TALES OF THE RAT FINK
Ron Mann
Sphinx Productions
Animentary (animated documentary)
Canada, 2006, 76 min.

Sun., Aug. 10, 1 PM, at the Drama Workshop, Salem Fine Arts Center

Synopsis from the Filmmaker:

From the award-winning director of Comic Book Confidential and Grass comes "Tales of the Rat Fink," Ron Mann's wildly inventive bio about Renaissance man Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, who engineered a shift in the mid-20th century culture with his customized cars, "monster" T-shirts, and America's alternative rodent, Rat Fink.

With the voice talents of John Goodman, Ann-Margret, Jay Leno, Brian Wilson, Tom Wolfe, Matt Groening, Robert Williams, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Paul LeMat, Billy F. Gibbons, and The Smothers Brothers.

I went to see the Revolve Festival screening of the biographical film about Ed Roth and his creations, including the Rat Fink, because I vividly remembered buying a little Rat Fink at the drugstore when I was a kid, and I was curious about how it came into existence and became so universally known and popular. Maybe it was because I was a girl, but until I saw the film, I had never realized the connection that little creation had to the emergence of the souped-up cars of the fifties, followed by the outlandish ones in the sixties and the California surfer scene. Fun to see how a bizarre fellow and outsider like Roth could continue to create influential items for so many years. My favorite bits in the movie were clips of Roth and fellow artists making crazy designs for cars out of fiberglass and the ease and agility they had with paintbrushes when putting the finishing touches on the vehicles. I learned at the after party at Revolve headquarters that there is controversy about Ed Roth's work, particularly the Rat Fink, and that another artist (Mouse – ed.) claims to have created it first and actually had more influence on that scene than Roth. Now I am curious to know more. -FH