list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around American Pop on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/American_Pop/50614/default.aspx Title: American Pop
Year: 1981
Director: Ralph Bakshi
Plot: The rise and growth of American popular music through the 20th century is reflected in the lives of four generations of one family in this animated drama directed by Ralph Bakshi. Zalmie (voice of Jeffrey Lippa), a Russian Jew, emigrates to America, and tries to struggle along as a comic and musician in vaudeville, until an injury suffered in World War I ends his singing career. Zalmie's son Benny (voice of Richard Singer) inherits his father's love for music, and when he grows to adulthood, he joins a jazz combo as a pianist; his career is cut short, however, when he's killed while fighting in World War II. Benny's son Tony (voice of Ron Thompson) is also bitten by the music bug and is determined to make his mark as a songwriter; he becomes involved in the Beat poetry and music community in San Francisco, and later falls in with a pioneering psychedelic band. Along the way, Tony fathers an illegitimate son named Pete (voice of Eric Taslitz), and ends up becoming Pete's guardian in New York City without realizing he's the boy's father. After Tony's death, Pete supports himself by dealing drugs, while struggling to make his dream of becoming a rock star a reality. Ralph Bakshi achieved American Pop's unique look through a process called "rotoscoping" -- shooting the scenes with live actors, and then tracing their movements onto animation cells. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 2
Number of Lists: 6
Number of blog posts: 2
Number of discussion threads: 1
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:01:57 GMTAmerican Pop1981Ralph BakshiThe rise and growth of American popular music through the 20th century is reflected in the lives of four generations of one family in this animated drama directed by <a href="/players/P____80464/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Ralph Bakshi</a>. Zalmie (voice of Jeffrey Lippa), a Russian Jew, emigrates to America, and tries to struggle along as a comic and musician in vaudeville, until an injury suffered in World War I ends his singing career. Zalmie's son Benny (voice of Richard Singer) inherits his father's love for music, and when he grows to adulthood, he joins a jazz combo as a pianist; his career is cut short, however, when he's killed while fighting in World War II. Benny's son Tony (voice of Ron Thompson) is also bitten by the music bug and is determined to make his mark as a songwriter; he becomes involved in the Beat poetry and music community in San Francisco, and later falls in with a pioneering psychedelic band. Along the way, Tony fathers an illegitimate son named Pete (voice of Eric Taslitz), and ends up becoming Pete's guardian in New York City without realizing he's the boy's father. After Tony's death, Pete supports himself by dealing drugs, while struggling to make his dream of becoming a rock star a reality. <a href="/players/P____80464/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Ralph Bakshi</a> achieved American Pop's unique look through a process called "rotoscoping" -- shooting the scenes with live actors, and then tracing their movements onto animation cells. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide2Slightly Tagged (1-5)6213http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t00703ypbrv.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/American_Pop/50614/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/shaunhuston/archive/2008/6/18/31392.aspx Post By: ShaunHuston
Post To: ShaunHuston filmblog
Post Date: 6/18/2008 9:01:57 PM
Body: The animation top ten was the first list and it got the evening off to a shaky start. The problems with this list run much deeper than its rather uninspired roster of, almost exclusively, Disney “classics”. Most fundamentally, animation is not a genre; it's a medium. However, it is also the case that in Hollywood, animation verges on being a genre, but the American animation genre of the 20th century is not the same as the genre in the 21st century except insofar as animation is treated as a medium for children's, or “family”, films. In the 20th century, as ably shown by the list, animation was more or less the new medium for musicals. In this millenium, music remains an important part of animated films, but they are less often actual musicals. They are, however, characterized by hyperreal computer animation and dialogue rich with “clever” asides and pop culture references. Does that make a genre? Maybe, but not one that has much in common with the prior century. The larger point is that in other parts of the world, and outside of the American corporate mainstream, animation is used to tell all kinds of stories, including those directed at adults. Even if one were to be biased towards older films in this “genre”, shouldn't there have been room for at least one film by someone like Ralph Bakshi? I don't know about anyone else, but seeing Wizards (1977) was, politically and aesthetically, an earth shattering experience for my eight or nine or ten year-old self, more profound, I would say than the original Star Wars. And certainly American Pop (1981) is enough of a cultural document, and marker for the form, to have been seriously considered for inclusion on the AFI's Top 10. I would also have looked to include one of Richard Linklater's forays into animation on the list (indeed, either Waking Life, 2001, or A Scanner Darkly, 2006, would have been nice companions to American Pop). But, staying within the scope of children's or family films, the lack of either of Brad Bird's eligible films, The Iron Giant (1999) and The Incredibles (2004), seems like a critical oversight, and perhaps reflective of the fact that many of the voters were, undoubtedly, simply mining their own childhoods when making their selections. (I'm not going to suggest specific alternate selections here because, as indicated above, I think that this list is inherently misconceived, and because I think most of the selections on the AFI list are more or less interchangeable in any event). Link to introduction. Originally posted on:Short-Circuit Signs
]]>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:01:57 GMTShaunHustonShaunHuston filmblog6/18/2008 9:01:57 PMThe animation top ten was the first list and it got the evening off to a shaky start. The problems with this list run much deeper than its rather uninspired roster of, almost exclusively, Disney &ldquo;classics&rdquo;. Most fundamentally, animation is not a genre; it's a medium. However, it is also the case that in Hollywood, animation verges on being a genre, but the American animation genre of the 20th century is not the same as the genre in the 21st century except insofar as animation is treated as a medium for children's, or &ldquo;family&rdquo;, films. In the 20th century, as ably shown by the list, animation was more or less the new medium for musicals. In this millenium, music remains an important part of animated films, but they are less often actual musicals. They are, however, characterized by hyperreal computer animation and dialogue rich with &ldquo;clever&rdquo; asides and pop culture references. Does that make a genre? Maybe, but not one that has much in common with the prior century. The larger point is that in other parts of the world, and outside of the American corporate mainstream, animation is used to tell all kinds of stories, including those directed at adults. Even if one were to be biased towards older films in this &ldquo;genre&rdquo;, shouldn't there have been room for at least one film by someone like Ralph Bakshi? I don't know about anyone else, but seeing Wizards (1977) was, politically and aesthetically, an earth shattering experience for my eight or nine or ten year-old self, more profound, I would say than the original Star Wars. And certainly American Pop (1981) is enough of a cultural document, and marker for the form, to have been seriously considered for inclusion on the AFI's Top 10. I would also have looked to include one of Richard Linklater's forays into animation on the list (indeed, either Waking Life, 2001, or A Scanner Darkly, 2006, would have been nice companions to American Pop). But, staying within the scope of children's or family films, the lack of either of Brad Bird's eligible films, The Iron Giant (1999) and The Incredibles (2004), seems like a critical oversight, and perhaps reflective of the fact that many of the voters were, undoubtedly, simply mining their own childhoods when making their selections. (I'm not going to suggest specific alternate selections here because, as indicated above, I think that this list is inherently misconceived, and because I think most of the selections on the AFI list are more or less interchangeable in any event). Link to introduction. Originally posted on:Short-Circuit Signs http://www.spout.com/blogs/cinemarian/archive/2008/5/12/28553.aspx Post By: CinemaRian
Post To: CinemaRian Blog
Post Date: 5/12/2008 10:52:14 AM
Body: American Pop is the kind of ambitious film that only Ralph Bakshi could have made. If it were live action, it would probably be called a clichéd melodrama, but as animation, it is an incredibly evocation of our collective memory. It traces eighty years of American history and popular music, and there is not a trace of cliché or cheap, unearned tricks in the film. Bakshi's film follows four plotlines, each around a specific character. The first is a Russian immigrant named Zalmie (voice of Jeremy Lippa) who arrives in the US shortly as a child after the turn of the century. His father, a Rabbi, was killed in an uprising in the native country and his mother dies in an industrial accident shortly after their arrival. He is informally adopted by Louie (Jerry Holland) a gangster who owns a vaudeville show, and he quickly puts Zalmie on stage, despite his dubious talent. The second plotline revolves around Zalmie's son, Benny (Richard Singer), a gifted jazz musician who becomes disaffected with his father's lifestyle and volunteers to serve in World War II. The third, and longest section concerns Benny's son Tony (Ron Thompson), who, like his father, feels he doesn't fit in and runs away from home. He becomes a beat poet and later a songwriter for a band based on Jefferson Airplane, but finds drugs his undoing. The final story concerns Tony's son Pete (also Ron Thompson), who grows up a drug dealer on the streets of New York and harbors dreams of becoming a rock star. That is an awful lot of plot for a 96 minuet movie (and believe me, there are many important details I left out of the summary), but this movie is not so much about an epic family story as it is how this family is affected by the times in which they live. Characters rarely seems to be in much control of their own lives in American Pop, even when they seem to escape the suffocating existence they grew up in, they find only misery, addiction, or death. But the great release to all four characters is music, even to Zalmie, who is untalented himself, but sees greatness in his son. And to the viewer, the great appeal of the movie is the stunningly evocative visuals that Bakshi uses to conjure up memories of times past. To paraphrase what Roger Ebert has said about Grave of the Fireflies, the animation means that we don't so much see a character as much as the idea of a character. Tony is every disaffected 50's youth, Zalmie is every immigrant, Louie every gangster. The visuals means the film is always visually compelling and the gorgeous animation really draws us in to the characters in a way that live action can't. I must say, however, that the final segment, set in the 80's, seems half baked and pales in comparison to what comes before it, possibly because the music (from Bob Segar and Pat Benetar) is nowhere near as strong as what has been featured before. I got the feeling that Bakshi may have been running out of time and thus the ending was truncated. Too bad, because the first three segments are about as good animation gets, and make this film a great obscurity that movie fans every need to seek out. American Pop (1981)
]]>Mon, 12 May 2008 14:52:14 GMTCinemaRianCinemaRian Blog5/12/2008 10:52:14 AMAmerican Pop is the kind of ambitious film that only Ralph Bakshi could have made. If it were live action, it would probably be called a clich&eacute;d melodrama, but as animation, it is an incredibly evocation of our collective memory. It traces eighty years of American history and popular music, and there is not a trace of clich&eacute; or cheap, unearned tricks in the film. Bakshi's film follows four plotlines, each around a specific character. The first is a Russian immigrant named Zalmie (voice of Jeremy Lippa) who arrives in the US shortly as a child after the turn of the century. His father, a Rabbi, was killed in an uprising in the native country and his mother dies in an industrial accident shortly after their arrival. He is informally adopted by Louie (Jerry Holland) a gangster who owns a vaudeville show, and he quickly puts Zalmie on stage, despite his dubious talent. The second plotline revolves around Zalmie's son, Benny (Richard Singer), a gifted jazz musician who becomes disaffected with his father's lifestyle and volunteers to serve in World War II. The third, and longest section concerns Benny's son Tony (Ron Thompson), who, like his father, feels he doesn't fit in and runs away from home. He becomes a beat poet and later a songwriter for a band based on Jefferson Airplane, but finds drugs his undoing. The final story concerns Tony's son Pete (also Ron Thompson), who grows up a drug dealer on the streets of New York and harbors dreams of becoming a rock star. That is an awful lot of plot for a 96 minuet movie (and believe me, there are many important details I left out of the summary), but this movie is not so much about an epic family story as it is how this family is affected by the times in which they live. Characters rarely seems to be in much control of their own lives in American Pop, even when they seem to escape the suffocating existence they grew up in, they find only misery, addiction, or death. But the great release to all four characters is music, even to Zalmie, who is untalented himself, but sees greatness in his son. And to the viewer, the great appeal of the movie is the stunningly evocative visuals that Bakshi uses to conjure up memories of times past. To paraphrase what Roger Ebert has said about Grave of the Fireflies, the animation means that we don't so much see a character as much as the idea of a character. Tony is every disaffected 50's youth, Zalmie is every immigrant, Louie every gangster. The visuals means the film is always visually compelling and the gorgeous animation really draws us in to the characters in a way that live action can't. I must say, however, that the final segment, set in the 80's, seems half baked and pales in comparison to what comes before it, possibly because the music (from Bob Segar and Pat Benetar) is nowhere near as strong as what has been featured before. I got the feeling that Bakshi may have been running out of time and thus the ending was truncated. Too bad, because the first three segments are about as good animation gets, and make this film a great obscurity that movie fans every need to seek out. American Pop (1981) http://www.spout.com/groups/Movie_Soundtracks/Re_Great_rock_soundtrack/100/5057/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Dr_Gor
Post To: Movie Soundtracks
Post Date: 1/20/2007 6:27:44 PM
Body: ....but what other great films had a "rawkin" soundtrack to it? Are you kidding? There are MANY... I am a huge fan of movies, as you can tell... but I am ALSO a HUGE fan of Rock & Roll.... Obviously the 'Concert Movies' of the 60's, 70's and 80's had the BEST soundtracks (duh), so you will see some of them on my list... Here is a partial list of some of the best 'Rock & Roll Soundtrack Movies'... Woodstock (1970) - Spout Woodstock: Lost Performances (1990) - Spout The Last Waltz (1978) - Spout The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter (1970) - Spout The Concert for Bangladesh (1972) - Spout Help! (1965) - Spout A Hard Day's Night (1964) - Spout Heavy Metal (1981) - Spout American Pop (1981) - Spout The Warriors (1979) - Spout Reservoir Dogs (1992) - Spout Vanishing Point (1971) - Spout ... And there are MANY, MANY more where those came from...
]]>Sat, 20 Jan 2007 23:27:44 GMTDr_GorMovie Soundtracks1/20/2007 6:27:44 PM....but what other great films had a "rawkin" soundtrack to it? Are you kidding? There are MANY... I am a huge fan of movies, as you can tell... but I am ALSO a HUGE fan of Rock &amp; Roll.... Obviously the 'Concert Movies' of the 60's, 70's and 80's had the BEST soundtracks (duh), so you will see some of them on my list... Here is a partial list of some of the best 'Rock &amp; Roll Soundtrack Movies'... Woodstock (1970) - Spout Woodstock: Lost Performances (1990) - Spout The Last Waltz (1978) - Spout The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter (1970) - Spout The Concert for Bangladesh (1972) - Spout Help! (1965) - Spout A Hard Day's Night (1964) - Spout Heavy Metal (1981) - Spout American Pop (1981) - Spout The Warriors (1979) - Spout Reservoir Dogs (1992) - Spout Vanishing Point (1971) - Spout ... And there are MANY, MANY more where those came from... http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/family/MemberTagFilms.aspxfamily
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