The Cool And The Crazy Shapiro

Did you ever have one of those movies that you watched, enjoyed it, didn't think about it much for a while but then it comes back full force, compels you to watch it again and suddenly you love it? Well, that's what I had with the movie for today's blog, Hey Good Lookin'.

Directed by Ralph Bakshi, who also wrote and produced it, Hey Good Lookin' is set in the 50's and explores the typical things protagonist Vinnie (Richard Romanus) and his aptly named friend, Crazy Shapiro (David Proval) do with their time. Vinnie leads a gang called the Stompers, who are in constant conflict with rival gang the Chaplins. Vinnie wanders through life, not quite knowing what to do with himself, pursuing and also being pursued by Rozzie Featherschneid (Tina Romanus). Eventually, his ways bring forth a rumble between his gang and the Chaplins, with Vinnie struggling to decide where he wants to go in life.

Up until the third act, the film is largely a collection of set pieces, connected by its characters, with the rumble acting as the climax of the film and the culmination of what Vinnie's been heading towards since he got into the life he did. Actually, I should point out, the film has a framing device: a mysterious man tells a middle aged woman about where he got a jacket from, one he presents to her. This is what leads into the story of Vinnie.

Now, usually I would warn about spoilers at this point, but I think I can safely say what I need to without giving too much away. However, I do want to discuss the ending so I will put up an appropriate warning when we get to that.

As I mention in my introduction, I thought very highly of this film when I first watched it but after watching it again, I've been able to not only see things in a different way and understand them but also put my finger on what it is that brings me back.

First, the animation. Originally, the film was supposed to be a blend of live action and animation, much like Who Framed Roger Rabbit would be. Instead, it ended up being mostly animation (I say mostly, there were some live action shots with the animated characters). And it's amazing. It's very Looney Tunes-esque in places, while still being for mature audiences. Very mature audiences. The character designs, the little imperfections, the variance, it all works.
One scene in particular has some of the most amazing animation I've ever seen, in anything. Before the big rumble, several Chaplins are dancing and mocking the Stompers and the animation on the gang members is like another world unto itself. Even the trippy scenes have great attention to detail and certainly are memorable.

The characters themselves can prove to be quite complex, Vinnie in particular. Despite cultivating a tough guy image, inwardly he seems to be hesitant to actually be violent. He cares more about maintaining his looks (always seems to have a comb at the ready) and staying out of trouble than he does about anything gang related, despite being its leader. He kind of goes between a self-absorbed putz and a gentle, almost worldly fellow, particularly with Rozzie. One of his more positive traits is that he seems to be very respectful to women (usually), like in the scene in which he, Rozzie, Crazy and Crazy's girlfriend Eva (Jesse Welles) are at a hamburger joint and Vinnie insists that Crazy spend a little more time intimately with Eva. That could just be so he can have some privacy with Roz, but I'd like to think he has a code of honour when it comes to women (again, usually. I say that because he and Crazy do visit some prostitutes early on, though Vinnie seems to be unaware of this at first, with Crazy leaping right into it).
Throughout the film, evidence is dropped that indicates Vinnie's more of a talker than a fighter. He talks a big game but when the pressure's on to deliver on what he promised, he finds new excuses to weasel out of it. There's a scene in which he and Crazy have slept on a beach, and when they wake up, they find that the local mafia have all gathered, completely oblivious to the two. After Crazy goes off to ogle some of the women, Vinnie finds a corpse in the sand. His first reaction? Scream. Which brings both of them to the attention of said mafia. While Crazy's getting the crap beat out of him, Vinnie's hightailing it out and runs into the Chaplins, since its their turf. When Chaplins leader Boogaloo (Phillip Michael Thomas) suggests a rumble, Vinnie actually swallows his cigarette before regaining his composure and taking the offer up.

Crazy, on the other hand, shouldn't be called Crazy. He should be renamed Clinically Insane. I compared the animation to the Looney Tunes up above. Well Crazy could very well be the forgotten Looney Tune. He's always doing something wild, madcap. As is noted by Roz later, he might just have more balls than Vinnie, for its his actions that help bring the plot to the ending it reaches. Had he not been so hotheaded, things would have turned out differently.
In fact, early on, he's talking to Vinnie about how he loves going up to the roof of his place at night and looking at the stars and he feels like painting a picture. This hints at a deeper level of character, much like Vinnie, though it doesn't get explored all that much.

And for Roz, I feel kind of sorry for her (this will be addressed in the spoiler section) but she's still a pretty strong character in her own right.

One criticism I have for the film: now, I don't hate Eva but she's clearly the odd one out of the four of them. Dressed like she's in training to be a librarian, she doesn't seem like the type of girl to go for what Crazy's got going for him. But what's really weird is that she just disappears after the scene at the hamburger joint. She's never mentioned again, either. Uh, movie, did you forget something? Or someone?

(It is here that the spoilers will occur. If you wish to see this film and don't want to know the ending, skip ahead to my penultimate paragraph on the soundtrack.)

Remember the mysterious man and the woman he's telling the story to? As it is revealed in the final minutes of the film, it's actually Vinnie and Roz, neither of whom have aged very well. If you're wondering how it wasn't revealed at the start, it's because Vinnie's voice has aged and Roz doesn't speak at that point. Roz blasts Vinnie, saying he let her down by leaving and chickening out of the rumble but says he has a second chance to win her back now by fighting her husband who's going to walk through the door of the bar they're in at any moment. In his mind, Vinnie dismisses it and makes a crude remark about the female gender. However, he comforts Roz and makes it seem like he's going to stick around this time.

I'm not exactly sure of the intent, but I believe that while Vinnie's tempted to cut and run again, he ignores this impulse because that's all he's done in his life and he's tired of it. He's not getting any younger and he can't keep it up forever. Adding on to that, when he sweet talks Roz, he holds her like a lover would, suggesting he may just settle down after all.
Of course, that could just be me being foolish, but with the scene playing out the way it does, the evidence is there.
And this is where I go back to what I was saying about how I felt sorry for Roz. Just before Vinnie finishes his story, we see Roz going to a phone booth, barely containing her tears, wanting to make a dedication on the radio to Vinnie, who she believes died in the rumble. The emotion in that scene, emanating from the voice actress, really sells the whole thing and despite her own indiscretions and her tough girl attitude, she really felt something for the guy and I can't help but be a little moved by that.

(This ends the spoiler section.)

But one of the most memorable things is the soundtrack, which is probably the film's trump card. Oh my God, I love these songs! From the opening track baring the film's title, which sounds like it really was a song from the 50's, to Crazy's Theme, which is just as erratic and infectious as his character is, to the slick and stylish Burnin'. I'll often be humming along to Hey Good Lookin' or thinking of Burnin' and the soundtrack has just taken over my mind on occasion, as has this whole film. I really want a copy of this soundtrack, I am that obsessed with it.

I understand that this film is extremely hard to come by, no doubt in part because Bakshi himself has come to be displeased with it. Well, I say if you can find it, GRAB IT WHILE YOU STILL CAN! One of the greatest animated films I've ever seen, easily in the top five.

An easy 4.5/5 for this gem, and this will be the first of many Bakshi films I review (if not all of them but I'll save them for another time).