American Pop - The 1981 adult musical animated film

American Pop - The 1981 adult musical animated film

American Pop is a 1981 American adult animated film in the musical and drama genre, starring Ron Thompson and produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi. It was the fourth animated film presented in Dolby Sound. The film tells the story of four generations of a family of musicians who immigrated to Jewish Russia whose career parallels the history of twentieth-century American popular music.

Most of the animation in the film was completed through the rotoscoping , a process in which live actors are filmed and frames are used by animators to draw. However, the film also uses a variety of other mixed media including watercolor, computer graphics, live footage, and archival footage.

The trailer for the American Pop movie

History

In imperial Russia in the late 1890s, a rabbi's wife and her young son Zalmie flee to America, while the rabbi is killed by the Cossacks. Shortly after their arrival in New York City, Zalmie is recruited by Louie, a performer at a burlesque house, to distribute choir slips (sheets of paper choir song lyrics, used to allow members of the audience to sing along with). As Zalmie becomes a teenager, she spends more time with Louie backstage at burlesque shows. When Zalmie's mother dies in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, she starts working full time with Louie in a small theater. Although Zalmie aspires to be a singer, she is starting to enter puberty and her changeable voice becomes a significant obstacle. When World War I breaks out, Zalmie travels the world performing for the troops as the lower half of a pantomime horse and suffers a throat injury during a German air raid, which puts an end to her singing career.

American Pop

When Zalmie returns to New York, she briefly continues to perform as a clown and falls in love with a stripper named Bella, vowing to make her a famous singer and, to do so, she gets involved with the mobsters. After Zalmie gets her pregnant, she uses Mafia boss Nicky Palumbo's money to pay for their wedding. Bella achieves modest success, but is killed after opening a package containing a bomb destined for Zalmie. Their son, Benny, who is already an introverted child, focuses all his efforts on becoming a talented jazz pianist. Benny marries Palumbo's daughter at Zalmie's request and enlists to fight in World War II in search of redemption for his family, despite her father's pleas. Benny is killed in Nazi Germany when he stops playing on an abandoned piano and is caught off guard by a Nazi soldier; Benny starts playing Lili Marleen and the Nazi blissfully closes his eyes, but when the song ends, the Nazi stops only to thank Benny before riddling him and the piano with gunshots. Benny's wife and son, named Tony, now live in a suburban Long Island town and watch as Zalmie testifies against Palumbo on television, calling him a rat.

American Pop

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 as a dishwasher, but soon gets tired and quits. A six-piece rock group invites him to write songs for them after hearing him play his harmonica under the front door. The band is successful, but slowly begins to decompose due to the heroin addiction of female singer Frankie Heart and Tony himself. Tony becomes addicted to drugs after being hospitalized for falling off a stage while under the influence of acid in one of Frankie's shows. Frankie and the band's drummer, Johnny Webb, get married, but divorce after two weeks and Frankie begins a relationship with Tony. In Kansas, the band will perform after Jimi Hendrix, but Frankie overdoses backstage and Tony meets a blue-eyed blond boy, Little Pete, whom Tony turns out to be his son, conceived the night he spent with the waitress.

American Pop

Tony returns to New York accompanied by Pete, where he becomes heavily involved in drug dealing. Pete makes a small amount playing acoustic guitar, but Tony takes all the money Pete makes to buy drugs for himself. One day, Tony and Pete argue over Pete's guitar, where Pete reveals that he knows Tony is his father. After telling his father's story, Tony gives Benny's harmonica to Pete, then takes Pete's guitar to bind it, telling Pete to wait on the bench in the town they are in. The next morning, a man approaches Pete and gives him a small packet of drugs to sell and the pawn for his guitar and tells Pete that Tony has said goodbye. After years of selling drugs to rock bands, Pete refuses to sell any more cocaine to band members unless they're 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. The film ends with Pete performing in concert with the band, images of his ancestors appearing during his performance.

The soundtrack

The soundtrack of American Pop is was composed by Lee Holdridge. Thanks to his reputation as an innovator in 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 less than $ 1 million in royalties taxes. Due to music licensing issues, the film was not released on home video until 1998.

Data

Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Written by Ronni Kern
Produced by Ralph Bakshi, Martin Ransohoff
Protagonist Ron Thompson, Lisa Jane Persky, Jeffrey Lippa, Richard Singer, Marya Small
Music by Lee Holdridge

Production company Bakshi productions
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Exit date: 13 February 1981
Duration 96 minutes
Country United States