The Nine Lives of Fritz The Cat - Production

Production

The film's title has been seen as ironic, as the character's creator, Robert Crumb, had previously drawn a story in which the character was killed.

Although filmmaker Ralph Bakshi had written and directed the film's 1972 predecessor, he chose not to direct The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat in favor of Heavy Traffic, and had absolutely no involvement with the film. However, Bakshi has sometimes been incorrectly credited as having worked on the film, such as in Jeff Lenburg's Who's Who in Animated Cartoons, which claims that Bakshi had been a producer on the film. Directorial duties were instead given to Robert Taylor, an animator who had worked on The Mighty Heroes, a superhero spoof Bakshi created in the 1960s. Stylistically, Taylor attempted to recreate only some of the elements and themes of the original film. The setting of the film's period is similar to that of the first film, with the speaker addressing the audience with "jump back, baby." However, unlike the first film, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat was made during the era it was set in. Because the filmmakers only had three years of history to work with, much of the film diverges into various storytelling directions, including sections focusing on the 1930s, Nazi Germany, and an alternate future. The film's ending credits play over animation of Fritz dancing down the street in tune with Tom Scott's music.

Taylor cowrote the film's screenplay with Fred Halliday and Eric Monte. Steve Krantz would later produce Monte's screenplay Cooley High, which was developed into the television sitcom What's Happening!!

The music for this film was performed by Tom Scott and the L.A. Express. A full soundtrack album was planned for official release, but the album never came out because of the film's failure to garner significant box office revenue. However, a 45 RPM single featuring two songs from the film, "Jump Back," and "TCB in E" was released in 1974.