American Graffiti

While born three years after the events in the film, I could still relate to the plight of being a teenager on the threshold to adult life. I think it takes a pretty insensitive person not to be captivated by this excellent movie (boring? - because just one car blew up, or what?!). This was the 3rd or 4th time I saw it, and it is just getting better. It is unusual to see filmmaking of this caliber coming from Hollywood (not least when considering Lucas' latest offering - blech!), but like movies like "The Year My Voice Broke" and "My Life as a Dog", "American Graffiti" tells us something about where we came from, without being dull or preachy. ***½ out of ****

Whether you love this movie or not, you have to admire this movie for two reasons. First, its return on the dollar was among the best ever for any film. While the budget was a very modest $777,777.111 (no kidding), it returned $115,000,000 in the United States alone! No wonder this film made George Lucas famous. Second, it was very innovative. While I was not a huge fan of the film's style, it was unique and sure had an impact on the world as well as future films. No one had made a film like this before--chock full of one song after another blaring across the soundtrack and its odd semi-structureless plot was also quite unique.

The film concerns a bunch of young adults just hanging out and cruising. There really isn't a lot more to it than that. Sure, their stories all reveal a bit about them through the course of the film, but most of the characters have no great depth. It's more like you are a voyeur watching some likable and not especially likable kids doing...well...nothing. Now if you grew up in the early 60s and remember all this, then it's a great stroll down memory lane. If you didn't, I think the movie will be more of a tough sell, as the nostalgia angle is non-existent. As for me, I wasn't even born until 1964, so the nostalgia aspect was less--but I loved the music and great cars. My daughter, while less impressed about EVERYTHING did grudgingly say that the music was great. She also said that she pretty much ignored the plot and just listened to the songs! And, perhaps, this is pretty typical of a person from her generation. As for me, the film was mildly interesting and I respect it--though I did not love it. This isn't really meant as a criticism--just a statement about how this film appealed to this 47 year-old guy. For the right audience, it's the perfect film. Otherwise, you might feels it's all a bit overrated.

Aside from the nostalgia for the early 60s, the movie also is quite interesting when seen today because so many future stars and super-stars are in it--mostly when they were young unknowns. Ron Howard (a child star but not all that popular yet as an adult), Cindy Williams, Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfus, Charles Martin Smith, Mackenzie Phillips and Suzanne Somers all appear in the film.

American Graffiti, voted in 1998 to the American Film Institute's list of 100 superlative films, is as good today as it was upon its release in 1973. Countless films (such as Linklater's excellent Dazed and Confused) have borrowed heavily from Lucas' blueprint of multiple characters and storylines punctuated by wall to wall rock music. If possible, you should try to see the 1998 documentary that accompanies the DVD release, as it provides a wealth of information directly from Lucas, Coppola, LeMat, Ford, Clark, Dreyfuss, Howard, and many others about the creation of the film from concept to box-office phenomenon.

In 1962, I was 19 years old. So, don,t ask me if I can relate to the movie American Graffiti. Music, emotions, friends, drive-ins, THAT WAS MY LIFE.. . and many scenes remind me of that good time, before making adult decisions.

Darn, Curt leaves friends and family to persue studies in the East. I left friends and family to start my carreer as a jounalist in a small town weekly newspaper in 1963. And YES, I sured danced to music and songs provided by a real little musical groups. The Platters were standard fare for slow dances. Those sock ups dances in gymnasiums were soooooo full of different kinds of emotions. My Wolfman Jack was Joey Reynolds, then a fast talking DJ, at WKBW, in Buffalo, that came in strong at night in Montreal. And yes, I went back years later to my old high school to walk in the halls, like Curt, and remember ... remember friends that I still had and those that had moved into their own world of responsabilities and out of mine. All the songs in me movie can stick to something I lived listening to them, as they came out, got airplay and made me dance or fall in love, if not both. My Mel'S Drive In was a A & W drive in and, yes, in our gang there was a 1957 Chevrolet, with a boosted motor under the hood. Milner would have loved to drive it. I could go on and on.... Don't ask me if it's a great movie. For me, it's a window on my youth and, darn, did I have a great time. So, for me, the movie is GREAT !. I always watch it with a broad smile on my face. No nostalgia goose bumps for me. Life is great also today but when I watch American Graffiti, I have the immense pleasure of reliving my teenage years and enjoy the magic of them, with all my heart and soul. Thanks Lucas !!!!

I don't know if George Lucas really knew what he had in this picture--surely the screenplay seemed funny enough, and the thought of the cars and the period music was enticing--but did he really know these "unknown" actors would bring these characters to life? It seems almost a fluke, shot in 29 days and on a tight budget, but "American Graffiti" is a classic. It is perhaps pure nostalgia, mixing pathos and humor, sadness and craziness, hope and reflection in quiet little bursts of excitement. After cruising with Milner all night, teenage Carol hates to say goodbye but does, waving from her porch with the light on; Toad survives one bad accident after another, but his real moment is in hearing praise from his date (fantastic, husky-voiced Candy Clark, dolled up like a speeding Sandra Dee) just before she says good night; after chasing his dream date all night, Kurt (Richard Dreyfuss, green and anxious, and appealingly bemused) finally gets to talk to the stunning blonde wonder on the telephone, where she whispers a wrenching goodbye. The whole movie is steeped in reflection. It has great, great humor, yet it leaves one with a bittersweet melancholia. For yesterday is in the past, with our music, our memories and our hesitant farewells. ***1/2 from ****