 Although Heavy Traffic received an X rating from the Motion Picture Association of America , more theaters were willing to screen adult @-@ oriented animated features because of the success of Fritz the Cat , and Heavy Traffic was a box office success . Ralph Bakshi was the first person in the animation industry since Walt Disney to have two financially successful films back @-@ to @-@ back . The film is considered to be Bakshi 's biggest critical success . Newsweek wrote that the film contained " black humor , powerful grotesquerie and peculiar raw beauty . Episodes of violence and sexuality are both explicit and parodies of flesh @-@ and @-@ blood porn [ ... ] a celebration of urban decay . " Charles Champlin wrote in The New York Times that the film was " furious energy , uncomfortable to watch as often as it is hilarious . " The Hollywood Reporter called it " shocking , outrageous , offensive , sometimes incoherent , occasionally unintelligent . However , it is also an authentic work of movie art and Bakshi is certainly the most creative American animator since Disney . " Film website Rotten Tomatoes , which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics , gives the film a score of 89 % . Vincent Canby ranked it among his " Ten Best Films of 1973 " . The film was banned by the film censorship board in the province of Alberta , Canada when it was originally released . 
