Ralph Bakshi's AMERICAN POP (1981) - 4 Wines for 4 Generations

We saw this at Filmjourn's microcinema screening in downtown Los Angeles, then decided on a flight of 4 wines in real time during the recording!

Rotoscoping YouTube Video mentioned in the video.

Chapters

• 1:51 Wine Trivia Question of the Week
• 3:08 Filmjourn Microcinema here in Los Angeles
• 5:07 Ralph Bakshi, X-Ratings, John Boorman, and LOTR
• 14:32 American Pop Primer
• 20:37 4 Wines for 4 Generations
• 21:21 Generation 1, Wine 1
• 29:38 Generation 2, Wine 2
• 36:04 Generation 3, Wine 3
• 43:14 Generation 4, Wine 4
• 47:41 Final Thoughts
• 50:56 Wrap Up!
• 54:40 Outtake

Transcript

0:00

Why did Paul Giamatti's character in Sideways hate fucking Merlot? Was it because A, Merlot sucks, B, Merlot had been over-planted in California, leading to a glut of poor quality Merlot within the California Appalachian on the bottle, but in reality, Merlot still comprises some of the best wines in the world, including right bank Bordeaux, such as Pomerol's and St. Amelian's, as well as being a significant part of most super Tuscans coming out of Tuscany. C, Are you not Ventertaining? Yes sir! We'll have a real good time! He's Dave and I'm Dallas and this is Ventertainment. We have opinions on just about everything. Sometimes those opinions are spot on. Sometimes they go down easier with a glass of wine. This is entertainment, the wine and entertainment pairing podcast. to another wine and entertainment pairing for your entertainment. This is of course the podcast where we pair wine with entertainment. It's as simple as that. We always know what we like or dislike but man we rarely know why. So what better way to learn about that than by comparing different wines to different types of entertainment and compare and contrast how they both hit us and affect us the way that they do. As always, I'm Dave, your WCET level three certified wine professional. uh I'm Dallas, your professional world builder and writer. And now for the wine trivia question of the week. Why did Paul Giamatti's character in Sideways hate fucking Merlot? Was it because A. Merlot sucks B. Merlot had been over-planted in California, leading to a glut of poor quality Merlot within the California Appalachian on the bottle. But in reality, Merlot still comprises some of the best wines in the world, including right bank Bordeaux, such as Pomerols and Saint-Amelians, as well as being a significant part of most super Tuscans coming out of Tuscany. C, his ex-wife drank and loved Merlot. Or D, Merlot really, really sucks. To answer this question and then also find out the answer, head over to our sub stack, entertainmentstudios.com. That is a glorified vanity URL, but that will take you to our sub stack. Find this post on American Pop and cast your vote in the poll. Then scroll to the bottom of the post to see if you got it. right. There will be an extended explanation slash answer. There probably won't be too much of an explanation. Actually, there will be an extended explanation because there's kind of two things I need to explain about the answer to this one. So see if you got it right or if you feel very passionately about this, just answer the way you want to answer because two of these answers might just be how you feel. Okie doke. Let's get to it. If you know us and if you listen to what I just said, then you know we are on Substack. and a part of the WineStack and FilmStack communities. And one of the most amazing things about Substack is the ability to build and expand not just your online community, but also your in-person community as well. And that is just what we did a couple of Sundays ago when we attended the micro cinema screening hosted by FilmJorn and its fearless punk-minded warrior leader, Jake Weissman at Studio 216 in downtown Los Angeles. You can find Jake and Filmjorn at filmjorn.substack.com. That is F-I-L-M-J-O-U-R-N, Filmjorn as in journey, filmjorn.substack.com. Or search for Filmjorn on Instagram. He screens a movie for free every single Saturday, Sunday, sorry. He screens a movie for free every single Sunday at Studio 216 in downtown Los Angeles at 1 p.m. That is a art gallery. in downtown Los Angeles. So you get to not only see a movie, but kind of like take a look around a lot of independent artists that are being displayed at the art gallery. There is also a farmers market right outside that you can take advantage of before the screening. It is a fantabulous experience and often he'll screen independent films made by local talent with the filmmakers present for Q &A. So every Sunday 1pm, you can go to his Instagram. He often states what is showing sometimes like this time. We went and he just screened American pop. There were no creators of 1981's American pop there at the screening, but sometimes he'll do smaller films with creators that are still alive and you will be able to meet them and greet them for free. Did I mention that before? support independent cinema, support micro cinema and check out FilmJourn on Substack, on Instagram and in person if you live in Los Angeles. Now, the film we saw. this past weekend, as already mentioned, released on February 13th, 1981, and then essentially lost or vaulted for decades due to musical clearances, Ralph Bakshi's jukebox adult animated drama, American Pop, is the focus of today's pair. That's right. And just who is Ralph Bakshi? Born in Palestine before immigrating to Brooklyn, New York with his family some years later, there seems to be some influence uh based on that experience in New York in the shadow of World War I. ah It is, of course, the story of an immigrant family, which is spotlighted in this film, American Pop. Bakshi got his sea legs for animation with Terry Toons. Terry Toons was an animation studio founded by Paul Terry, Frank Moser and Joseph Kaufman in the 1920s and is responsible for the classic titles such as Mighty Mouse, Deputy Dog and Heckle and Jekyll, which I remember fondly because it's quite hilarious. ah His first feature animation was 1972's Fritz the Cat, a roaring success thanks to the counterculture cinema. of the day as the film was in fact the first animated feature to receive an X rating, but it would go on to gross over 90 million dollars. I'm going to say that one more time. This is 1972, by the way, guys, 90 million dollars lifetime gross box office. So make your weird film and the audience may just find you. That's the lesson from Ralph Bakshi. He followed that success. All the way back in 1972. They might find you in 1972. Don't do it in 2025. Do it, do it, damn it. Make your weird shit. The world is ending. Make your weird shit. Anyway, he followed that success with 1973's Heavy Traffic, 75's Coonskin, Wizards in 1977, Lord of the Rings in 1978, and then the film we're discussing today, American Pop in 1981. After American pop, there were a string of releases some more successful than others like 1982's Hey Good Looking, 1983's Fire and Ice, my personal favorite, and 1992's Cool World, which we may actually have to dip back into here because as Dave and I discussed, I actually haven't seen Cool World yet. I've misremembered for the Brendan Fraser film Monkey Boat. Monkey bone. which came a few years later, I believe. uh by the way, Many years later. years later. Many years later. ah But Cool World, by the way, was not very successful and essentially ended Bakshi's feature big budget career. But a brief primer or primer of the years leading up to American pop in 1969, John Boorman of deliverance and Excalibur fame also Zardas, Zardas, shout out. That is my favorite John Boorman film. love it. Boorman was committed to write a screenplay for a telling of the Lord of the Rings that after completion was deemed way too expensive. But while reading an issue of Variety in 1974, Bakshi learned in this 1974, so he's coming off of Fritz the Cat, right? That 90 million box office X-rated animated feature success. So Bakshi learned that not only was the script abandoned, but Borman had intended to produce all three parts as a single film, a single Lord of the Rings film, all three novels to like mash together. Borman had just done the entirety of Arthurian legend in a single movie that was Excalibur. So I feel like Borman was like, Yeah, I can do that. Yeah, like I think I know how I mean, next Excalibur was is like over two hours long, but it's kind of stunning how much they just cram into that motherfucker. So he got it. once and he was like, I could do this again. Exactly. So Bakshi thought this was madness to even attempt this and began making yearly sojourns to United Artists to talk about the film since he was fresh off that box office success of Fritz the Cat and he thought Lord of the Rings could make some real money. It was 1975 when he finally convinced Mike Medavoy to produce Lord of the Rings as two or three animated films. But when Bakshi was offered Bormann's original script, he refused and eventually convinced Metavoid to adhere to the books as close as possible. Bakshi and Melnick then purchased Bormann's script for $3 million in order to quote unquote kill it. So with the intent of it never seeing in the light of day. those of you who have seen the TV show, The Studio, you've already seen the, oh gosh, is it the first episode? It's either the first or second episode where Seth Rogen Yes, name, right? yeah. Is it Seth Rogen? thank God. um So Joe Rogan and Seth Rogen, for some reason, I got Joe Rogan in my head and I'm like, am I giving him the wrong last name? I'm so sorry, Seth. But no, same last name. So Seth Rogen, if you've seen the studio TV show, the first or second episode of of season one has Seth Rogen um buying a screenplay from Martin Scorsese and to kill it so that it never. comes out and never sees the light of day. So it's something that happens in Hollywood. FYI. Yeah. Bakshi's original LOTR would be released in Find Financial Success, although it left many fans of the original IP annoyed and unsatisfied. And someday we are likely to cover this film in more detail. We're just giving a brief overview right now, because that's not what this episode is about. We'll give it its own episode alongside the Rankin and Bass animated The Hobbit and Return of the King uh animated films, the histories of which all somewhat intertwine. So Bakshi was very, he was a very vocal hater of the Rankin and Bass features. uh I loved them as a kid. uh I found Bakshi's Lord of the Rings to be way too eerie. It fell into that uncanny valley style of animation. We're about to talk about why that is, what this version of animation is. But I really couldn't take it as a kid and I really loved the Rankin and Bass. Bakshi hated them, but also I think Bakshi is the kind of creator that like if he could not have delivered a truly family-friendly movie if his life depended on it, it just was not within him. So I can see why he was very denigrating of films that were made to be very family-friendly and semi-musical. And there were still some scary moments in there. Those movies scared me as a kid as well a little bit. nowhere near as much as back she's and even watching American pop. We'll talk about this when we get to the movie. But like so much of this movie to this day, I watched it for the first time and I was like, this is so freaky. There is so much that is almost terrifying about this movie. It's so adult. It's so violent. It's so graphic. It's so pulls no punches, which was back. She's way. But for animated films and especially with the style of animation, this rotoscoping that we're about to talk about, it was a lot. I wish creators could appreciate the types of things that they themselves could never do. um I feel like I wish back she could have been like, okay, I'm never gonna make that film that version of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. But cool, like I couldn't have made like if someone tried to pay me $50 million, I could never have done it, you know, type of a thing. But alas. You know, I didn't put this in in the script, but uh Bakshi also had quite an issue with everything Disney did. And he was very vocal about what Disney was doing. And, you know, he I think the problem is I get that because Disney stuff is not for fucking adults. It's not. It's just never it never is. And it's like if you go back to older Disney to it's not as it doesn't pull its punches the way modern Disney does as much like it gets a little weird and a little heavy. Like there's more like gummy Bambi's mother's death and things like that is sadder and a little scarier. Snow White, the OG one scary like some moments of film for kids are very scary. I can see Bakshi thinking like, yeah, we evolved the scary parts. Don't worry about the kid friendly parts. That's where animation is supposed to be going. And I get that. But at the same time, I'm like, dude, do your thing, but let Disney do their thing. We need both. don't. Everything should not be you. Everything should be all the things. And I feel like creators can get a little lost. If anything, allowing Disney, you know, to do their thing creates a space and a need for you to do yours in opposition to it. So you you kind of can't have one without the other. But I get you. So many creators are really aggressively anti, you know, establishment, for lack of a better term, you know, um in this sense. And Bakshi was clearly that because he had some choice words for Rankin and Bass and Disney. All right. Go on, Dave. Anyway, it was the period following this financial success of Lord of the Rings that uh which was a financial success, but a creative misfire because fans were not fans of it. They were very they were they had a lot of criticism for it. Even critics were very mixed on the movie. And that compelled Bakshi to make a more personal project for his next project. That's when he pitched American pop to Columbia Pictures. Daniel Melnick. That's right. And speaking of the animation, the animation of this film is I love it. I've always loved rotoscoping. um It is rotoscoping, by the way, and heavily relies on watercolor techniques. Both, uh know, Bacchi are quite known for. Bacchi is definitely known for. The rotoscoping is a technique developed by David Fleischer, who is most famous for his work on the classic Popeye shorts. The technique has been highly controversial in the world of animation as its critics claim its premise of tracing cheapens the art of traditional draftsmanship in terms of artistic integrity. And yet again, we get, ah you know, a sort of faction against faction. You've got the people who look at rotoscoping as a cheap, tawdry version of this artistic premise, you know, of draftsmanship. ah But when you actually look at the work, the amount of work that goes into rotoscoping. It's impressive on its own as a separate technique. uh Bakshi and his team worked almost nonstop on the film for two and a half years and painted some 800,000 individual frames for the project. And if you'd like to know a little bit more about the labor involved in the production of this film, there is a great three minute video in which Ralph Bakshi himself walks through some of the behind the scenes magic involved in rotoscoping American pop. uh We'll be sure to have a link to that in the description of the episode so you can find it. But for the sake of argument, you can find it at Jake Archive YouTube channel. uh And again, I I I adore the little video because I have a soft spot in my heart for Gene Shallot, who is the person he's talking with in this little episode. uh And if you guys grew up in the 80s, you know exactly if you guys didn't, you don't know Jean Chaladis. You have to know. Shut up. All right. OK, Jean Chalet was basically the movie reviewer. It goes back to like not living in our own heads all the time. Shut up. It's like you gotta explain what you're about. So if you're over the age of 40 and tuned in, unlike Dave, ah you you have I was totally tuned out. one the okay, sure. And you don't know who Gene Shallot is tell them about in the comments, guys. Anyway, Gene Shallot was basically a movie reviewer. um And he had this massive mane of black hair and this crazy sort of handlebar mustache that went into these chops and these glasses. And he was a sort of fumbling kind of guy who had this almost permanent sort of smile on his face and the way he would sort of pick apart movies and walk creators through their process. It was just so accessible and so much fun. um And it's he's one of those. If I'm if I'm if I'm being honest, he was one of my probably my earlier inspirations when it came to like, film, honestly, it was it was he was my sort of, you know, he walked me into the world of film and film critique. and you know how to be an audience member. Anyway, Gene Shallot's amazing. Look him up. You'll see him in this video uh at Jake Archives YouTube channel. All right. American Pop contains images, if not direct usages of famous scenes from other popular films, including the Nicholas Brothers mind bending dance routine from 1943 Stormy Weather. And if you've never seen that film or the dance scene, I highly recommend you check it out. It's a black and white 1943. The dance routines are unbelievable and I'm still not sure how those people were able to walk after filming these things because you know, this is back in the day when they didn't give a damn about actors or dancers and they ran them like horses and you know they filmed this intricate scene dozens and dozens and dozens of times. The film also features the legendary mobster scenes from James Cagney's 1931 film, The Public Enemy. The title of American pop pulls double duty as the film both chronicles American popular music of the 20th century and also tells the story of a line of fathers of pops, quote, unquote. Yeah, that was a revelation. was like, right. When I went in, you wrote that into the script. I was like, son of a bitch. didn't. I have no idea if that was. Did you read it somewhere that that was intentional? If it wasn't, that's brilliant. Nevertheless. But like, was it intentional on Bakshi's part? Yes, yes, it seems to be he mentions it. Oh, yeah, he mentions the line of father as I'm sort of the match of the patrilineal thing um and I believe in the first vignette the second vignette that will the The son in New York whose name I forget at the moment ah He lip that's his name. He refers to his pop in that first vignette. I believe Yeah, interesting. Awesome. All right. And a quick note about the music in the film. So Bakshi wanted to use classic American music in entirely new contexts. The team was able to secure the rights to some now classic music and all for under a million dollars, including songs by Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Doors, George Gershwin, The Mamas and the Papas, Herbie Hancock, Lou Reed, and Louie Prima. But what once seemed like a true blessing for the production would turn into a curse as the film was vaulted for almost two decades due to music clearance issues. And so that's why neither Dallas nor myself had seen the film or at least hadn't seen it in quite some time. And why you, dear listener, might also have never seen it or haven't thought about it or seen it in quite some time. But it's well worth seeking out. Just be ready for the uncanny valley of rotoscope and very heavy adult scenes and themes. OK, so today we're going to do something unique for the wine pairing with this movie. We're going, know, American pop, it chronicles four generations of a single family, technically five. If you count the blink and you'd miss him appearance of the first father or pop at the beginning, but only four generations that we spend any time with. So we're going to craft a flight of four wines, one for each generation and therefore act of the movie. We did not select these wines in advance. We are going to read through the synopsis of the film generation by generation. and then decide on the wines in real time. Dallas is going to kick us off with Generation 1 and then Wine 1. So Dallas, us a kick us off. Read about Generation 1 of American pop. All right, curious, curious, curious. American pop tells the story of five generations of a Russian Jewish American family. The film begins in Imperial Russia, where a rabbi father is killed by the Cossacks during a raid, forcing his wife and young son to flee to the US. The son, Zamy Belinsky, or Lip, L-I-P-P, is recruited by Louis, a performer at a burlesque house who hand out chorus slips or sheets of paper with song lyrics, which enables the audience members to sing along. ah As Zalmi grows into adolescence, he spends more time with Louie backstage at burlesque shows when Zalmi's mother dies in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire love that name, by the way, he begins working with Louie full time at a small theater. Though Zalmi aspires to be a singer, he is beginning to enter puberty and his voice is changing, which becomes a significant obstacle. When World War One strikes, Zalmi travels the globe performing for the troops as the bottom half of a pantomime horse and sustains a wound to his throat during a German air raid, which, of course, ends his singing career. When Zalmi returns to New York, he briefly continues performing as a clown and falls in love with a stripper named Bella, vowing to make her a famous singer and getting involved with mobsters in order to do so. After Zalmi impregnates her, he uses money from mob boss Nikki Palumbo to pay for their wedding. Bella achieves modest success, but she is killed after opening a package containing a bomb intended for Zalmi. Now, this is curious. um I have to say, one thing you'll find about this film is it is not a straight, it is not a straight form narrative, of course. It's a jukebox uh drama for two reasons. Because we do follow the POV of four different characters. Some die, some move on. But just when you're getting comfortable with our primary or first primary protagonist, that storyline ends. uh So that was a shock for me, I have to say. ah And in terms of pairing, um I decided I wanted something that was sort of earthy, ah because I felt like I needed some grounding after this first, uh this first vignette went off the rails, so to speak. We didn't watch with the wine, so it was a sort of retroactive kind of Right. um So ah I knew I wanted something earthy because I didn't feel like I had grounding. I didn't feel grounded in the narrative when this started. um And E is particularly as it sort of ended. So um I also wanted something that was sort of complex. ah I have this curious thing with pears in that I don't really like them. I don't think they qualify as fruit. ah I know the fruit industrial complex is going to be very upset when I say that. um And so I wanted something that sort of. You know, the pears are sort of filler fruit in a lot of juices and things. It doesn't necessarily stand on its own. And so it's a good sort of baseline. So I wanted something that sort of gave me a foundation. And I went with the Nicolas Millet Deme Decaux Blanc Sans Serre. This is a 2023. And I've... You and I've had both of these by the way, Dave. It is 70, 70, I know, in the go through the catalog in your brain of the thousand. We've had so much wine. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. I know, I know, right? um I specifically remember I brought these two over because they are connected. Anyway, um this has grown in 70 % in um This is grown on, what is song, sorry, that is a very good question. um Yeah, I'm gonna switch to you on that specifically. What is this on Sare? uh So Sancerre, it's an appellation in France, predominantly Sauvignon Blanc. So it's French Sauvignon Blanc. It tends to be, it's known to be oak aged and a little richer. So a version of Sauvignon Blanc. So if you're used to like New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, which is almost always stainless steel aged, stays very light, crisp, highly acidic and fresh. um Sancerre is your slightly oakier, richer. if you think you don't like oak, should still probably try a Sancerre. It's thought to be the better version compared to a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is quick, fresh, instant, any day drinker, but also more affordable. Sancerre, a little pricey, you're usually in that $20 to $30 range, or like $20 to $40 range, depending on the producer. And yeah, a little richer, uh more depth of flavor. Is that where you're thinking the earthier thing is coming from? Probably is the richer flavor of that. Yeah, it's um, it is it's got great depth and complexity like you said It's curious because the other Version of this which is the one we've had. This is the 2023 that I use tonight. We had a 2020 because this was back in 20 21, 22. Okay. Oh, was that was that the blind was that the blind tasting? Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay, got it. Got it. Got it. um So I'm trying to rack my brain for the memory and you know how that works. Anyway. Yes, I know. This was a blind tasting we recorded for YouTube and never released. So we did it, but no one's ever seen it. No one's ever seen it. And it's vaguely in our memories at this point in time. Yeah. So yeah, I wanted something that felt a little grounded because like I said, this first vignette just kind of left me scratching my head. So it's like, well, who the fuck are we following? What's happening here? And then you want to work it out. You you sort of, you know, you get up to speed and you accept where the narrative is taking you. But yeah, so the twenty twenty three. son Sarah from Nick and his mullet um also available at K and L. um is a like I said a bright text. been shopping a lot lately. I feel like this is like the fourth or fifth episode in a row. You're just like from K &L. I'm like, wow, man. Why, you know, honestly, it's it's right there. I know, I know. Although we did just go to Lou's wine shop here in LA and Dallas bought, we got to try it together. I made him promise. But we asked him a question. We were thinking, why are rosés never oak aged as well? Because this was no cage whites having a blank, right? And I was like, why are you always see like, if you can oak age a white and you can oak age a red? Why not a rose? Which is just, you minimal with all that there. On camera for the youtubers Yeah, never we almost never For the seven youtubers, I mean honestly these things never make it and because we have to do 60 second and less short videos It almost never happens anyway, but we try we try um But yes that bottle that he just showed is an oak aged rosé So I'm very excited to try it because you don't see it very often um Which is kind of surprising. I guess everyone's just used to like rosé's Kind like New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. They're supposed, quote unquote, to be fresh and bright and never be heavier or more depth or more earthy flavors or, you know, no woodsy flavors or caramel or buttery flavors. And so, yeah, I'm really curious to try that rosé as well. And this will be that version of a Sauvignon Blanc. All right. Generation two, picking up after Zalmi's wife gets blown away by a mobster. um Their son, Benny, who is already an introverted child, focuses all his efforts into becoming a talented jazz pianist. Benny marries Palumbo's daughter at Zalmi's request and enlists to fight in World War Two, despite pleas from his father. And this is this was a really interesting point of the movie where I it doesn't really do a good job of showing why this son was suddenly like, I need to go fight in the war. Yeah, he's very casual about it. He's very laid back. He's one of those kids like he can play the piano, but he's like playing the piano is just playing around dad. It's not a real thing. I'm not doing anything important with my life. So I'm going to go fight in World War Two. And of course, Zalmi, the dad, he had gone to World War One just as an entertainer and got shot in the throat. So it's like he's like, do not do this. This is a terrible idea. um But nevertheless, his son enlists to go fight in World War Two. uh And Benny is unfortunately killed in Nazi Germany when he stops to play on an abandoned piano and is caught off guard by a Nazi soldier. When he realizes he's been caught off guard that the soldier is behind him, Benny begins to play uh Lily Marlene and the Nazi closes his eyes in bliss listening to the song, kind of remembering this, you know, something from his home when that isn't war. And when the song ends, the Nazi pauses only to thank Benny for the music. before riddling him and the piano with gunfire. Yeah, that is quite a moment in the movie. That was one of those. Yes. ahead. Go, No, no, no. was just it's a moment in the movie. It's when you realize this movie probably is never going to let up after all the tragedy of the first generation. Then you get into the second generation and folks World War One, World War Two. even going to get into what happens after that. But in case you just to remember not to romanticize the past too much, it It was not a great time. A lot of things happened. We owe so much of where we are today thanks to all the things that happened in the past. But there was a lot of death. There was a lot of unnecessary death. There was a lot of struggle. We were not, know, the whole Geneva Convention and all the rules that we live by today to keep world wars from happening anymore. All came in the wake of these things. So don't romanticize the past. We're doing we are not. We have our own struggles. Do not get me wrong. I'm living in America in 2025 right now. We got our struggles, but we are better off than we were then. Now, generation two. This is a tough one for me. Now, coming off of a Sancerre and a richer Sauvignon Blanc, one thing about this second generation, it doesn't last too long. This was a truly talented pianist. He was almost like a bit of a savant, right? I he could just play this piano. he could just do it. And it was not hard for him, which is why he didn't think it was work or struggle or toil. He was just like, yeah, I sit down. I play the piano like anytime. So he was one of those like Elton John, Billy Joel's that could just like play, you know, and like, he didn't need a lot of lessons didn't need a lot of training. They went then then they carved out their own path. And then World War Two happens, he dies fairly quickly. Like this was a sad, sad generation. So we need a sad one to go with this. We need something that is about sadness to pair with this generation. So I'm thinking a lot of it takes place. It's in either Germany. I'm not you know, I'm not actually 100 % certain if he died in Germany or if he died. He was in France. That's actually a question. Like where in Europe was because it was during World War Two, he did get killed by a Nazi German. But we don't know where exactly that was. But in any event, let's go with the German one. Okay. And let's go, cause you know what? I said it's gotta be a wine of sadness. Let's stick to Germany. That's where you're gonna find the sadness in a lot of things. So I think it's gotta be a wine of sadness in Germany. And you know what? This was a jazz pianist. So I think it's gotta be complex. Okay. I think you're gonna go from something like a Sancerre, which is going to be, it's got some depth. It's got some earthiness or, you know, at least some oakiness and some butteriness from that oak aging. It's going to be a good, solid, robust version of Simeon Blanc. And now let's multiply the complexity with something like jazz, go all the way into like jazz music, but then also with some sadness and yeah, let's go Riesling. I think we got to go Riesling eh on this one. And I think we stick to the whites, but we increase the complexity. We increase the challenge of the wine with something like jazz music. And I don't have a specific Riesling in mind. Again, we're making this up on the fly. see it. I see it. I see it. But I think look for a Riesling. I would say look for a dry Riesling. If you're looking for a Riesling that is dry, no sugar in it. Look for the word trucken, T-R-O-C-K-E-N. That means dry on any German bottle. So trucken, Riesling. You can go a little off dry, maybe even all the way to something like cabinet. um But I think as long as you are cabinet, I'm trying to remember what's in between Trocken and Cab. There's one other in between those two spot least or something like that. Anyway, yeah, I'm off the top of my head. I'm forgetting my German uh designations for dryness. But regardless, go with Trocken. um And I think you can find a great Riesling. You can also look for the term um greater gross or ah something gavaks, I'm gonna forget the German words for it. But these two gg, you look for this insignia gg, which means greater growth, which is like high, high end, high class Riesling, you know, you're getting new amazing quality out of that. And if you're a gg, you have to be trucking by law. So uh you look for gg or look for the word trucking, look for a Riesling. I think that's what we got to have for this very sad um German death and uh complex jazz. pianist story. All right, on to generation three. All right, generation three, Benny's wife and son named Tony now live in a suburban Long Island town. A teenage Tony steals his stepfather's car and drives across the country for four weeks, ending up in Kansas, where he spends the day washing dishes at a diner and spends the night with a waitress in California. Tony takes another job dishwashing, but soon grows tired of it and quits. A six piece rock group invites him to write songs for them after hearing him playing harmonica under the doorstep. The band becomes successful, but slowly starts to decompose because of the heroin addictions of a female lead singer, Frankie Hart and Tony himself. Tony, of course, becomes addicted to drugs after being hospitalized from falling off a stage while on acid at one of Frankie's shows. Frankie and the band's drummer Johnny Webb marry but divorce after two weeks and Frankie begins an affair with Tony. In Kansas, the band is set to perform after Jimi Hendrix, but Frankie overdoses backstage. Meanwhile, Tony meets a blonde blue eyed boy, little Pete, whom Tony realizes is his son convinced. Conceived. conceived. Yeah, I I caught it. Conceived. was like convinced. That's probably convinced too. But conceived the night he spent with that waitress. All right. So coming off of of wine to the Riesling, um I see it. think for me, this vignette was so. It was so stark. um It was. so uniquely American. I think this was the probably the most uniquely American musical era captured in this film. um It is probably the most iconic era captured in this film for American music, I think. And I want to something iconic, something a bit counterculture, something... um something that was a response to the limitations put on this generation by the generation before, because that's basically what 60s music really was. It was also about the combination and confluence of all these different cultures. You you start thinking of things like Woodstock and how many different cultures internationally were sort of represented in that stage, how many different backgrounds came together to create this sort of movement that almost seems seamless. And for me, that's probably super Tuscan. uh Yeah, I'm gonna go with that. That makes sense to me. I think also too, the Super Tuscans came out of the limitations put on a lot of the Vintners from the 1960s and 70s, I believe, a lot of them got started to sort of experiment and not just experiment with the grapes that were regional, but also experiment with heartier grapes from around the world. um And they developed something in that moment because they were responding to the limitations. Because I believe the Italian DOCs had very specific recipes, for lack of better term, chemistry for a lot of the wines in the 60 leading And if I can just if I can just jump in real quick to lay some basic foundation just in case our listeners are newbies in wine and you're like, do what the fuck is a DOC? just so you know, like European wine, of course, is heavily regulated, unlike American wine, unlike wine from a lot of the quote unquote new world. Old world wine has things like what they call DOCs, AOCs, IGPs, IGTs, blah, blah, blah, blah, All those things are our regional. sections uh recognized by law and they each come with their own rules and regulations and that includes what grapes you're allowed to grow, right? What grapes you're allowed to put into the wine, how much of each grape you're allowed to put into any given wine, uh wine making techniques, so on and so forth. So in Italy, they were very heavily protective of indigenous grapes, things like San Giovessi. um And they were like that you can use but some people in Tuscany started to find huge success bringing in French grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc. um And they wanted the super Tuscan was born. The term super Tuscan was even born because American critics started tasting them. They were like, these are really good now because they didn't. broke the rules and were growing and making wine with French grapes. They couldn't say they were from Tuscany. They couldn't call them Toscana. um And so they just had to call them like a Vinda Italia like a uh country wine of Italy. They couldn't even say where it was from. That's how those rules work. But when the American critics started to notice that and be like, no, these are amazing. They coined the term super Tuscan for such wines. And then they were allowed by law to put that because Tuscan isn't even like a word. It's not what they call the place in Italy. It's Toscana. So they're like super Tuscan. And they started to sell for more than a lot of the wines that were following the rules. so eventually over time, and by over time, I mean, like decades, they allowed to Tuscany, the the super Tuscan wines to be official. Tuscana wines. uh These this day and age, there's there's a couple of DOCs like Bulgari and whatnot within Tuscany where you're allowed to do it now. So. It's a wine of as Dallas mentioned before, it brings different cultures together all these different influences. You've got like the French grapes out like on Italian soil. It's a combination of Italian winemakers with with the they're trying to mimic some of the French style and then bring some of their own into it. So yeah, anyways, back to you, Dallas. Yeah. uh No, thank you for that academic overview. That's why we keep you here, um But the Superduskens are bold. um They are complex. are oddly refined and they I don't want to say they punch above their weight, but they do represent some of the best sort of showings of grapes from around the world. Honestly, you get um it. They're just wonderfully satisfying and memorable and do all the things sort of like this era of music and specifically this vignette in the film with led by uh Tony and uh yeah, that's super Tuscan for sure. That's what this beautiful this this vignette is. All right. Tell us about generation four there, Dave. All right. So Tony moves back to New York City, accompanied by Pete, where he becomes heavily involved with drug dealing. Pete makes a small amount of money playing the acoustic guitar. But Tony takes any money that Pete earns to buy drugs for himself. And by the way, little Pete, this is this is the blonde haired child from Alaska that we just ended Generation three with. Right. One day, Tony and Pete argue over the latter's guitar, where Pete implies that he knows Tony is his father. After he tells the story of his own father, Tony gives Benny's harmonica to Pete, then takes Pete's guitar to pawn it, telling Pete to wait on the city bench there at. The next morning, a man approaches Pete and gives him a small package of drugs to sell and the pawn slip for his guitar and tells Pete that Tony said goodbye to him. After years of selling drugs to rock bands. So this is now Pete grown a little bit up. refuses to sell. a current band members any more cocaine unless they are willing to listen to his music. Playing night moves, his talent stuns both the band and the management, and they agree to record and hire him on the spot. Eventually, Pete performs in concert with the band, roaring cheers from the crowd. Finally, a kind of sort of happy ending for one of these generations, although, of course, we don't follow him to the end of his story. So that's why it's still a happy ending, right? This is him. making it as a star in the in the early late 70s early 80s. um After having to be a drug dealer to survive because that's what his dad gave him. I mean, this kid was like still I don't even know 101112. He was on that park bench like that given his first packet of drugs, but he made a lifestyle of it. While also harboring his own musical talent. So this is finally a happy ending. This is also right at the cusp of the 80s and the music we're hearing here is starting to take on that extravagance, that excessiveness of all things 80s. Synthesizers, baby. We got synths. Yes. The technology, the thrumming beats, the gated drums, the synthesizers, the electric whaling guitars, the colors, the lights, the costumes, the hairstyles, the sunglasses, everything. Everything is so insanely 80s. The leather jackets with the shoulder pads, it's all right there in this grand finale. And I think especially coming off of a Super Tuscan, and Super Tuscans are gonna be, they're gonna be big, they're gonna be bold, earthy reds. And I think for this one, this is now a celebration. This is like, finally, one of these kids is going to make it good. He's got and it's going to be extravagant. It's going to be a lot. It I think you got to go to a petite sera for the grand finale, something even inkier and jamier and darker than a super Tuscan. But instead of the slight austere ness of a super Tuscan where super Tuscans are going to be more tannic, a little more closed off, a little more reserved, especially unless you age it for a good amount of time. Super Tuscan's it's gonna be one of those things you got to almost like let breathe for like days before it opens up. Petit Seurat, you open that motherfucker. It's jam in a bottle. is so good. It is one of my favorites. Now, it's not jam in a disgusting way. It's going to be dry. It's going to have, um but it's just, it packs a punch and it's very fruity while also being usually very smoky. You'll usually oak it well. So it's gonna... take on some of those like more tobacco-y and leathery properties as well. So you're gonna have these layers, but it's gonna be all the things like the things you like about 80s music. That is what you like about a Petite Syrah. It's a lot, lot, a lot. It is just a uh celebration in a glass. I think so anyways, I love Petite Syrah. So that's, I think that's where we end here is a big bulb Petite Syrah. I recommend if you can find a retro sellers Petite Syrah at a Napa Valley. That's one of the better but still affordable Napa Valley Petite Syrahs that you can find out there. um If you live in the LA area, Blending Lab's got some Petite Syrah that is like chef's kiss. I love it as well. That comes out of Paso. and Turley. uh Speaking of Paso, Turley has some wonderful Petite Syrahs that if you can get your hands on those, those are all absolutely excellent. So those are my recommendations for the Petite Syrah. And that closes us out of Generation 4. All right, any final words on American Pop Dallas? So let's see, we are, what's our trip through this film here? Yeah, I will say it was not what I expected, which is rare. Yeah, mean, it's, You know, curiously, as Dave said at the top of this, I didn't even know that this was this, I mean, I knew the film existed. I just didn't even know that it wasn't even on my radar. because it was vaulted for so long, if that makes sense. So it was a complete and utter shock other than what I sort of academically knew about the film. knew there was a film out there that sort of was a cron, a jukebox musical, animated film. um But ah I love the sort of personal connection. Again, uh Bakshi being born in Palestine, coming to uh New York in the shadow of World War I. And then that sort of being the springboard for his life and this narrative, the story, it's very clear. I get all the references. You see this as a guy making a film about his inspiration, about the music uh that was around when he was a child and then the music that he claimed as his own, as he sort of matriculated and matured. And it's, you know, sort of a uh love letter to American pop culture, I think. ah And ah yeah, very entertaining. um Very dire, very dark, very real the animation style. It's this is that curious. We're talking about, you know, that not dissonance, but you find in a lot of animated films from the earlier days where you would get real danger. ah But the animation itself was so joyous and you know, bubbly and you expect it to be fun. I think rotoscoping specifically uh primes the pump for you to expect something fun and lighthearted. And then when he shows up with this narrative that is just so dark and so dire and so dramatic, you're like, damn, bro, okay. All right. Yeah, that's going. And I will say if it's been a while since you've seen a Bakshi movie, be prepared. It is it's darker and more violent and more adult than you think. And if you haven't seen a rotoscope animated film in quite some time, give it it is a little uncanny valley, but it's really cool. mean, give it 1015 minutes for your brain to adjust. Yeah, it's gonna be very off putting it first, you're gonna be like, What the is this? And you're gonna want to probably turn it off or switch to something else. Give it 10, 15 minutes. See if you don't ease into the style and the whole substance, ah how it's delivering the story to you because it is unique. It's an experience. I loved watching this. I definitely want to go back now and cover all my other gaps. I have not seen heavy traffic. I have not seen... Hey, good looking. I have not seen a couple of other backshe movies. I want to revisit Fire and Ice and the Lord of the Rings. Like I said, we're probably going to cover that on some episode in the future. give it a shot. Rotoscope is weird, wooly, wild. And this movie is all the same things. once again, Filmjern, the micro cinema where we saw this at filmjern.substack.com or filmjern on Substack by Jake Weissman. Go check him out. Micro Cinema, new screening 1 p.m. at Sunday in downtown LA at 216 studios every Sunday. Look him up. I highly recommend trying to hang out with him. He's a wonderful guy. It's great to be there and go see some go see some movies you wouldn't see otherwise. That is the whole point. All right, folks. Oh, sorry, just real quick. And just to give you one more rundown of our our little flight here, we started with the Sancerre. We went to Dave's Riesling. We went to the Super Tuscan and then we ended with uh Dave's Petit Seurat. So uh line those up. Tell us what you think. Tell us if it's wrong. Tell us. Tell us if we're fucking idiots. Doesn't matter. Tell us. what you would do. That's right. Yeah, absolutely. you ever watch this movie, what would you what would your flight be? Let us know. All right, folks. Thanks so much for listening. We will be back in another week with another one and entertainment part for your entertainment. But before we go, please make sure to hit that follower subscribe button. It helps this podcast grow. Leave a rating and or view Holy shit that really helps us go subscribe to us on sub stack entertainment studios calm. That's where you can keep in touch with us interact with us. We do extra bonus articles on wine and film and other forms of entertainment uh is the best place to get to know us uh and to hang out. Not in real life, but yeah. Good luck with that. If you're in the L.A. Yeah. If you're in the L.A. area, hey, maybe someday. Who knows? Go to FilmJourn. We might see you. might say, hey, there you go. uh And otherwise, uh also note that on Substack, can be you can support this podcast. You can become a paid subscriber on Substack. Two bucks a month. gets you everything or $19.60 a year or if you're a big time spender $50 a year makes you a producer where you get to commission an episode all your own let us know what it is that we're going to be covering which form of entertainment and that we're going to do a line pairing with Um, and otherwise, and then also you get a shout out every episode. So shout out to our first three producers. Number one is Jessica Mason of monster of the week.com. Jessica is a graphic novelist and novelist extraordinaire. She has been a guest on the show before we covered the movie moon. and we'll probably have her on very soon to cover the sequel mute. very soon as a nice follow up also big shout out to Paul Kalamkiarian podcaster extraordinaire that does wine talks with Paul K. He's gee, he's been doing this for quite some time. This podcast is better than ours. So if you like this, you will love him go check that out wine talks with Paul K. And last but not least, Kate Rochelle of survives on wine dot sub stack.com. was a Portuguese wine expert. and does these incredible visual tasting notes that you have to see. So go check out her Substack, survivesonblind.substack.com. Thanks to our producers for making this possible and we will check you next week. Ciao for now. tells the story of his own father, Tony gives Benny's harmonica to Pete, then takes Pete's guitar to pawn it, telling Pete to wait on the city bench right there. The next morning, a man approaches Pete and gives him a small package of drugs to sell and the pawn slip for his guitar. You jumped, sorry, I was wondering what's going on. You jumped to generation four. You're on generation three. Hilarious, cut that, all right.