Editing Ralph Bakshi (section)

===''American Pop'' and ''Fire and Ice'' (1979–1983)===
{{main|American Pop|Fire and Ice (1983 film)}}
[[File:Ralph Bakshi, 1979.png|thumb|Bakshi in 1979]]
Following the production struggles of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Bakshi decided to work on something more personal.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-148"/> He pitched ''[[American Pop]]'' to [[Columbia Pictures]] president [[Daniel Melnick|Dan Melnick]]. Bakshi wanted to produce a film in which songs would be given a new context in juxtaposition to the visuals.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-160">{{cite book |title=Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi |pages=160; 164; 169 |chapter=''American Pop'' |isbn=978-0-7893-1684-4 |last1=Gibson |first1=Jon M. |last2=McDonnell |first2=Chris |year=2008 |publisher=Universe }}</ref> ''American Pop'' follows four generations of a [[History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union|Russian Jewish]] immigrant family of musicians, whose careers parallel the history of American [[popular music|pop]] and starred actor [[Ron Thompson (actor)|Ron Thompson]] in a dual lead role.<ref name="PM">{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/160872-american-pop-matters-ron-thompson-the-illustrated-man-unsung-2495833587.html|work=[[PopMatters]]|date=August 2, 2012|title='American Pop'... Matters: Ron Thompson, the Illustrated Man Unsung|author=Maçek III, J.C.}}</ref> While the film does not reflect Bakshi's own experiences, its themes were strongly influenced by people he had encountered in Brownsville.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-160"/> The film's crew included character layout and design artist Louise Zingarelli, Vita, [[Barry E. Jackson]], and Marcia Adams.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-160"/> Bakshi again used rotoscoping, in an attempt to capture the range of emotions and movement required for the film's story.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aintitcool.com/node/59477|work=[[Ain't It Cool News]]|date=November 5, 2012|first=Eric|last=Vespe|title=What does the Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day look like, man? A soda fountain?}}</ref> According to Bakshi, "Rotoscoping is terrible for subtleties, so it was tough to get facial performances to match the stage ones."<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-160"/> Bakshi was able to acquire the rights to an extensive soundtrack—including songs by [[Janis Joplin]], [[The Doors]], [[George Gershwin]], [[The Mamas & the Papas]], [[Herbie Hancock]], [[Lou Reed]], and [[Louis Prima]]—for under $1 million.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-160"/> Released on February 12, 1981, the film was a financial success.<ref name="Beck-112"/> ''The New York Times''{{'}} Vincent Canby wrote, "I'm amazed at the success that Mr. Bakshi has in turning animated characters into figures of real feelings."<ref>{{cite news |title="American Pop" Grown-Up Animation |first=Vincent |last=Canby |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=9A06E3D81038F930A25751C0A967948260&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 13, 1981 }}</ref> Jerry Beck called it "one of Bakshi's best films".<ref name="Beck-19">{{cite book |title=The Animated Movie Guide |chapter=''American Pop'' |page=19 }}</ref> Due to music clearance issues, it was not released on [[home video]] until 1998.<ref name="Beck-19"/>

By 1982, fantasy films such as ''[[The Beastmaster (film)|The Beastmaster]]'' and ''[[Conan the Barbarian (1982 film)|Conan the Barbarian]]'' had proven successful at the box office, and Bakshi wanted to work with his long-time friend, the fantasy illustrator [[Frank Frazetta]].<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-192">{{cite book |title=Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi |pages=192; 196 |chapter=''Fire and Ice'' |isbn=978-0-7893-1684-4 |last1=Gibson |first1=Jon M. |last2=McDonnell |first2=Chris |year=2008 |publisher=Universe }}</ref> ''[[Fire and Ice (1983 film)|Fire and Ice]]'' was financed by some of ''American Pop''{{'}}s investors for $1.2 million, while 20th Century Fox agreed to distribute.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-192"/> ''Fire and Ice'' was the most action-oriented story Bakshi had directed, so he again used rotoscoping; the realism of the design and rotoscoped animation replicated Frazetta's artwork.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-192"/> Bakshi and Frazetta were heavily involved in the production of the live-action sequences, from casting sessions to the final shoot.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-192"/> The film's crew included background artists [[James Gurney]] and [[Thomas Kinkade]], layout artist [[Peter Chung]], and established Bakshi Productions artists Sparey, Steve Gordon, Bell and Banks.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-192"/> Chung greatly admired Bakshi's and Frazetta's work, and animated his sequences while working for [[The Walt Disney Company]].<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-192"/> The film was given a limited release, and was financially unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite news |title=''Animated Movies Decline'' |agency=Associated Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uJoTAAAAIBAJ&dq=fire%20and%20ice%20limited%20release%20bakshi&pg=1997%2C1207520 |work=[[Star-Banner]] |location=Ocala, Florida |date=October 3, 1983 |access-date=November 11, 2009 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Andrew Leal wrote, "The plot is standard [...] recalling nothing so much as a more graphic episode of [[Filmation]]'s ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe|He-Man]]'' series. [...] ''Fire and Ice'' essentially stands as a footnote to the spate of barbarian films that followed in the wake of [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]'s appearance as [[Conan the Barbarian (1982 film)|Conan]]."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Animated Movie Guide |chapter=''Fire and Ice'' |page=[https://archive.org/details/animatedmoviegui0000beck/page/84 84] |isbn=978-1-55652-591-9 |author=Martin Goodman |author2=Fred Patten |author-link2=Fred Patten |year=2005 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/animatedmoviegui0000beck/page/84 }}</ref>