Hey Good Lookin' (1982)

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Hey Good Lookin was finished in mid-70's, and it was Bakshi's Fourth feature film. It's original version, featuring Animated Characters against live-action characters discussing girlfriends and haircuts must've been a treat to watch.But Warner Brothers delayed the film for 4 years before they officially scrapped it entirely, and ordered Bakshi to re-made the whole film in animation, and throughout the production of Wizards and Lord of the Rings, Bakshi used his gains from those movies to remake Hey Good Lookin in animation, but he didn't felt like it, so in the end, he didn't even watched the final film, so just like Cool World, Hey Good Lookin was just made without any love or care, it's just a shell of what it once was.The reason why this film would feel much different than the original version is because it probably had a charm to it, the new version doesn't has a charm, it's just colorful characters slapped on lifeless, static and bland backgrounds, there are a few scenes where the characters are against a Live-action background, and it looks great, not Roger-Rabbit great, but it's a different take, it's not supposed to look like they're really there, it's just an experiment Bakshi made to see of how far the suspension of disbelief went.However, there are a few scenes that I like in the current version, SPOILER ALERT, like the scene where Vinnie and Crazy hang out in Manhattan, or any of the scenes with Vinnie and Crazy in them, because they're really well acted, Richard Romanus and David Proval showed some really nice chemistry on their parts as best friends Vinnie and Crazy Shapiro. I like the rumble scene, where the dancing people are rotoscoped, quite surreal, and I like the scene where Vinnie griefs for the death of Crazy, and walks around by himself in Manhattan, it's kinda heartbreaking, to be honest, and I like the ending too, despite what some people say. I don't like sad endings, I like closure.All in all, I really want to see the original version of Hey Good Lookin. Come on Warners Brothers, time to dust off that Hey Good Lookin print sitting on your vault and restore it to it's full glory and release it on Blu-ray. You did it for the Theatrical Cut, why shouldn't you do it to the original version?

The first time I saw this film was at 3am after returning home from a bar. I had only caught the end at the time but was greatly impressed. In fact the movie had left such an impression on me that I spent a month trying to locate a copy on video cassette. This video is now among one of my most prized tapes.The story is based around two good friends, Crazy Shapiro and Vinnie. Vinnie is the leader of a gang known as the 'Stompers'. Vinnie isn't much of a leader, and Crazy is a loose canon. The story takes us on a journey of how Vinnie dealt with his cowardly ways and how Crazy took a leap to insanity.One of the reasons this movie has made it into my all time favorites is due to how the movie ends.This movie like most Psychedelic cartoons is not for everybody. You will either love it or hate it.

Man alive -- this movie, aside from being in poor taste and unfunny (the poor taste would be fine if it were funny -- but its not), just doesn't go anywhere. I mean its shocking how parts don't even seem to make sense. The scene progression is just sloppy -- and the characters are just miserable and annoying.

Having first seen "Hey Good Lookin'" at the movies in 1982, the year I was seventeen, I have always considered this a film that connects me directly to my past. I was involved with my first "real" girlfriend at the time, and this is one of the first films that we saw together. That aside, having seen this movie countless times since then I have been struck by it's completeness, and excellence as a film. Bakshi's only film that featured a completely original, and brilliant, musical soundtrack, "Hey Good Lookin'" gives a good look into what it meant to be a guy growing up in 1950's Brooklyn and the role you needed to play in order to get respect, get along with your friends, and what was necessary to get the girl. From the leather motorcycle jackets, the slicked back DA's and the rumbles, Ralph Bakshi gives us a window into which we might look into a past where male / female roles were clearly defined, and a man could still be a man. Oh yeah... and the animation is PHENOMENAL as well. This is one of Bakshi's best!