American Pop (1981)

Touches You

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

There is one scene that I noticed. When Pete was delivering the coke to people who are users he stops at a synagogue and sees a Rabbi and what he doesn't know his great-great grandfather was one. Stayed around and showed his respect by dancing to his chants and singing. And Pete was the one who went on to the big time. There was Jacob The Rabbi, Zalmie, Benny, Tony & Pete. Zalmie was the brave soul who saw his family being taken out and wasn't afraid to death when he testified at the hearing, he had nothing to lose for that. In short this was a good movie and I do have a copy for it. Also there was a good scene when Tony got high on LSD from a patron and everything went bad for Tony. The worst LSD trip I can think about is seeing all kinds of disasters happening in front of me and being chased by a little girl in a 1951 Packard Hearse and other childhood terrors.

I must admit that I never was a big fan of the works of Ralph Bakshi. While I do admire the efforts he made in order to show that the animated medium wasn't something exclusively for kids, the truth is that I found most of his movies to be pretty weak and dated (Specially, his movie version of "The Lord of the Rings", which I consider to be terrible)However, I found "American Pop" to be a pretty solid animated film, being at the same time the most ambitious and the most mature work from Ralph Bakshi.Not only the animation ís incredibly well done (With superb designs, beautiful sceneries, and an exquisite use of colors) but also the plot is way more complex than in the other movies directed by Ralph Bakshi, with a high level of realism and vivid moments of nostalgia and melancholy.The music and the voice acting from this film were excellent, giving it the perfect atmosphere for each era where the different parts of the story of this film took place.The result is something impressive, fascinating and unique. This is possibly one of the most ambitious and daring animated films ever made, and even when this film isn't entirely perfect, the overall result is still impressive, even by the moderns standards of animation."American Pop" is the strongest film directed by Ralph Bakshi, being the one that stand the test of time.I highly recommend this movie to anyone.

From his directing Tom 7 Jerry cartoons (some of the oddest most memorable ones as well), to Wizards, to Lord Of The Rings, to American Pop, the guy developed a heck of a diverse resume' fro himself.Reading the reviews here I think a lot of people are misguided as to how the animation in this film was done. This film was 99% rotoscoped (sans the backgrounds, still background characters and various environments).While it does look really good rotscoping involves artists basically tracing over acted out sequences. Think "A Scanner Darkly", if you want to get a more modern grasp on it. So yeah, the animation is clean and smooth, but it's not necessarily "pure" animation, like a Pixar film or a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The designs of the characters, their movement and their behavior is so life-like because, well it was performed by actual people. So knowing that maybe some views you read on the animation and how perfect it is can be looked at with a grain of salt.Anyway, the movie is entertaining and at times hypnotizing to watch. It's a great study in the era of film making and art it was done in. Films like this wouldn't be accepted by today's audiences and it's kind of a shame.The story is entertaining enough, though for em the incredibly heavy East coast accents could have been toned down some. After an hour of it, it can become a bit of an endurance contest, and at the least distracting.If nothing else, it's recommended viewing for the animation fan, for those who want to see the art of rotoscoping and for fans of Bakshi and his gritty form of storytelling.

Covering The Generations of The Reincarnations of an Ellis Island Family which has The Heart & The Desire to perform American Pop shows that where The System fails The Talent takes over with The Family producing a Family Line Man who finally must perform or become genetically extinct...The Final Family Line Member finances his STARDOM by "Coin Boxing" The Church which abused his FAITH...Watch as the orphan Poppy Sandals emerges...Hell Is For Children...Listen to a Sound Track which to some is too eclectic and for others is a note-book full of memories of what life really can be and what life should really be on an individual basis with one's own soul and creator...