''American Shoeshine'' is a 1975 American
short
Short may refer to:
Places
* Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon
* Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community
* Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place
People
* Short (surname)
* List of people known as ...
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
directed by
Sparky Greene. It covers the history of shoe shining in the United States, interviews current shoe shiner, and describes rag popping, a form of music made with a shoeshine rag.
Reception
In a review in ''
Jump Cut
A jump cut is a cut (transition), cut in film editing in which a single continuous sequential shot of a subject is broken into two parts, with a piece of footage being removed in order to render the effect of jumping forward in time. Camera posit ...
'', Robert L. Pest states that the film fails to consider the racist history of rag popping in the presentation of rag popping as art, writing: "Had Greene chosen to confront, or at least acknowledge, the contradictions of this position, ''American Shoeshine'' would have been a different, and perhaps better, film. But as it is, ''American Shoeshine'' is still a direct and effective portrait of the history and practice of a unique occupation".
''American Shoeshine'' was nominated for an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for
Best Documentary Short.
See also
*
List of American films of 1975
A list of American films released in 1975.
'' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The highest-grossing film of 1975 was ''Jaws''.
__TOC__
A–B
C–G
H–M
N–S
T–Z
See also
* 1975 in the Uni ...
References
External links
*
1975 films
American short documentary films
1970s short documentary films
1970s English-language films
1970s American films
{{short-documentary-film-stub