The film opens in the year 1950. It’s Halloween and an 11-year-old Harvey Pekar refuses to dress up as a superhero while trick-or-treating. The scene shifts to an adult Harvey (Paul Giamatti), walking the gritty Cleveland streets. Then real Harvey Pekar appears in a documentary-style setup.American Splendor 2003 Movie Download.
The narrative picks up again in 1975, as a scratchy-voiced Harvey visits a throat doctor and exhibits hypochondria. Harvey’s wife decides their “plebeian” lifestyle just isn’t working for her anymore; without being able to speak, Harvey is powerless to convince her not to leave him. A few months later, a depressed Harvey is at his file clerk job at the VA hospital. Mr. Boats (Earl Billings) comes by to offer advice: the words of an Elinor Wylie poem.American Splendor 2003 Movie Download.
In a documentary scene, the real Harvey Pekar talks about his years as a part-time used-record collector/salesman. The narrative flashes back to 1962. While searching for old records at a yard sale, Harvey meets shy greeting card illustrator Robert Crumb (James Urbaniak). A friendship is formed over a shared love of jazz and comic books.Returning to 1975, a now famous Crumb is back in Cleveland for a visit. His marriage over, Harvey is lonely and frustrated — he wants to leave a mark on the world. Afterward, a sobering moment in the VA hospital’s “deceased” files section leads Harvey to try drawing his own stories, but his lack of drawing talent stops him. At a diner with Crumb, Harv makes a pitch for a new kind of comics. He shows Bob the scripts he’s been working on, and Crumb offers to illustrate them for him.American Splendor 2003 Movie Download.
A montage of classic Pekar quotidian moments culminates with Harvey proudly showing off American Splendor #1 to his VA co-workers. The narrative moves forward to 1984. Harvey has published eight issues of American Splendor to critical acclaim but little financial gain; he’s still a “flunky file clerk.”