American Pop

American Pop
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRalph Bakshi
Written byRonni Kern
Produced byRalph Bakshi
Martin Ransohoff
StarringRon Thompson
Lisa Jane Persky
Jeffrey Lippa
Richard Singer
Marya Small
Edited byDavid Ramirez
Music byLee Holdridge
Production
company
Bakshi Productions
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • February 13, 1981 (1981-02-13)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million[1]
Box office$6 million[2]

American Pop is a 1981 American adult animated epic jukebox musical drama film starring Ron Thompson and produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi.[3] It was the fourth animated feature film to be presented in Dolby sound. The film tells the story of four generations of an immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music in the 20th century.[4]

The majority of the film's animation was completed through rotoscoping,[3] a process in which live actors are filmed and the subsequent footage is used for animators to draw over.[5] However, the film also uses a variety of other media including water-colors, live-action shots, and archival footage.[6]

  1. ^ "AFI|Catalog".
  2. ^ "American Pop (1981) - Financial Information".
  3. ^ a b Maçek III, J.C. (August 2, 2012). "'American Pop'... Matters: Ron Thompson, the Illustrated Man Unsung". PopMatters.
  4. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 163–164. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  5. ^ Vespe, Eric (November 5, 2012). "What does the Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day look like, man? A soda fountain?". Ain't It Cool News.
  6. ^ Canby, Vincent (February 13, 1981). "'American Pop' Grown-Up Animation". The New York Times. Retrieved August 16, 2011.