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VHS : American Pop |
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780800198770
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 0800198778
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: March 31, 1998
Running Time: 96 minutes
Sales Rank: 7927
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: February 13, 1981
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Animator-director-screenwriter Ralph Bakshi audaciously tries to chronicle the history of 20th-century American popular music, while also placing each period into historical and social context--all in 97 minutes! Its animated, episodic narrative follows four generations of Jewish-American musicians as each painfully seeks fame through changing musical eras. Starting at the turn of the century with a piano-playing immigrant in New York, the film moves swiftly, following his offspring through such movements as Gershwin-era pop, jazz, folk music, '60s psychedelia, and punk--and only pauses for elaborate, energized musical numbers designed to showcase the work of Benny Goodman, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Lou Reed, the Jefferson Airplane, and numerous others. However, these electric set pieces provide brief dynamism in a relatively bleak film filled with hard-luck protagonists suffering through clichéd drug addiction, death, and alienation. While the film's scope is admirably ambitious, and Bakshi's stylized use of rotoscoping (tracing animation from live action) makes for fluid and often eye-popping visuals, his treatment also feels heavy handed and cuts numerous corners. And, when Baskshi ends his epic by mocking punk, and celebrating the future of rock & roll through the music of Bob Seger, one wonders whether or not he a knowledgeable grasp of his topic at all. The DVD version presents the film in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. --Dave McCoy
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - I use it for my American History Class
I saw it in 1981 my first year of college.
I like the history in it and the music
I always tell my students "hey everyone you just heard in the video in this segment died of drugs or lost a band member"
It has great real pictures mixed in with the story and it tells an interesting story of a family coming from a pogram in Russia.
Rating:  - Impressive Pop
This is a classic. Visually stunning and engaging, it follows a family through several generations trying to make it in the entertainment industry.
In my opinion, Bakshi outdid himself with this one.
My only problem is that the final episode was too easy. It lacked the pathos of the rest of the movie. It seemed like an anticlimax.
But the music was great!
Rating: - An incredible dedication to American Pop music and culture
Probably the most outrageous animated film I've seen. You are never left doubting the creative vision of the filmmakers. Some of the music seems a bit out of left field, but generally well picked. Enjoy.
Rating: - An American classic by an American master...
An honest look at American pop music and the roots of it's pain and suffering buried beneath the commercial glitz of mass-media marketing. I've seen the film mistakenly reviewed as a condemnation of punk music and a glorification of top forty hit makers and nothing is further from the truth. Bakshi takes us through the roots of American music and the suffering of the people it has always masked. We sing because we seek relief from our daily suffering. As the pain gets worse the music gets angrier ... Read More
Rating: - Happy with product
American pop came in a timely manner.
The item was packed well and the dvd plays wonderful.
I'm very happy with my product.
Sphinx
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VHS
