Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1970s
    Movies - 1970s Movies - H 2 Mins Read

    Heavy Traffic (1973)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    Director Ralph Bakshi’s provocative mixture of live-action and animation – a follow up to his highly successful 1972 release Fritz The Cat – highlighted this raw, erotic and deeply personal film about young unemployed underground comic artist Michael Corleone (Joseph Kaufmann) who immerses himself in work and depravity.

    Michael lives in a New York apartment with his Italian father, Angelo “Angie” Corleone (Frank DeKova) – a second-tier mafioso with a blonde bimbo on the side – and Jewish mother Ida (Terri Haven). His parents bicker and fight at all hours of the night, to the point where they try to kill each other with household objects.

    heavytraffic_02

    Using his harsh environment as inspiration, Michael sketches cartoons, getting the attention of a black barmaid named Carole (Beverly Hope Atkinson) who gives him free drinks in exchange for his artistic renderings.

    With her boss furious at her, Carole quits her job and Michael takes the unemployed waitress into his home. Angie tries to pop his son’s virginity by delivering a massive and loud prostitute to his bedroom, but the discovery of Carole’s presence brings out his racist rage.

    Michael and Carole leave his parents’ apartment and set out to raise enough cash to move to California. Michael even gets the chance to pitch one of his wild comic-strip concepts to an ancient executive lying in a hospital bed (he has a heart attack and dies while listening).

    The couple’s further exploits include Carole taking a job as a taxi dancer (with Michael as her zoot-suited manager) and a crime set-up where Carole poses as a streetwalker, only for the hapless john to be clobbered over the head and relieved of the loot in his wallet.

     

    But Michael’s own father has put a contract out on his life for “disgracing the family” by going out with a woman of colour.

    With its greasers, transvestites (a cross-dressing homosexual voiced by Jim Bates), racists, junkies, call girls, johns and murderous thugs, Heavy Traffic tosses political correctness aside to illustrate its world of mostly unsettling characters – but does it in a satirical and exaggerated way (almost all are drawn as grotesque caricatures, except for Michael and Carole).

    Acclaimed by many as one of the 1970’s best films.

    Michael
    Joseph Kaufman
    Carole
    Beverly Hope Atkinson
    Angie
    Frank De Kova
    Ida
    Terri Haven
    Molly
    Mary Dean Lauria
    Rosalyn
    Jacqueline Mills
    Rosa
    Lillian Adams

    Director
    Ralph Bakshi

    Video

    Related Posts

    • 200 Motels (1971)
      200 Motels (1971)
      Taking a leaf out of the cute anarchy of A Hard Day's Night (1964), directors Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer invest…
    • Lord of the Rings, The (1978)
      Lord of the Rings, The (1978)
      Stanley Kubrick, John Boorman and Walt Disney had all taken a run at making a movie of Lord of the…
    • For Pete's Sake (1974)
      For Pete's Sake (1974)
      Henrietta - known as "Henry" (Barbra Streisand) - is the wife of New York cab driver, Pete (Michael Sarrazin), who…
    • American Hot Wax (1978)
      American Hot Wax (1978)
      "This is Alan Freed  . . . and this is rock'n'roll." With these words, the young hearts of New York beat…
    • Female Trouble (1974)
      Female Trouble (1974)
      Along with Pink Flamingos (1972), this is the film that gained cult director John Waters his trophy for spectacularly redefining melodrama.…
    • High Society (1956)
      High Society (1956)
      There are three men in the life of icy, spoiled Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly). The first is CK Dexter-Haven (Bing…
    • Sentinel, The (1977)
      Sentinel, The (1977)
      Top model Alison Parker (Cristina Raines) moves out of the New York penthouse in which she has been living with…
    • Fritz The Cat (1972)
      Fritz The Cat (1972)
      There was a time when the very idea of sex and violence in a cartoon was so antithetical it would…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleHeaven Can Wait (1978)
    Next Article Hell Drivers (1957)

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Penda’s Fen (1974)
      Penda's Fen follows pompous and priggish young vicar's son Stephen Franklin through a summer in which he reacts to the forthcoming pressures of adulthood, his moral confusion, and the dark forces of nature around him. […]
    • Waylon Jennings
      Following the break-up of The Crickets, Jennings played bass […]
    • M*A*S*H
      1 9 7 2 – 1 9 8 3 (USA) 251 x 30 minute episodes […]
    • Big (1988)
      Josh Baskin (David Moscow) is a 12-year-old New Jersey kid, […]
    • Clochemerle
      1 9 7 2 (UK) 9 x 30 minute episodes Clochemerle, a poor sleepy […]
    • Malcolm (1986)
      This charming Australian comedy is the story of Malcolm (Colin […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.