American Graffiti

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 !!!!

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.

As many people know, George Lucas is most famous for the fact that he wrote a certain series of fantasy films. Most of those films certainly were a great achievement, but one thing that many Star Wars fans overlook is the other entries in Lucas' list of directorial credits; one of which is this film, American Graffiti. The movie tells the story of the last night in town for a bunch of school kids about to leave to go to college. Now, this might not seem like a great base for a classic movie to work from; and it isn't, it's the handling that makes it great. In spite of his latest batch of movies, Lucas has shown with this movie that he has the talent to create an innovative and groundbreaking movie in spite of the plot. It's this fact that made Star Wars work so well, and it's nice to see the same effort transplanted into an earlier film that doesn't have the special effects and grandiose that Star Wars had. The energy and vitality that Lucas gives his multiple stories makes for a great ride, and American Graffiti is a lot of fun throughout.

The film is most notable for the way that it captures the American youth of the sixties. It benefits from a great soundtrack that adequately helps to achieve this, and includes the likes of Buddy Holly and The Beach Boys. The film takes place in one night, and makes use of a number of different characters and story lines; all of which are interesting and unique. A lot of which are also really funny, and this is where my favourite part of American Graffiti comes in. The film works because it's such a good time, and the way that Lucas shows us that ensures that we have just as good a time as the characters on screen are having. The events that befall the characters in the movie will no doubt touch a nerve with anyone that has gone through childhood - things such as splitting up with your girlfriend, to being forced into doing things that could get you into trouble...all the way to asking an adult to go into a store to buy alcohol for you are shown with great care, and show that Lucas obviously knew what he was doing when he took on this movie. On the whole...it's very good stuff indeed.

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.

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 ****