff after their house got repossessed and turned into a brothel. This sheriff stuff never comes back again, by the way. They seemingly bring along the sheriff's daughter (Jesse Welles) as Miss America, naked with skin in the colors of the American flag. Or, she's just a repeated image meant to represent America while also being the prostitute daughter of a Southern sheriff. These images don't really make a whole lot of sense.

Anyway, the three end up at the church of Simple Savior, a fat preacher who sermonizes about the plight of the black man in America in dramatic displays dripping in antagonism towards white culture while passing around the collection plate for a war against the white race. He promises guns, tanks, and even planes. It's all a con, though, and he's just getting rich on the donations. Brother Rabbit ends up killing Simple Savior and taking over the operation, which ends up being the criminal epicenter of Harlem. Again, the connection between religion, the con, and crime might be an interesting one to explore in the black culture, but it's just presented and moved on from. Bakshi has no interest in actually digging into anything he presents in any detail. It's just surface level presentation before moving on to the next image designed to elicit simplistic emotion from the audience (usually some combination of disgust and revulsion).

Brother Rabbit exerts his influence on Harlem, attracting the attention of a police officer Managan (Frank de Kova) who punches a gay bartender in the mouth when he gets hit on. Managan ends up getting roped into a club where he's drugged, dressed up in a dress and blackface, and then shot by uniformed police officers. And then he's gone from the movie and the cops aren't really a factor anymore. This is really my frustration with Bakshi writ-small. It's a standout sequence that has...something...to say about anti-gay feelings in violence-inclined police officers, but instead of saying anything of interest, it chooses to simply humiliate the character and then move on. Also, it has almost nothing to do with the rest of the movie.

The real later conflict is with The Godfather (Al Lewis), a grotesque caricature of Italians that wants to wipe out Brother Rabbit. Using his effeminate, cross-dressing children, he tries to put hits on Brother Rabbit to kill him and wipe out his competition, but they all go wrong. The famous scene of the tar baby gets replicated at a big boxing match, but I have to talk about the boxing subplot that suddenly comes out of nowhere in the final twenty minutes of the film. Desperate to get at Brother Rabbit, the Godfather approaches Brother Bear and convinces him to fight in the boxing ring. There's commentary from Pappy about how this is evil because it puts Bear up against other black men to fight. It's an interesting idea, but, again, it's brought up and dropped as quickly as it appears. There's a whole movie to be had about something like this, where Brother Bear thinks he's just taking a job doing what he does best while he's actually betraying his friends and race while a war is brewing between the Godfather and Brother Rabbit, but it takes roughly five minutes of screentime, most of it dedicated to live-action footage of the fights (for some reason). Instead, it just happens real quick so we can get to the tar baby with all of the Italians getting consumed by the tar as they try to stab what they think is Brother Rabbit.

Like the rest of Bakshi's work up to this point, there are a host of ideas that sort of resemble a whole, but nothing actually comes together. His animation still isn't advancing and looks flat all the time. The increasing use of live-action background footage feels like both a stopgap and an effort to make the animation feel more "real", but Bakshi's puerile sense of humor clashes horribly with everything else he's doing. The visual styles clash. The humor clashes. The ideas are all over the place. Nothing gels, and, much like something like Fritz the Cat, if it's designed to do anything it's designed to give a general impression of a particular cultural space and time. I suppose there's a certain amount of success there within a handful of individual moments, but it's limited by Bakshi's complete inability to tell a story across a feature length feature.

Don't be offended

[Grimlock-2 · 15 July 2004]

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.

EARLY BAKSHI EFFORT DOES DISAPPOINT...!

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 2 April 2024]

Ralph Bakshi's (Fritz the Cat/American Pop) 1975 animated feature, a take off on Uncle Remus tales, as we follow Br'er Rabbit, Fox & Bear (Philip Michael Thomas, Barry White & Charles Gordone) into the big bad city as they make their way as new crime lords usurping corrupt cops & the mob to get to the top. As per usual of Bakshi's output of the time, no target is off the menu (the treatment of blacks in America, wild oversimplifications of gays & drug addicts, etc.) & his trademark crude animation interspersed w/live action footage is typically hit or miss but there's a certain car accident voyeurism at play which forces the viewer to keep watching no matter how uneven the finished product is. Bakshi voices the bent cop & Scatman Crothers shows up as a wise convict (lending a voice as well).

Fantastic examination of Racist Stereotyping

[Le Samourai · 9/10 · 6 December 2000]

One of the most interesting movies to be classified as "blaxploitation," Bakshi's "Coonskin" is a rich text full of wonderful insight. He wrote it in collaboration with Scat Man Crothers and Barry White, who appear in the film as well. The racist imagery can often be disturbing, but the message of the movie was so powerful that the NAACP gave it an endorsement (but only grudgingly).

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in an examination of the pervading atmosphere of racism that Bakshi attempts to deconstruct. Wonderful stuff.

Absouletely stupid so it is!

[Irishchatter · 1/10 · 5 November 2016]

Man, I wish I could give this movie a 0 because it's just so chronic! The animation was pure rubbish and by god, I hadn't a clue on what every character was saying. The story and its theme are just so poor. I don't care about the bad language but less words on using "Ni**a" all the time and more concentration on what the hell is going on!

Even the music at the beginning, it made my ears bleed.

That was not even a song from Scatman Crothers, it was more like a bad record player needing to be dusted because it hadn't been cleaned for a while!

I swear, avoid watching this at all costs!

The Greatest Animated Picture Never Seen

[aciessi · 10/10 · 5 March 2013]

Coonskin has been dragged into the darkest realms of cinematic obscurity. When it was released in 1975, people panicked. Not since the 1940's has such racially insensitive jokes been made on African Americans. CORE and the NAACP screamed for blood and demanded this film to never be released, or shown to anyone for that matter. Leading Paramount Pictures to drop this movie from its original distribution and was forced to be shown in Grindhouse theaters nationwide and distributed by a mafioso production company. How devastatingly ironic, because this film HATES the mafia. Perhaps it was due to its off putting title. But I think more importantly, it was its trailer. The film's theatrical trailer is one of the most surreal, unholy debaucheries of a motion picture you will ever see. Just a bunch of scenes (some of which are pivotal to the plot of the film) thrown aimlessly together without any explanation of what the movie could be about. Of course, people speculated the worst from this film. But it wasn't what anyone thought it was. Coonskin is an absolute trip. It' points out the sad, painful truth about racism as we know it and threw it in our faces whether we could handle it or not. If anything, it advocates for the good of African Americans and slanders everyone that took advantage of it. It's a tale about three brothers, losing their way in the slums of Manhattan, as they try to get back at the "man". It's classic blaxploitation fare with a tendency for screwing with the audience and shocking them with the cold hard truth. Ralph worked his hardest with this film and insisted on making this his masterpiece, and it shows with explosive results. I loved the characters. The three brothers are dangerously cool, especially Brother Rabbit. Miss America is without a doubt the sexiest animated woman ever drawn. Unfortunately, she represents everything bloated, superficial, perverted and wrong with America. Which makes her a wickedly evil villain. The main villain, the Godfather was a little hard to swallow being Italian and all. But the Mafia was just begging for a Hollywood beating, and Bakshi let them have it. If I was to sum up Coonskin in one sentence, I would call it the Pulp Fiction of animation. It has the same level of genius and wit as that movie did, and will grow on you for an awfully long time. It's too bad not many people will ever see it. Hopefully, a home video release will finally surface in the future, and we can all celebrate this controversial classic.

More of a depiction of grotesque souls trying to survive

[mike-c-b · 5/10 · 18 November 2021]

If you think it's record setting in racism... both white & black characters have pink/red lips, odd shaped heads, gaping mouths... the white makavalien mafia boss is the ugliest of them all who looks like a pile of mashed potato, and his wife/wives vampires... A cheer leader character wearing only bodypaint objectified... Transexuals... the bad side of everyone is drawn as hard as possible. Missing only politicians, lawyers, gamlers, and in general people from other countries.

Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover

[boboandnicolas · 10/10 · 8 June 2020]

When I had viewed Coonskin last summer, I had expected it to be offensively racist and tasteless.

But boy was I wrong...

Ralph Bakshi is a master with satire. He had spun the Uncle Remus tales and Disney's Song of The South with an 70s urban twist, exposing how racist they really are.

I will certainly check out more of Bakshi's films, though I am a bit leery of Cool World.

10/10 stars.

What a ride...

[GiraffeDoor · 8/10 · 17 March 2019]

I don't care if you've seen other Bakshi movies, they do not prepare you for this.

A vivid phantasmagoria of cultural icons to tell the story of contemporary race relations.

It's sassy, vulgar, funny and brutal. I'm not sure if this movie is quite as deep as it seems to think it is but I want to believe it is. Frequently surreal and sordid yet strangely real in its brutality. It has numerous asides and the point it's trying to make isn't always clear right away but it keeps you intrigued for its duration.

You'll never forget it.

How does one describe "Coonskin?"

[millsmore-327-43107 · 9/10 · 13 April 2013]

After watching Bakshi's personal drama/comedy Heavy Traffic, I was pleasantly surprised at how one could blend animation and real life together (both figuratively and literally) to make a gritty and vulgar, yet still poignant film. The next film on my list was Coonskin, and after watching the trailer, I admit I was nervous. I was worried this would be an over indulgent, surreal mess like Cool World was. Fortunately, I was wrong.

Coonskin is framed by a live action story of two men planning to escape from prison. As they wait for their pickup, the older of the two begins to tell another, animated story about a trio of black men (so to speak). Brother Rabbit(Philip Michael Thomas), the slick, cunning, intelligent leader, Brother Bear (Barry White), the strong, loyal muscle, and Preacher Fox, the wild and upbeat father figure. The three head to Harlem after their house is sold to an uppity businessman, where they plan to make it big. They take down a corrupt, big name revolutionary on their first night and instantly make a name for themselves. The only thing keeping them from rising to the top is the Godfather and his associates.

What makes this movie better than Heavy Traffic is that it actually has a ground in plot, unlike the former, which more pretended like it had a plot. Coonskin is easier to follow and has some more likable and fun characters, Heavy Traffic's are sleazier and outlined with tragedy. The villains are well done too, The Godfather especially. He's hideous, looking like a bloated sack of flesh, and his voice drips with slime. His cohorts include his five sons (four of which are incestuous homosexuals,) a headless black man, and a small child dressed as a clown who swings from wires wherever he goes. With a creative cast like that, the movie becomes a unique experience, and you really develop feelings for the protagonists and the antagonists. You've also got some clever symbolism, like a voluptuous white woman decorated with stars and stripes and named Miss America, who beats up and tricks helpless black men who try to befriend or stand up to her.

If you can handle the nudity and violence, which is certainly shocking, this is a must-see for people who love animation, blaxploitation, satires, or those just in the mood for something a little different.

amazing

[QKnown · 10 November 1999]

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!

A very urban retelling of the Uncle Remus stories

[ja_kitty_71 · 10/10 · 8 November 2022]

I had watched this film from Ralph Bakshi (Wizards, Hey Good Lookin'), 13 years ago on a video website, and I didn't see anything racial. Well, I do admit the character designs are a bit crude and unacceptable in this modern era, but I think it's a satire and a very, very urban retelling of the old Uncle Remus stories that the Black American culture created, right down to the main characters and the blatant nod to "The Tar Baby" and "The Briar Patch." These aren't bigoted stories, mind you, but cultural icons created by black Americans, and me being a white woman, I read and loved those stories. And I also found it an interesting time capsule view of black culture in Harlem, New York, in the 1970s.

Well, to get to the nitty-gritty of this film: This is a live-action/animated film that begins in live action with a fellow named Sampson and the Preacherman rushing to help their friend, Randy, escape from prison, but are stopped by a roadblock and wind up in a shootout with the police. While waiting for them, Randy unwillingly listens to fellow escapee Pappy as he begins to tell Randy the animated story of Brother Rabbit, a young newcomer to the big city who quickly rises from obscurity to rule over all of Harlem. You know, to me, Rabbit, Bear, and Fox are the animal versions of Randy, Sampson, and the Preacherman.

So anyway, it is another good Bakshi movie. And should we sweep films like this under the rug? Pretend they never existed? I think that would be a shame. I think we should watch these films and learn about what went on back then and just how far we've come since then.