R.I.P. Harvey Pekar:  10/8/39 – 7/12/10
Alas Harvey Pekar, we hardly knew ye.

As a tribute to Harvey, I’m starting a new type of post called “Halloween Scenes.”  As the oh-so-clever title may suggest, these are scenes from films that embody the Halloween-spirit even though the film itself may not be a Halloween or Horror film.

Case in point:  the film American Splendor.  First, if you haven’t seen it and are a fan of comic books, film, writing, creativity, the American Dream, unconventional storytelling and/or underdog stories— you NEED to see this movie.  An autobiographical film of Pekar himself (played by Paul Giamatti) and his ascent as a comic writer of the book American Splendor.  

The Halloween Scene in American Splendor comes right at the beginning of the film as a very young Harvey attempts to trick or treat.  The scene has all the Halloween trimmings a sucker for Americana (like myself) asks for:  A mom answering the door holding a tray of caramel apples, a porch full of jack o’ lanterns and spiderwebs and kids wearing Ben Cooper / Collegeville plastic masked costumes of Batman, Robin and Superman.  You can see a truncated version of the full scene in the trailer HERE or in the embed below.