American Graffiti

I was born at the beginning of the next decade--1970--yet "American Graffiti" was a chord that rippled throughout my life.

My father, who, like George Lucas, grew up in California's Central Valley, said this movie perfectly captured what it was like to grow up there--street cruising, hot rodding, picking up chicks, pulling pranks. Though this movie necessarily sidesteps the boredom inherent in growing up in the pesticide-choked San Joaquin Valley, the place itself is not as important the time it explores. It was a time just before the 1960s descended into the beginning of the end of American culture--the prototypical middle America that existed in almost all its small towns and now has substantively disappeared thanks to the urbanization and suburbanization of much of this country.

The ensemble cast, including so many that went on to become hugely successful in Hollywood--Ron Howard, Cindy Williams (well, with Laverne & Shirley at least), Richard Dreyfuss, and of course Harrison Ford (not to mention Lucas himself)--is handled with great skill from such a young director and reinforces the mystery why Lucas has so horribly mishandled Star Wars Eps. I and II. Lucas simply has been at the Ranch too long and his brilliant career has arrived parked in the garage at a large, entirely perfunctory business and media empire.

Anyway, regardless of Lucas' drift far away from the cutting edge, "American Graffiti" still stands as a kind of monument to his precocity. It is the kind of movie that hits every note with effortless precision, which I think is less the effort of great editing as it is a combination of youthful exuberance and actors and a director at essentially the beginning of their ascent as some of the best in the business.

This movie also withstands the test of time simply because it works magically both for those who have no particular emotional connection to the '60s and for those who were there on nearly equal levels. There is tremendous humor and naturalistic character play and dialog that few can help but be drawn into. Anyone with any sense of history will acknowledge that all the characters are standing at the edge of the deflowering and self-destruction of America in the '60s. It is a time of tremendous innocence, change, and harrowing decisions. The Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam haven't happened yet.

With Iraq and terrorism chewing at our consciousness every day, it's pretty easy for modern youth to identify and yearn for the nostalgia of such innocence.

"I just love it when guys peel out." -Debbie Dunham

American Graffiti is the best film about teenagers. It actually has a point, unlike the other teenage films where all that they do is get drunk and party. American Graffiti is about different types of teenagers doing different things on the last night that they all have together in 1962 after graduating. They all actually learn about themselves and what they want to do with their lives. One of the older

teenagers, Curt, is planning on leaving the next day. Steve is trying to work out his relationship with Curt's sister, while John and Terry have their own dates for the night. American Graffiti is a wonderful film on many levels. It is both funny and serious. A great direction by George Lucas and a fine cast with Ron

Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Cindy Williams, Paul LeMat, Charles Martin Smith,

Candy Clark (Oscar-nominated), MacKenzie Phillips, Harrison Ford. One of the

best films of the 70's and the only teen film in my memory that has had the

pleasure of being nominated for Oscar- Best Picture. 10/10 stars.

The summer of 1962, for these four Youths, it's the closest they will ever get to the Garden of Eden. The music, the cars, the drinking, the dancing, and the innocence, American Graffiti is a harder film to make than Star Wars. To identify with the generation and to create truth from the characters, George Lucas's masterpiece is American Graffiti. From the town Big shot, the future Race car Driver, the Perfect Couple, and the local Nerd, it is amazing how the audience identifies with all these characters from out past. Like a page out of the high school year book, this movie jumps back into the early 60's, before the war, before the lines were drawn, the age of innocence in America would soon be coming to an end. This is the last party of the summer before the dream finally ends.

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 !!!!

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 ****