ALL MY REVIEWS CONTAIN SPOILERS. EVERY ONE OF THEM.
I first saw this movie when I was 6 years old. Until that time, all my knowledge about the 50's greaser era was fed to me through a miserable show ironically called Happy Days. Fonzie was the type of no nonsense gang leader who encouraged children to drink milk and say their prayers. He was my hero until I watched Hey Good Lookin' and met Vinnie. Vinnie's salute wasn't a thumbs up sign, it was a crotch grab. Vinnie reminded me so much of myself: Perverted, rebellious, and mad at the world. I could relate on so many levels. He also had the biggest hands known to mankind, the better to kick your ass with, my dear.
Vinnie was definitely frightening. He was an ugly, ape-like man with plenty of Neanderthal features. His buddy Crazy was no pretty portrait, either. But Vinnie had the finest girlfriend on God's green Earth. Her name was Roz, a sexy post-Betty Boop but pre-Jessica Rabbit cartoon who fulfilled all my night time fantasies as a child, and sometimes in adulthood as well. Not only was this movie packed with 3 major interests of mine (cursing, violence, and sex) but it was a cartoon as well. I was 6 years old. I literally thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Hey Good Lookin' is vulgar and rude. It is violent, pointless, and cliched. It is ugly, stereotypical, and misogynistic. In other words, it is perfect. It begins with a completely senseless opening featuring a garbage can conversing with trash about spiritual philosophy. What this scene means I will never know, but that's the beauty of it. It makes no sense! I was howling with belly aching laughter from the opening frame. We meet Old Vinnie and Old Roz in present time first, and they both look absolutely terrible. We flashback 30 years to Vinnie as a young man, and he looks absolutely terrible. Vinnie is the leader of a Brooklyn gang called The Stompers. His first Lieutenant and best buddy is a guy named Crazy. Crazy is a misunderstood hoodlum with silver dollar nipples. His dad is a detective who hates him, and routinely tries to kill him.
Vinnie meets Roz, a sultry sex pot drawn specifically for the adolescent male demographic. A running gag in the movie is the fact that Vinnie can't keep his hands off her more than ample breasts. That same joke is done repeatedly throughout the movie, and I had no problem with it. One day, at the beach, Vinnie bumps into his old nemesis, Boog-a-loo, the leader of a rival gang called The Chaplins. Boog-a-loo is the blackest black man I have ever seen in a movie. If there were ever any stereotypes towards black people, Boog-a-loo fits every one of them. He looks a lot like Eddie Griffin, and part of me is convinced Griffin did his voice...but I don't think he was around back then. Anyway, a rumble is set. The movie rapidly moves from one pointless scene to the next, leading up to the big rumble showdown, which is actually a try out for Dance Fever.
But who even cares about the "plot..." what the hell was going on in this movie?? Remember the scene where Crazy bangs this fat broad in a sea of hamburgers? And how about the scene where Crazy becomes a rooftop superhero and fights an army of man eating trash cans and giant naked ladies with no face? Boog-a-loo shows up on the roof with Crazy, and to this day I still am not sure if he tossed Crazy off the roof, or if Crazy jumped on purpose. If it was indeed suicide, why even include Boog-a-loo in the scene? And if Boog-a-loo pushed him off, why didn't they show it? I can't believe I'm even asking questions about this movie.
The movie is basically an animated version of Mean Streets. Speaking of the animation, it's horrible-- but that's cool, cuz I've never been a fan of The Lion King anyway. Everyone is drawn terribly, and all the characters look like Satan. The audio comes in and out and many characters talk at once, so you never really know what's being said. This is why the movie will forever be a classic, it leaves the mystery door open. I have been waiting for the sequel now for 20 years, and if Ralph Bakshi reads this, hopefully he will oblige, instead of going "Hollywood" and making pure crap like Cool World, a movie with no nudity.
* * * * * stars out of 5.
I first saw this movie when I was 6 years old. Until that time, all my knowledge about the 50's greaser era was fed to me through a miserable show ironically called Happy Days. Fonzie was the type of no nonsense gang leader who encouraged children to drink milk and say their prayers. He was my hero until I watched Hey Good Lookin' and met Vinnie. Vinnie's salute wasn't a thumbs up sign, it was a crotch grab. Vinnie reminded me so much of myself: Perverted, rebellious, and mad at the world. I could relate on so many levels. He also had the biggest hands known to mankind, the better to kick your ass with, my dear.
Vinnie was definitely frightening. He was an ugly, ape-like man with plenty of Neanderthal features. His buddy Crazy was no pretty portrait, either. But Vinnie had the finest girlfriend on God's green Earth. Her name was Roz, a sexy post-Betty Boop but pre-Jessica Rabbit cartoon who fulfilled all my night time fantasies as a child, and sometimes in adulthood as well. Not only was this movie packed with 3 major interests of mine (cursing, violence, and sex) but it was a cartoon as well. I was 6 years old. I literally thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Hey Good Lookin' is vulgar and rude. It is violent, pointless, and cliched. It is ugly, stereotypical, and misogynistic. In other words, it is perfect. It begins with a completely senseless opening featuring a garbage can conversing with trash about spiritual philosophy. What this scene means I will never know, but that's the beauty of it. It makes no sense! I was howling with belly aching laughter from the opening frame. We meet Old Vinnie and Old Roz in present time first, and they both look absolutely terrible. We flashback 30 years to Vinnie as a young man, and he looks absolutely terrible. Vinnie is the leader of a Brooklyn gang called The Stompers. His first Lieutenant and best buddy is a guy named Crazy. Crazy is a misunderstood hoodlum with silver dollar nipples. His dad is a detective who hates him, and routinely tries to kill him.
Vinnie meets Roz, a sultry sex pot drawn specifically for the adolescent male demographic. A running gag in the movie is the fact that Vinnie can't keep his hands off her more than ample breasts. That same joke is done repeatedly throughout the movie, and I had no problem with it. One day, at the beach, Vinnie bumps into his old nemesis, Boog-a-loo, the leader of a rival gang called The Chaplins. Boog-a-loo is the blackest black man I have ever seen in a movie. If there were ever any stereotypes towards black people, Boog-a-loo fits every one of them. He looks a lot like Eddie Griffin, and part of me is convinced Griffin did his voice...but I don't think he was around back then. Anyway, a rumble is set. The movie rapidly moves from one pointless scene to the next, leading up to the big rumble showdown, which is actually a try out for Dance Fever.
But who even cares about the "plot..." what the hell was going on in this movie?? Remember the scene where Crazy bangs this fat broad in a sea of hamburgers? And how about the scene where Crazy becomes a rooftop superhero and fights an army of man eating trash cans and giant naked ladies with no face? Boog-a-loo shows up on the roof with Crazy, and to this day I still am not sure if he tossed Crazy off the roof, or if Crazy jumped on purpose. If it was indeed suicide, why even include Boog-a-loo in the scene? And if Boog-a-loo pushed him off, why didn't they show it? I can't believe I'm even asking questions about this movie.
The movie is basically an animated version of Mean Streets. Speaking of the animation, it's horrible-- but that's cool, cuz I've never been a fan of The Lion King anyway. Everyone is drawn terribly, and all the characters look like Satan. The audio comes in and out and many characters talk at once, so you never really know what's being said. This is why the movie will forever be a classic, it leaves the mystery door open. I have been waiting for the sequel now for 20 years, and if Ralph Bakshi reads this, hopefully he will oblige, instead of going "Hollywood" and making pure crap like Cool World, a movie with no nudity.
* * * * * stars out of 5.