Crumb

Terry Zwigoff, 1995 (8.5*)
Documentary biopic of legendary hippie cartoonist Robert Crumb, creator of Mr. Natural, Zippy Pinhead, among many others, and the women who all have giant butts and long legs. Crumb said this is from remembering lots of aunts as a kid, and since he was less than waist high to them, they all were out of proportion in his mind's eye, so he draws them from memory as they looked to him then.

Crumb's comic books were often passed around by the thousands at rock music festivals, to kill the time between bands, or during the ever present rain delays (did the government seed the skies above pop festivals?) He likely had the greatest word-of-mouth following in the history of graphic arts. He also did some famous rock album covers, the best being the one for Big Brother and the Holding Company, Janis Joplin's first album, where he created a color cartoon for each song on the lp.

You don't have to be an aging hippie from the 60's like me to appreciate this documentary. It offers a truly rare biography of an influential artist during his times, something we'll never have regarding great artists of the past.