Animation maverick Ralph Bakshi leaves pornofied cats and wizards behind, to tell this tale of American music, from the early days of blues, into the psychedelic sixties, and through the caustic disenchanted beginnings of punk in the 70's, and into the early 80's new wave movement, tied together by the lineage of a musical family of Russian Jewish immigrants.
Episodic, moving, and enlightening. This is easily the most emotional and human of Bakshi's work, in the opinion of yours truly, and stands as a dramatic masterpiece, animated or not. Written by Ronni Kern, who went on to write an episode of, er, Baywatch (!?!) and a lot of television movie fare, which is a bit mind boggling given the depth and epic scope of AMERICAN POP. One has to wonder about a potential giant of a screenwriter turning that way, but no matter, this collaboration between Kern and Bakshi, remains to this day one of the most important contributions to "music based cinema". Right up there with the classic THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY, and the recent James Brown biopic GET ON UP, AMERICAN POP is a must see/must have for any fan of the jazz, blues, or rock and roll movie sub genres.
~Sean Smithson
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