American Pop

R

Now Playing

1h 37m

Musical

Animation

List

65%

20 Reviews

Tomatometer

80%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

This animated trek across the musical landscape of the 20th century begins with young immigrant Zalmie (Jeffrey Lippa) arriving in New York City. He's addicted to show business, but an accident ruins his voice. He marries a stripper (Lisa Jane Persky) and their son, Benny (Richard Singer), becomes a jazz pianist. Although Benny is killed in World War II, his son, Tony (Ron Thompson), goes on to great success as a songwriter during the '60s, as does Tony's son, Pete (also Thompson), in the '80s.

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AlphaSnail N

Fantastic soundtrack, animation, and vintage style, but lacking in interesting characters

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/05/24

Full Review

Mark K

Ralph Bakshi's Sistine Chapel. Much like a Russian novel, it moves from generation to generation. This was a huge project, plot wise, and Bakshi did it justice.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/23/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Each generation of music becomes a part of the American pop cultural landscape. First he did the original adaptation of the Lord of the Rings. Now famed animator Ralph Bashki brings another animated work of art. This one revolves around each young man earning their passion for music throughout the decades. Bashski uses music from various time periods to match the grim, reality of human history. A lot of it is exaggerated but stylized in its own way. The main focus is a young Russian immigrant Zalmie. He loves show business but his voice is ruined by an accident. Later he marries a stripper and they have a child who becomes a jazz pianist. Then his son Tony goes on to making songs during the 1960s. Finally his own son, Pete does wonders as a musician in the 1980s. The whole thing is like a giant music video. Very artistically well-made. There's a semblance of a story but really it's the visuals and music they make the movie stand out the most.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/14/24

Full Review

Bella D

An absolute classic work of American art. This film follows the lineage of a family that emigrated to the United States of America and their subsequent effect on American popular music history. The first of its kind filmed, and then animated over, not a scene stands still. The characters are snapshots of real people you would come across in each era. Introspection, exploration, joy, and sadness, all before a backdrop of American pop culture. This movie is a must see, trust me.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie is a epic of the love of music and animation, great fun . The powerful music and drama the great characters delivered always brings me back to amazing movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Greatest animated film I've ever seen, hands-down. All the Don Bluth-type movies I saw as a kid feel like dim forerunners of what this movie finally succeeded in being. It was so good it felt like it was gonna be gone when I woke up the next morning. In a sense something like that did happen — I woke up in a world that wasn't filled with scores of these movies, where there wasn't a whole genre of animated movies this gorgeous and intelligent and realistic and inventive. Where nothing else its own creator made came close to matching it. Where it could perfectly well be the only one of its kind.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

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Ralph Bakshi

Director

Ron Thompson

Tony

Mews Small

Frankie

Jerry Holland

Louie

Lisa Jane Persky

Bella

Jeffrey Lippa

Zalmie

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Nell Minow

Movie Mom

Rated: 3/5

Sep 9, 2004

Full Review

Seth Troyer

PopMatters

The entire Bakshi filmography is a campaign against business as usual, a full-on assault on the medium...

Oct 3, 2023

Full Review

Michael Talbot-Haynes

Film Threat

This is one of those flawless wonders where every single frame is perfect.

Rated: 10/10

Jul 5, 2022

Full Review

Peter Ackroyd

The Spectator

Although the plot, like the music itself, can be somewhat too strident, the animation is remarkably successful in delineating the sad geography of the human body and the massive backgrounds of American cities.

Mar 27, 2018

Full Review

Jeremy Heilman

MovieMartyr.com

This is a film that grandly overreaches, attempting to condense a century's worth of triumph and tragedy into ninety minutes. To a surprising degree it succeeds.

Rated: 62/100

Jul 18, 2012

Full Review

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

Has a wonderful soundtrack, but it fails to provide an actual story unless you look hard...

Rated: 2.5/4

Sep 3, 2008

Full Review

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Synopsis

This animated trek across the musical landscape of the 20th century begins with young immigrant Zalmie (Jeffrey Lippa) arriving in New York City. He's addicted to show business, but an accident ruins his voice. He marries a stripper (Lisa Jane Persky) and their son, Benny (Richard Singer), becomes a jazz pianist. Although Benny is killed in World War II, his son, Tony (Ron Thompson), goes on to great success as a songwriter during the '60s, as does Tony's son, Pete (also Thompson), in the '80s.

Director: Ralph Bakshi
Producer: Richard R. St. Johns, Maggie Abbott
Screenwriter: Ronni Kern
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Columbia
Rating: R
Genre: Musical, Animation
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 13, 1981, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2012
Runtime: 1h 37m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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