American Pop

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.

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 haven't seen this movie since it came out nearly two decades ago and yet I remember it like it was yesterday. Perhaps being a member of the clan that the movie depicts gives it special meaning for me. The strand connecting the chants of the ghetto synagogue, through early jazz, sixties ballads and finally hard rock rang true to this unsophisticated viewer. Perhaps the characters where often cliches and the symbolism hackneyed- but so what. This is the shorthand of our culture and these iconic elements were used with wit, charm and taste. Animation in this film is truly an artistic medium. The memory of the final scene, where generations of suffering are vindicated in the roar of acclaim for the rock singer descendent, still brings a chill to my spine.

I won't go so far as to call this movie a masterpiece, but I do have a special weakness for Ralph Bakshi for some reason, and I enjoyed this film despite the awkward non-uniform animation (involving heavy use of rotoscoping), the corniness of some moments, and the bizarre contexts into which some popular songs are placed (e.g. a Bob Dylan song being composed by some fictional character on a bus, and - as another reviewer commented - a Bob Seger song somehow being considered punk).

Nevertheless, there are several things I enjoyed about "American Pop". Rather than a single individual, the "protagonist" is a "familial line"; one could even say the protagonist of this movie is a "creative spark" that passes from father to son. It was interesting how we were shown that the same creative spark which expresses itself through popular music is intimately intertwined with the sexual urge - and hence the urge to "keep the spark alive" by passing it to the next generation.

It's also very interesting to see a movie about popular music as a whole throughout the twentieth century, as opposed to being confined to one particular decade. In fact, on one level, "American Pop" is simply an entertaining history of twentieth century popular music, a history which is embellished by the presence of four characters which represent different points in that century insofar as they "could have written" the songs of their particular time.

Finally, one of my favourite aspects of "American Pop" is alluded to by the second word of the title: "Pop". "Pop" is, of course, short for "popular", and in this film we see that these characters' choice to express themselves via the medium of popular music (rather than, say, classical music or classical painting) is very closely wound up with the fact that these are all quite down-to-earth, everyday types of people who sometimes experience the grittier side of life.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would have to give "American Pop" either a 7 or an 8.

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.