American Pop (1981) Reviews

• Good. Especially if you're a music geek, like me.

  dividebyzero2003-11-23

  I love the animation style used in this movie. The interlacing of real footage and photos from earlier times brings a level of realism not seen in many animated films. The characters move realistically as well; minute body language is portrayed well. Voice overs are great. Of course it's not "Disney quality", but it's got a grittiness to it that truly makes it original. Now I can see how one could criticize this movie. Basically, it all depends on how you watch it. If you watch it as a drama, you'll be disappointed. The plot is very centered around the one tragic late hippieish character, and is pretty simple and predictable. But there's a certain amount of charm within the overall story, kind of a sad, but beautiful shine. If you watch it more as a musical, the movie works fine. The songs chosen are fantastic, and they totally underline the feel of the scenes in which they are used. In one of the first scenes, taking place in Czar-era Russia, there is no dialogue, only subtitles (giving it a great historical feel). The soundtrack is a sad and stirring Russian song sung acappella. You really get a sense of what the characters were going through. This style continues throughout the movie. One of the most emotional scenes, for me, takes place in a cornfield, with the character torn apart with what he's done with his life. Janis Joplin's version of "Summertime" (an interesting choice, perhaps a hint of a throwback to earlier eras, as it is a Gershwin tune) as haunting as ever plays as the character cries. Messed up. But well done. Jimi Hendrix has a cameo. A pseudo-Joplin/Slick character has a major role. A Sex Pistols parody jams it out. Late 70s corporate goons are running the studio. Great fun. And that's how you have to enjoy the movie; and that's probably why music geeks will love it more than anyone else.

• I'm amazed that this isn't in the top 50 for animation

  Mellow_Biafra2002-10-02

  I thought this film was one of the finest animation films I have ever seen. The film continually keeps building and building until it peaks at the end when the last guy becomes a star. It almost has the feel of a documentry on life in a America by the way it continually keeps pounding the nail on the head in terms of the storyline and the action scenes cut to music were absolutely brilliant. Considering this film was ahead of anything even close to this (even ahead of MTV for gods sake) it's far and away one of the finest animation films ever made. I think anyone grading this film before a eight just isn't looking at this film as a film and instead putting it against a Disney film or something that's pretty but has no point. For my money I'd easily stack this film against any other animation ever made. Also I saw some people nay saying this film because of the soundtrack, but it's all a natural progression man and in this film it shows the progression of life and music and in 1981 that's what was popular and I thought it was a great choice since it's still listen-to-able today. Extremely great film, if you haven't yet... Go see it now!

• The American Pop Music for Cinema and Music Lovers

  claudio_carvalho2018-01-26

  "American Pop" is a fantastic animation directed by Ralph Bakshi disclosing the American pop music in the Twentieth Century until 1980. The storyline follows four generations of a Russian Jewish family of refugees from the Russian Revolution that immigrate to America. Along the years, the boy Zalmie discovers life and love in night-clubs as performer and musician and becomes the patriarch of generations of musicians. The big picture of the American history is the background to present wonderful music, in blues, jazz, rock and roll, in one of the most beautiful soundtracks of the cinema history. My vote is ten. Title (Brazil): "American Pop"

• Good, but underviewed and misunderstood.

  LeMille02003-06-20

  This film was one that I was reluctant to see at first when it came out on video in the mid 90's. I eventually saw it and it interested me in many ways. The concept of a newly American family transcending through the century by ways of musical pop culture is an innovative idea. The main fault in the film resides on the fact that the filmmaker had somewhat misguided judgements on what exactly pop music and history was in the era that he was depicting. Apart from that I found the dialogue not condescending and the actor's voiceovers quite convincing. The verbal exchange between the character of Tony and the blonde was one of the most authentically written love scenes I have ever encountered in a movie. It was interesting to see the tortured characters succumb to weaknesses and eventually prevail at the end, however unrealistic it may have been represented. Some viewers of this film complain of the chopping rotoscoping used in it, but I found it refreshing seeing through the film to it's eventual endeavor by use of the actor's faces along with their voices. The grittiness of the film was more enjoyable to me. It showcased a lot of underrated talents of actors whose careers never took off such as Jeffrey Lippa and Lisa Jane Persky, among many others. It is often sad how talented represented actors get pushed aside the a world of notoriety. The most identifiable to me was Ron Thompson in the voice of Tony and Pete. I wish that I had seen him in so many other films. His verbal performance was enough to convince me that he was accomplished otherwise as an actor. I think that this film could have been a bit better if it were less presumptuous of the musical mainstream that carried the story through, but eventually it was entertaining. Though this film was not well known and a bit misguided I recommend viewing it at least once.

• It's DEFINITELY different...

  Gavno2004-05-24

  If nothing else, Ralph Bakshi is an innovator. He has been ever since he did the first X-rated cartoon, FRITZ THE CAT. He's also been uneven in his work. He either does great things, like FRITZ, or he produces forgettable, total bombs like COOL WORLD. Just the same tho, I've very much enjoyed his stuff over the years. My personal favorites are HEY GOOD LOOKIN' and AMERICAN POP. AMERICAN POP is a daring concept; a feature length, multigenerational saga that tells the story of an immigrant family's American adventure. When it works (and that's MOST of the time), it works WELL. Bakshi did his historical homework on this one, as well as the musical homework required in telling the story of a family of entertainers. His characters achieve the goal that EVERY cartoonist tries for; on some level, we find ourselves identifying with those characters, and CARING about them... ALL of them, from the turn of the century song plugger on the streets of New York City, to the Heavy Metal rocker who finally achieves the American Dream. In some places tho, Bakshi's attempts at innovation have a rather bizzare effect, and sometimes just plain DON'T WORK with his audiences, even for those who LOVE his work. I'm thinking specifically of the somewhat startling attempt to use cartoon characters in a sexual situation. Somehow, the sight of a cartoon character opening his pants to expose jockey shorts prior to making love with ANOTHER cartoon character is jarring and unsettling in the extreme. It's not a matter of prudishness... it's just that the idea of realistically drawn cartoon characters having sex is a bit of a leap of imagination that many can't easily negotiate. Another place that it doesn't quite work is during the sequence during the Vietnam years. We've ALL seen the horrible news film clip of the police chief of Saigon personally executing a prisoner, shooting him in the head with his snub nosed revolver. Bakshi produced a very short cartoon version of that clip for the film. It's intention in the montage is clear and powerful, but somehow the idea of cartooning this horrendous act is even more deeply disturbing to the viewer than the ORIGINAL film was. It might have been MORE acceptable if Bakshi had used a Rotoscoped version of it that was LESS cartoonlike, as he did with other file footage used in the movie. Just the same... overall, Bakshi's bold experimental film WORKS, and works well. AMERICAN POP, despite it's faults, is a breakthru for the art of animation. It's a successfully mounted drama, done in animation. Disney came close sometimes, but Bakshi boldly went where Disney didn't dare to. For anyone who loves animation, and anyone who loves music... AMERICAN POP gets MY vote.