American Pop
American Pop | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ralph Bakshi |
Written by | Ronni Kern |
Produced by | Ralph Bakshi Martin Ransohoff |
Starring | Ron Thompson Lisa Jane Persky Jeffrey Lippa Richard Singer Marya Small |
Edited by | David Ramirez |
Music by | Lee Holdridge |
Production company | Bakshi Productions |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $5 million[1] |
Box office | $6 million[2] |
American Pop is a 1981 American
The majority of the film's animation was completed through
Plot
In
When Zalmie returns to New York, he briefly continues performing as a clown, and falls in love with a stripper named Bella, vowing to make her a famous singer and getting involved with mobsters in order to do so. After Zalmie impregnates her, he uses money from mob boss Nicky Palumbo to pay for their wedding. Bella achieves modest success, but she is killed after opening a package containing a bomb intended for Zalmie. Their son, Benny, who is already an
A teenage Tony steals his stepfather's car and drives across the country for four weeks, ending up in Kansas, where he spends the day washing dishes at a diner and spends the night with a waitress. In California, Tony takes another job dishwashing, but soon grows tired of it and quits. A six-piece rock group invites him to write songs for them after hearing him playing a harmonica under their doorstep. The band becomes successful but slowly starts to decompose because of the heroin addictions of female lead singer Frankie Heart and Tony himself. Tony becomes addicted to drugs after being hospitalized from falling off a stage while on acid at one of Frankie's shows. Frankie and the band's drummer, Johnny Webb, marry but divorce after two weeks, and Frankie begins an affair with Tony. In Kansas, the band is set to perform after Jimi Hendrix, but Frankie overdoses backstage. Meanwhile, Tony meets a blonde, blue-eyed boy, Little Pete, whom Tony realizes is his son, conceived the night he spent with the waitress.
Tony moves back to New York City accompanied by Pete, where he becomes heavily involved with drug dealing. Pete makes a small amount of money playing the acoustic guitar, but Tony takes any money that Pete earns to buy drugs for himself. One day, Tony and Pete argue over the latter's guitar, where Pete implies that he knows Tony is his father. After he tells the story of his own father, Tony gives Benny's harmonica to Pete, then takes Pete's guitar to pawn it, telling Pete to wait on the city bench they're at. The next morning, a man approaches Pete and gives him a small package of drugs to sell and the pawn slip for his guitar and tells Pete that Tony said goodbye to him. After years of selling drugs to rock bands, Pete refuses to sell the band members any more cocaine unless they are willing to listen to his music. Playing "Night Moves", his talent stuns both the band and the management and they agree to record and hire him on the spot. Eventually, Pete performs in concert with the band to roaring cheers from the crowd.
Cast
- Ron Thompson as Tony Belinsky / Pete Belinsky
- Lisa Jane Persky as Bella
- Jeffrey Lippa as Zalmie Belinsky
- Richard Singer as Benny Belinsky
- Jerry Holland as Louie
- Mews Small as Frankie Hart
- Hilary Beane as Showgirl
- Robert Beecher as Hobo No. 2
- Gene Borkan as Izzy
- Beatrice Colen as Prostitute
- Frank de Kova as Crisco
- Ben Frommer as Nicky Palumbo
- Roz Kelly as Eva Tanguay
- Amy Levitt as Nancy
- Richard Moll as Poet
- Joey Camen as Freddie
- Elsa Raven as Hannele
- Vincent Schiavelli as Theatre Owner
- Leonard Stone as Leo
- Eric Taslitz as Little Pete
- Lynda Wiesmeier as The Blonde
- Elya Baskin as Tuba Player
- Lee Ving as Punk Rocker
- Ralph Bakshi as Piano Player
Production
Following the production struggles of
The rock band Fear appeared in the film, Fear lead singer Lee Ving acted under the name Lee James Jude.[9]
Actor Elya Baskin performed in the film in an early role as a tuba player.[9]
The finale featured laser effects by
Music
The score for American Pop was composed by Lee Holdridge. As the result of his reputation as an innovator of adult animation, Bakshi was able to acquire the rights to an extensive soundtrack, including songs by Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Doors, George Gershwin, The Mamas & the Papas, Herbie Hancock, Lou Reed and Louis Prima, for under $1,000,000 in permissions fees.[8] Due to music clearance issues, the film was not released on home video until 1998.[11]
Track listing
Side A
- "Hell Is for Children" (Neil Giraldo, Pat Benatar, Roger Capps) – Pat Benatar
- "Summertime" – Big Brother and the Holding Company
- "California Dreamin'" – The Mamas & the Papas
- "This Train" – Peter, Paul and Mary
- "Somebody to Love" – Marcy Levy
Side B
- "The Jimi Hendrix Experience
- "Take Five" – The Dave Brubeck Quartet
- "You Send Me" – Sam Cooke
- "Turn Me Loose" – Fabian Forte
- "People Are Strange" – The Doors
Reception and legacy
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 65% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 5.90/10.[13] The film was a success upon its February 12, 1981, release.[8] Writer Jerry Beck called it "one of Bakshi's best films".[11]
Slate magazine said the film was a "rock-star epic, a cartoon movie for and about grown-ups, in both style and substance."[14]
In 2008, director Hype Williams and Kanye West paid tribute to the film in the music video for West's single "Heartless", which featured use of rotoscoped animation and references to scenes and backgrounds from the film.[3][16]
Ain't It Cool News head writer Harry Knowles wrote that American Pop was his favorite Ralph Bakshi film.[17]
On January 12, 2014, at
At the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, California on March 27, 2015, there was a screening of American Pop with director Ralph Bakshi, Ron Thompson and Mews Small attending.[20]
References
- ^ "AFI|Catalog".
- ^ "American Pop (1981) - Financial Information".
- ^ a b c Maçek III, J.C. (August 2, 2012). "'American Pop'... Matters: Ron Thompson, the Illustrated Man Unsung". PopMatters.
- ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
- ^ Vespe, Eric (November 5, 2012). "What does the Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day look like, man? A soda fountain?". Ain't It Cool News.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (February 13, 1981). "'American Pop' Grown-Up Animation". The New York Times. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0674054684. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7893-1684-4.
- ^ a b "American Pop". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2015. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015.
- ^ American Pop Trailer - laser fx by Laserium (on official YouTube channel)
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55652-591-9.
- ^ Discogs
- ^ "American Pop (1981)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
- ^ Gaslin, Glenn (November 21, 2001). "Ralph Bakshi's unfairly maligned Lord of the Rings". Slate.
- ISBN 978-0-19-516729-0.
- ^ Kaufman, Gil (May 13, 2009). "Kris Allen's 'Heartless': The Story Behind The Cover". MTV News. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
- ^ Knowles, Harry (April 25, 1999). "MIGHTY PEKING MAN among other reviews (repost)". Ain't It Cool News.
- ^ West, Jay (January 21, 2014). "American Pop - Q&A with Actor Ron Thompson at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California on 1-12-2014". Vimeo.
- ^ West, Jay (January 21, 2014). "EXCLUSIVE: Ralph Bakshi's AMERICAN POP – Video of Historic Q&A with Actor Ron Thompson". Beyond the Marquee.
- ^ Milligan, Mercedes (March 4, 2015). "American Cinematheque Sets Bakshi Retrospective". Animation Magazine.
External links
- American Pop at IMDb
- American Pop at AllMovie
- American Pop at Box Office Mojo
- American Pop at Rotten Tomatoes
- American Pop at Discogs (list of releases)
- Radio interview with actor Ron Thompson of American Pop on YouTube
- Ron Thompson American Pop on Instagram
- 'American Pop'... Matters: Ron Thompson, the Illustrated Man Unsung interview at PopMatters
- American Pop - Q&A video with actor Ron Thompson at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California on Vimeo