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.

www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

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!

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