Brandon's Cult Movie Reviews: WIZARDS 

In high school, I was dating a girl who’s dad introduced me to this movie. I had no idea what to expect. Long after I had ended the relationship with his daughter, Pete and I are friends to this day.

"With the projector destroyed, the war was over." That's quite an amazing analogy if you think about it.

One of the background artists of this movie, Ian Miller, also worked on early versions of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy; his dark fantasy style was really fitting for the universe.

"THEY'VE KILLED FRITZ!" is still the best line ever.

"Imagine if somethign like Wicked City, fucked a Loony Tune cartoon and you would still be like halfway there" - Brandon on Bakshi's animation, 2018

Mark Hamill had more screen time in this movie than Kingsman and The Force Awakens combined

I remember seeing this as a kid. My mom was going to the video rental place, and my brothers and I asked that she pick up "The Wizard," as we were big on Nintendo. She came back with this and we watched it. I think we were too young to understand the concept and imagery, but I'll never forget our reaction to hearing a cartoon say "I'm glad you changed your name you son of a bitch."

Here's an interesting bit of trivia: a lot of the stock footage of "nazi" war machines they used for rotoscoping is actually footage of American equipment, the animators are just using it as a stand-in for actual WWII German hardware. But the fun part is that most of the tanks I saw in this movie are very obviously (well, obvious to tank enthusiasts, at least) M48 Pattons... which got used as stand-ins for German Tiger Tanks in WWII movies for decades. Even in the realm of animation, the Patton continues to find work as the Tiger's stunt double. And I think that's absolutely hilarious.

"In addition to weapons the bad guys also brought the funk" is my light today. The first video I've seen of yours and this sealed it.

*"And maybe there's a happy little wizard and a perky nipped fairy lady riiight there. And that'll just be our little secret."*

The cartoon bouncing noise over the execution from “Schindler’s List” was much funnier than it should have been.

5:06 He's a robot painted red. That means he's 3 times faster than the usual robot of that type. Once Necron-99 is mass produced, they'll crush the federation!

Wizards. An epic science fantasy with violence, nazism, and sexual innuendo. As Ralph Bakshi would put it, It's a family picture.

The beauty of Bakshi is his ability of animation story telling with an extreme limited budget. The still frames were not just a great example of ingenuity, but I really feel the imagery has more of a resonance that most full animated scenes from other animated films completely miss. Not to mention Bakshi has more artistic diversity in his little toe than most modern animators have in their entire being.

This movie invoked emotion that reflected the dirt and violence in the era. Being raised on 70s- 80s cartoons this one has a special place with the last unicorn. ❤

For reasons I cannot fathom, my father thought it suitable to show this film to my sister and I when we were four years old. Thanks Dad, for instilling me with a lifelong love of fantasy, violence, and films with an animation crew of four.

"I'm too old for this sort of thing. Just wake me up when the planet is destroyed." Love it!

I think I remember seeing the ending to this and being completely caught off guard by Avatar just pulling out the gun and shooting the evil wizard guy.

A big influence on this film was Vaughn Bode's comic strip "Cheech Wizard," which was very subcultural. He was a unique talent and he should be remembered.

“Listen guys trench warfare doesn’t work when you don’t have guns” Trench warfare also doesn’t work when you are facing against a literal 4th Reich blitzkrieg

This is sort of like a D&D campaign, but halfway through a player got confused and thought they were playing Fallout, but the DM just rolled with it. And there's boobs and Nazi imagery.

I don't know why but Peace's design was my favourite

This movie could never have been made any other way and been nearly as successful. It literally created its own niche and then filled it. And I will be forever grateful.

Paradoxically, Bakshi was ahead of his time and totally of his time.

"They were actually defeated with violence." This can be said about almost every threat in human history.

"The safe word is Frazetta." Well if that line doesn't warrant an upvote, nothing does!

I liked that he used Zootopia as a comparison piece near the end. Seeing as how it actually came close to being a dark and violent animated movie before they totally rewrote it.

First time I saw this I was 6 or 7, as I got older I thought I just imagined it. As an adolescent, I took a bunch of mushrooms and went to a friend's house who had this movie on. Once again, after I sobered up I thought it was just the mushrooms doing their thing. Wasn't till my early 20s when I confirmed that the movie did indeed, actually exist. Great movie, love the art and different styles used in unison. Very unique and one of a kind. 👍

"THEY KILLED FRITZ!!!!"

I cant wait for Wizards to be in Kingdom hearts

Just imagine what Ralph could've accomplished if someone had actually given him a budget to work with.

I saw Wizards in 77 when I was 10. Played at my local movie theater in SoCal as a matinee, for the local kids! It was a double feature with Fantastic Planet, another not for kids animated movie. I'm not sure what the theater owners were thinking, but the tickets cost about $2.50 and popcorn and soda was like another $2.75 or something. These features had a profound effect on me and I am sure changed the way I looked at cartoons from then on.

I loved "Fire and Ice". He put his name like 20 times in the opening credits on that one lol

"It's a FAMILY picture!"

A huge fan of Ralph Bakshi's work here. I wish there were more adult animated like this nowadays.

'Wizards' is excellent. If only Bakshi could've made 'Cool World' the way he wanted to initially, he'd likely still have made many more animated films afterwards including Wizards II.

Ralph Bakshi’s work is phenomenal. Seriously underrated and awesome.

I always loved these old adult cartoons. It makes me wonder what US animation today would be like if Bakshi was as influential as Walt Disney. We might have R-rated cartoons that aren't cheap flash animations now.

I was soooo stoned when I first saw Wizards when it came out. It was sooooo freaky.

I first saw this back in the early summer of 1977 at a small theater in Santa Anna, Ca. Had no idea what it was about, but being 16 and bored, figured "what the hell?" and was amazed. Have this movie on VHS and DVD and still watch it from time to time. My kids grew up with it and have their own copies for themselves. "Wizards" is a masterpiece that eclipses "Fritz the Cat" and "Cool World".

I bet this had some influence over Adventure Time lore, only with less Nazis and guns

And Ralph Bakshi is indirectly responsible for the Nostalgia Critic’s “A Family Movie” joke.

This came on at 12am the other night. I knew about fritz the cat but didn't know the same guy made this too; I went in completely blind and was mesmerized by the weirdness. I didn't know if it was for kids or adults, and the nazi imagery caught me so off guard. I was falling asleep so I wrote down the name of the movie and finished it in the morning. Thank you for the video!

"Very bad. Not good." has become a meme. I still use it a lot. BTW, well done, Kid.

"And maybe theres a happy little elf and a perky nipped fairy lady riiiiiiight there. That'll just be our little secret..." That was by far the most ive laughed at something on RU-vid. Ever. Seriously instead of milk coming out my nose I thought it was gonna be my brain. Well done! I know youre pretty damn popular on RU-vid but still more people need to see your stuff. Youre my favorite movie critic for sure. You also pick the best movies. I was thrilled to know that I had not completely imagined Blood Diner in a very drug fueled daydream. Cant wait til the next review!

'Let me show you a trick mom taught me while you weren't around...'

Man, I remember coming across this one quite a few years ago at a local movie rental place. What a wonderful film. The concept of clashing the horrors of reality with a fantasy setting is so genuinely creative. Especially with how seriously the characters in the film treat the themes for the most part. I really wish things like this coud still be made with somewhat of a budget these days, but I guess both moviegoers and mainstream producers don't have any respect for their own intelligence anymore...

I was in middle school when my parents rented this movie for me back in the late 80s early 90s, and it blew my mind. LMAO. Good Memories!

That juke box was produced magically, so then maybe THAT made it alright?

This is amongst my favorite movies from my childhood. It inspired my art style and made me think more deeply on why wars are fought. Thanks for reviewing it!

Hey! First time visiting your channel but OLD Bakshi fan! I adored him in my 20s and still love the "they killed Fritz!" scene. Thanks for rewaking some wild memories!

this was the movie my father and i bonded over when i was a child and that's why i'm a little weird now.

Did I just laugh at an execution scene from Schindler's List?

That schindlers list boing got a like out of me

My parents saw this in the theater. They showed it to me years later, probably before they should have, and I've loved it ever since.

9:17 I'm pretty sure they used footage from 1938 masterpiece "Alexander Nevsky".

Ralph also gave the world Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, in 1987.

I love this movie. Bakshi is one of my favorite animators... even if his original idea for Cool World was ripped to shreds by the producers. One of the best.

My friend's dad thought this was just some cartoon VHS and rented it out for us to watch unsupervised...it was a weird and crazy experience for us 5 yr olds!

Convinced my mom to rent this for me from the local video store, based on the PG rating. She made me turn it off...

This is one of the movies that made think a little different about good and evil. Well imagine my surprise when I saw the last copy at this store. It took my breath away to think I had one of those movies that made look at the world in a different way.

You make it sound like Wizards is a bad thing. It was brilliant. My favorite cartoon. I always hoped there would be a sequel.

I saw Wizards when it first came out. On the advice of someone who had seen it, three of us sat in the theater parking lot and got really wasted while our designated driver (one of the guys' sister) got the tickets. Twenty years later I saw it on the shelf in a (VHS) movie store. The only things I could remember about it were: it was very colorful, the whole crowd laughed a lot, there was an unexpected ending. Rented it, watched it again, still didn't remember much from the first time, only laughed a little, but enjoyed it enough to buy my own copy. Wasn't wasted that time. Fun movie.

The background where the dragon looking ships were fading in and out were ripped out of a Tolkien compendium my dad had when I was a kid, it was wild to see in the movie

I came upon this movie one late night on tv years ago when I was babysitting. I was mesmerized, disturbed and couldn't look away. At least the kid I was watching was asleep

"What happened to the PG rating?" Easy: the addition of PG-13 for films like this (1984).

Necron is clearly influenced by Vaughn Bode's "Cobalt 60" character. Bode's "Cheech Wizard" also seems influential to "Wizards" as well.

It was a cult film when it came out. The first time I saw that movie, the whole room cheered when Avatar shot Blackwolf. This is my favorite Bakdshi. You should look at "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes." I would bet you would have a lot of fun with that.

Holy crap, FINALLY! I've been waiting for someone to cover this madness. :P

As a child of nine, I saw this in the theaters when it came out, and I blame it for my life long fascination with the Luftwaffe.

more movies should do this kind of post-apocalyptic, fantasy/sci-fi mashup setting

This was one of the films I studied in animation school.

This is a guilty pleasure film of mine. The ending confrontation caught me off guard when I first viewed it.

"More wacky sound effects" Lol!

My favorite movie... The PG part had me crying with laughter....lol

That was THE best Wizards' Duel ever.

I first heard of Bakshi on the Sci-Fi channel anime marathon that also got me into Masamune Shirow and Project A-Ko. Pretty eventful weekend to shape my tastes pop culture wise.

The "terrible aiming" of the Stormtroopers was actually part of the plan to track the rebels to the terrorist base on Yavin IV

I remember seeing commercials on TV for this movie, which were played only at late night. And I swear this movie was advertised as Rated R back in 1977.

Saw this in the late 80s as a kid and followed up with heavy metal. I was hooked on the gritty american animation style.

This was before pg 13. Pg 13 was made for these movies

The answer to the question “What the $&?! happened to this rating?” is: The PG-13 rating was created, precisely because of movies like this around this period, though it’s generally attributed to better-known films such as “Poltergeist” & “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” There are still some intense PG-rated films like “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” “Titan AE,” “The Incredibles,” “Cars 2,” “The Lego Movie,” “Osmosis Jones,” “ParaNorman,” and “Rango.” Though most of those, and most others I could name, were commercial disappointments, so that might explain their comparative rarity.

One of my favorite movies, the struggle between good and evil, it’s weird as hell😂😂😂

Two from the Luger is exactly how you end tyrants, Bakshi nailed it.

The extra information I found out from this review alone blew my mind. Awesome!

What happened to the PG rating? The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) realized that the public really was just NOT getting the point. They even created another rating, PG-13, hoping if they put an actual age in the rating people would understand not to bring children under that age to the show - they never did get it though, and that rating was softened to let children come as long as they were accompanied but some one who was technically a legal adult. But go to an R-rated film in USA now in 2018, especially if you go during the afternoon, and you are likely to find children as young as infants, 1,2, 5, 10 and 12 years old alternately scared and screaming, bored and screaming wandering through the aisles in a mixture of bored, scared and /or screaming.. or crying as any young child would if stuck in a dark movie theater for an hour and a half or longer. When you walk past the ticket podium you can even hear parents interrogating the ushers looking for loop-holes: "So.. how hard IS that R rating? Is there a lot of cursing and nudity or just blood, gore and violence? Because we are just FINE with letting our 10 year old son sit through 2 hours of brutal murders, Nazi atrocities, and people getting blown up.. we just don't want him to see bewbs!"

"Family Friendly" To be fair, when you realize just how much detail is in Grimm's Fairy Tales, and that they really were told to children, it almost seems like Ralph was just trying to bring back Grimm. And Avatar here probably just didn't watch Trigun to the end. But he caught up and learned the same lesson as Vash.

This is the movie from my childhood that gave me a chubby, pixie fetish.

I think my phone is spying on me. I caught the last five minutes of this channel surfing on tv earlier today, and now RU-vid suggests this.

The Fantasy art of the characters (brown paper with black and white pencil) were the work of Mike Ploog, a master cartoonist. I've always thought of his work as super-organic.

You officially ruined Schindler’s List. That takes some talent.

"What?!" Yet another timeless quote from the Spiderman series.

Man I remember watching this film alot when I was a kid.

"I'm glad you changed your last name, you sonovabitch" Great one liner, Avatar, but you do realize you share the same mother...

Wow, I remember watching wizards when it came out remember my mom took us kids to the drive in to watch Fritz the cat. She was taken aback when it started but we talked her into watching the whole thing. Thanks Mom

Growing up in the 70s/80s I was lucky to see this gem at midnight shows. Definitely different times, with a lot more variety. Eraserhead, Freaks, Bakshi, Rocky Horror etc. Nowadays it’s Marvel 31 flavors.

If you're wondering where some of the live-action footage comes from, it's Sergei Eisenstein's 1938 historical drama Alexander Nevsky. Which is kind of appropriate because the Teutonic Knights were very obviously used as an allegorical stand-in for Nazi Germans.

So it was Ralph Bakshi was created the first Avatar.

I was in the Army when I saw this at the base theater in 1981 or 82. Walked out of the theater stunned with the ending and loved it!

Films like this were a large part of my childhood, and are quite the inspiration for my interests in Animation.