A multi-layered satire of race relations in America. Live-action sequences of a prison break bracket the animated tale of Brother Rabbit, Brother Bear, and Preacher Fox, who rise to the top of the crime ranks in Harlem by going up against a con-man, a racist cop, and the Mafia.
Direction
Bakshi's rotoscope-animated chaos — live-action prisoners literally frame the cartoon.
Writing
Brer Rabbit as pimp revolutionary; the Uncle Remus source code gets hacked.
Sound
Barry White's bass purr as Brother Bear — casting so perfect it feels criminal.
Director
Ralph Bakshi
Philip Michael Thomas
Randy / Brother Rabbit (voice)
Barry White
Sampson / Brother Bear (voice)
Charles Gordone
Preacherman / Preacher Fox (voice)
Scatman Crothers
Pappy / Old Man Bone (voice)
Al Lewis
The Godfather (voice) (uncredited)
Frank De Kova
Managan (voice) / Ruby (voice) (uncredited)
Ralph Bakshi
Cop With Megaphone (voice) (uncredited)
Jesse Welles
Marrigold (voice) / Miss America (voice) (uncredited)
Mihaly 'Michu' Meszaros
Boxing referee (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The NAACP initially condemned it without seeing it, then Coretta Scott King supported it after screening. The title change from 'Coonskin' to 'Street Fight' for some releases barely helped its commercial death.
Bakshi pitched this as his answer to Song of the South's erasure — using the same Brer Rabbit source material to expose rather than sanitize American racism. Disney buried their version; Bakshi got picketed for his.
US
