IMDb RATING
7.2/10
5.6K
YOUR RATING
The story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music in the 20th century.The story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music in the 20th century.The story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music in the 20th century.
Mews Small
- Frankie
- (voice)
- (as Marya Small)
Ron Thompson
- Tony
- (voice)
- …
Jerry Holland
- Louie
- (voice)
Lisa Jane Persky
- Bella
- (voice)
Jeffrey Lippa
- Zalmie
- (voice)
Roz Kelly
- Eva Tanguay
- (voice)
Frank DeKova
- Crisco
- (voice)
- (as Frank De Kova)
Rick Singer
- Benny
- (voice)
- (as Richard Singer)
Elsa Raven
- Hannele
- (voice)
Ben Frommer
- Palumbo
- (voice)
Amy Levitt
- Nancy
- (voice)
Leonard Stone
- Leo Stern
- (voice)
Eric Taslitz
- Little Pete
- (voice)
Gene Borkan
- Izzy
- (voice)
Richard Moll
- Beat Poet
- (voice)
Beatrice Colen
- Prostitute
- (voice)
Hilary Beane
- Showgirl #1
- (voice)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe two dancers in the "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" montage are The Nicholas Brothers, Harold Nicholas and Fayard Nicholas. The animators directly rotoscoped their dance from Stormy Weather (1943).
- GoofsWhen Tony meets the waitress in Kansas, he asks her a number of questions which are references to songs about the state. He asks her, "Is everything up to date here?" which references Rodgers and Hammerstein's song "Kansas City" from the musical "Oklahoma!" However, that song actually concerns the Kansas City in Missouri, as another song from that show indicates.
- Crazy creditsDisclaimer before soundtrack listings: The following songs were depicted as being written by fictional characters. The producer would like to thank the true composers.
- Alternate versionsIn some versions of the film, dialog has been redone in at last two scenes, presumably to make points more clear. For example, in Little Pete's first scene, he is asked what his Dad would say about him hanging backstage with a rock band. In one version, Pete says "Nothing. He's dead." In the other version, he instead says "I never met my Dad. He's some kind of mystery" (which serves as a better setup for information learned later) Also, Tony returns to the band's apartment after his release from the hospital, only to find they have moved out. In both versions, under 'People Are Strange,' we hear him on the phone with a friend, but the phone conversations begin completely differently. In one we never learn what happened to the band, only that they seemed to have moved out and left Tony behind, while in the other we learn that the band has gone on to big things, with a gold album. Both versions' phone calls end the same way, though, with Tony desperately asking his friend for money or drugs.
- ConnectionsEdited from Applause (1929)
- SoundtracksAmerican Pop Overture
Arranged by Lee Holdridge
Featured review
At-times-corny-hodgepodge, yet quirky, offbeat, and strangely touching
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.
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.
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,500,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
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