Irreverent, psychedelic and adventurous, Fritz the Cat was the first X-rated cartoon feature. Created by the infamous animator Ralph Bakshi and based on a character by famed underground artist R. Crumb, Fritz was a surprising cult hit on the midnight movie circuit and at drive-ins. Though it may seem dated after the explosion of Japanese animation in the 1980s, the film successfully captured the early 1970s disillusionment with the free-love era. It also happened to hit the screens in the midst of the brief "porno-chic" movement, when X-rated movies such as Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones made "dirty" moviegoing experiences socially acceptable. Crumb objected to Fritz the Cat being made into a movie, but Bakshi and schlock producer Steve Krantz got permission from Crumb's wife without his knowledge. Bakshi, who was best known for working on TV cartoons like Deputy Dawg and Hekyll and Jekyll, went on to make a number of less well-received animated features. Fritz the Cat was followed by an almost impossibly bad sequel, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat.