American Pop was Ralph Bakshi's 6th feature film and 1st, and possibly only (haven't seen all the rest yet) masterpiece. From toon punk NY to Middle Earth and back, at the relatively young age of 42 (23 of which in the business) our man had come full circle, and this is his heritage tribute.
American Pop tells the all-American story of 4 (or 5, depending how you count them) generations of a Russian-Jewish-American family, from escaping 19th century czarist pogroms to working class life in early 20th Century NY to Tin Pan Alley to WWs I and II to rock'n'roll to heroin dissipation to 70s pop stardom, with a century long greatest hit soundtrack and the best use of rotoscope in memory, mine at least.
American Pop came out at a time when RetroAmericana, around for some 10 years already (since George Roy Hill's 1973 The Sting at least, I've been through this), was starting to garner High Art status, and predates more renown titles in this vein like Sergio Leone's 1984 Once Upon a Time in America or Scorcese's Italian Mafia epics (although not, admittedly, Coppola's at the time 1972-1974 diptych The Godfather). As alluded to above, this all-American saga is illuminated by a striking use of rotoscope, particularly in facial expression, and, typically for Bakshi, and perhaps also of his ancestry, plot cohesion takes a back seat to anecdote, character depiction and lyrical evocation. Achingly nostalgic yet celebratory, American Pop is, to borrow yet another film title, one from the heart.