Trailer
Plot summary
Cossacks kill a rabbi in Imperial Russia around 1905; his widow and their son Zalmie make their way to New York City. A burlesque performer named Louie hires the boy to hand out chorus slips so audiences can sing along, and Zalmie grows up backstage at a small theater, set on becoming a singer. Puberty changes his voice, and it becomes an obstacle. When World War I comes, he tours as the back half of a pantomime horse entertaining the troops. In New York again, he performs as a clown and falls for Bella, a stripper he promises to make famous, turning to mobsters for money to marry her. Their son Benny gives himself to the jazz piano.
Cast
- Jeffrey Lippaas Zalmie
- Jerry Hollandas Louie
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about American Pop (1981)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ralph Bakshi's standing in adult animation let him license Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, George Gershwin, Lou Reed and more for under $1,000,000 in permission fees. Clearance problems then kept the film off home video until 1998.
- Most of the picture was rotoscoped, animators drawing over filmed actors, and Bakshi admitted the method fought him: "Rotoscoping is terrible for subtleties, so it was tough to get facial performances to match the stage ones."
- The film's look resurfaced in 2008 when director Hype Williams and Kanye West built the video for West's single "Heartless" out of rotoscoped animation that references the film's scenes and backgrounds.
