American Splendor

– An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar..

Type:
Movie
Rating:
7.50 / 10
Duration:
One Hour and 41 Minutes
Release Year:
2003
American Splendor (2003)

An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.

Story Timeline:
Producing Country:
USA
Filming Locations:

American Splendor (2003) - Trailer

Release Date:

12 Sep 2003

Language:

English

MPAA Content-Rating:
R – Restricted

Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. Contains some adult material. Parents are urged to learn more about the film before taking their young children with them.

Director:

Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini

Writer:

Harvey Pekar (comic book series American Splendor), Joyce Brabner (comic book series Our Cancer Year), Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini

Main Actors:

Chris Ambrose, Joey Krajcar, Josh Hutcherson, Cameron Carter

Plot:

Harvey Pekar is file clerk at the local VA hospital. His interactions with his co-workers offer some relief from the monotony, and their discussions encompass everything from music to the decline of American culture to new flavors of jellybeans and life itself. At home, Harvey fills his days with reading, writing and listening to jazz. His apartment is filled with thousands of books and LPs, and he regularly scours Cleveland's thrift stores and garage sales for more, savoring the rare joy of a 25-cent find. It is at one of these junk sales that Harvey meets Robert Crumb, a greeting card artist and music enthusiast. When, years later, Crumb finds international success for his underground comics, the idea that comic books can be a valid art form for adults inspires Harvey to write his own brand of comic book. An admirer of naturalist writers like Theodore Dreiser, Harvey makes his American Splendor a truthful, unsentimental record of his working-class life, a warts-and-all self portrait. First published in 1976, the comic earns Harvey cult fame throughout the 1980s and eventually leads him to the sardonic Joyce Barber, a partner in a Delaware comic book store who end ups being Harvey's true soul mate as they experience the bizarre byproducts of Harvey's cult celebrity stature.

Awards:

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 31 wins & 49 nominations.

Gross profit:

$5,977,550

Production:

Fine Line Features

Ratings:
Internet Movie Database:
7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
94%
Metacritic:
90%