I had the priviledge recently of reviewing a pre-release copy of “Tales of the Rat Fink”, a semi-animated documentary-style film about the great custom car builder, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.The film features the voices of John Goodman, Ann-Margret, Jay Leno, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Stone Cold Steve Austin of WWE wrestling fame, Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons”, the Smothers Brothers, and more.
I was unaware of the impact that Ed Roth had upon the world of custom automobiles and even on 50s-70s culture until I watched this DVD with my sons.
As a kid, I remember Roth’s “Rat Fink” and “monster shirts”, mostly from ads in the back of all the automobile magazines I devoured from the time I was about 12.
Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s art career began as an auto-obsessed teen in post-WWII southern California. He got his start pinstriping cars and soon graduated to using junkyard part and a new, inexpensive material called fiberglass to build automobiles in his garage. To finance his creations, Roth sold t-shirts airbrushed with cartoon monster characters and souped-up cars to teenagers at drag strips and county fairs. His most popular character wsa a repulsive rodent named Rat Fink and it was “Finkie” that ultimately brought Roth fame and fortune, adopted by alienated youth as a counterpoint to the squeaky clean 1950s America embodied by Disney’s Mickey Mouse. Soon, Roth’s garage studio evolved into a blue collar equivalent of Andy Warhol’s Factory, with dozens of employees assisting in the production of “Kustom Kars”, t-shirts, records, and a bevy of bizarre cartoon characters trumpeting a new culture of hot rod rebellion (from the Shout! Factory press release).
My two sons, ages 12 and 13, and I laughed out loud a lot as we watched this DVD, and we did enjoy it very much. There’s lots of humor, but there’s also lots of information about how one man, doing what he enjoyed best, changed an entire culture.
In addition to a rare live interview with “Big Daddy”, the DVD also includes a virtual art gallery of Big Daddy’s Garage, a Rat Fink reunion where Ed Roth and Von Dutch both paint, and many more features.
The official release date for this DVD is Tuesday, October 31, 2006 (perhaps chosen due to the “monster” influences?), and the DVD can be pre-ordered right now.
The retail price is $19.98, but I have seen it already available for pre-order for as low as $14.99 plus shipping.
Here’s an Amazon.Com link if you’re interested in seeing a “Rat Fink” for yourselves.
