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American Splendor
An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.
2003 · Directed by Robert Pulcini · 101 min · Comedy · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 8 frames
Tagline
Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff
Plot
On Halloween 1950, 11-year-old Harvey Pekar refuses to dress up as a superhero for trick-or-treating. Years later, Harvey is seen walking the Cleveland streets, and the real Harvey Pekar appears in a documentary-style setup. In 1975, Harvey visits a throat doctor, exhibiting hypochondria. His wife mocks their lifestyle and leaves him. At his file clerk job at a VA hospital, Mr. Boats offers advice from an Elinor Wylie poem.
In a documentary scene, the real Harvey discusses his part-time used-record collecting/selling. Flashing back to 1962, Harvey meets shy illustrator Robert Crumb at a yard sale, bonding over jazz and comics. Returning to 1975, the now-famous Crumb visits Cleveland. Frustrated and single, Harvey has a sobering moment in the VA hospital's "deceased" files, leading him to write his own stories. Inspired by an incident at the supermarket, he stays up all night writing. At a diner, Harvey shows Crumb his comic scripts, and Crumb offers to illustrate them.
Harvey publishes eight issues of American Splendor to critical acclaim but little financial gain, remaining a file clerk. He reconnects with Alice Quinn, a former college acquaintance, and they discuss Theodore Dreiser's novel Jennie Gerhardt, but he leaves feeling lonelier.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
- Cinematography: Terry Stacey
- Edited by: Robert Pulcini
- Music: Mark Suozzo
- Production design: Thérèse DePrez
- Produced by: Ted Hope
Cast
- Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar
- Hope Davis as Joyce Brabner
- Judah Friedlander as Toby Radloff
- James Urbaniak as Robert Crumb
- Earl Billings as Mr. Boats
- James McCaffrey as Fred
- Maggie Moore as Alice Quinn
- Vivienne Benesch as Lana
- Daniel Tay as Young Harvey
- Harvey Pekar as Real Harvey
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: HBO Films, Good Machine
- Budget: $2,000,000
- Box office: $6,003,587
- Themes: comic book, biography, based on comic, v.a. hospital, junk sale, jellybean, greeting card, file clerk, garage sale, comic book art
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