American Graffiti

American Graffiti

1973 "Where were you in '62?"
American Graffiti
American Graffiti

American Graffiti

7.4 | 1h50m | PG | en | Drama

A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.

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7.4 | 1h50m | PG | en | Drama , Comedy | More Info
Released: August. 11,1973 | Released Producted By: Lucasfilm Ltd. , Universal Pictures Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.

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Cast

Richard Dreyfuss , Ron Howard , Paul Le Mat

Director

Dennis Lynton Clark

Producted By

Lucasfilm Ltd. , Universal Pictures

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Reviews

elicopperman 45 years ago, just a few years before Star Wars, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola brought to the world a coming-of-age teen comedy called American Graffiti, which was somewhat of a nostalgic project for Lucas himself. Considering the film is set in 1962, one would imagine the whole movie could have been made around said time by Lucas on a Z-movie budget with no big studio involved. Either way, what followed was both a critical and commercial success, while helping kickstart the careers for the likes of Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Charles Martin Smith, Paul le Mat and even Harrison Ford. With all that said, upon watching this movie, it is relatable enough to any teen who has to come to terms with their own life decisions after high school.The whole movie doesn't have one singular narrative, instead it is told through a series of vignettes that show a group of teenagers cruising around Modesto, California over a single night and getting into all sorts of mishaps. Whether it'd be Curt Henderson (Dreyfuss) getting involved with a street gang, Steve Bolander (Howard) facing a relationship crisis with his girlfriend Laurie (a.k.a. Curt's sister), or drag racer John Milner (le Mat) having to deal with an annoying 12 year old named Carol (Mackenzie Philips), each storyline really details the small struggles that teens may have faced back then, such as dueling, arguing, and relationship issues. Even with all these storylines happening at once, the film never feels messy, and the script contains many lovable characters who practically embrace the American culture of back then. In addition, the humor that mostly relies on dialogue is deliriously funny without getting lost from the more serious moments.Arguably the funniest arch comes from the bumbling insecure dork Terry Fields (Smith) and the adventurous blonde Debbie (Candy Clark), as Terry constantly tries and fails to hide his insecurity from her, like buying booze or lying about his car. In addition to displaying some of the more heartfelt and earnest moments on camera, both these characters display the best personalities on screen, and their dizzy albeit warm bubble-headedness is enough to grant even the tiniest of giggles. In addition, Harrison Ford is hysterical as the arrogant driver Bob Falfa, a man who wants to challenge Milner to a race but also feels that he's lost his touch in the spotlight. The film's soundtrack, consisting of multiple 50s and early 60s rock & roll songs, also becomes provocative throughout the movie, especially with disc jockey Wolfman Jack speaking through car radios and announcing all the hits, helping establish a parallel dramatic subtext. While it may run a little slow, the film's steadiness serves the story well to add into the character's disciplined nature, and even the pace at its most hectic never becomes overwhelming. Honestly, steady might be a good word to describe American Graffiti, as it's not meant to be some heavily faced paced screwball comedy, but more of a laid back teen movie that perfectly captures the antics of adolescents living their glory days before going out to the real world. I'd say give this a watch if you're into seeing the crazy shenanigans of teenagers during the happy/heavy times of the 1960s, or if you'd like to check out what else George Lucas directed besides Star Wars. Even if you won't entirely get all the references, you may end up feeling empathetic to these teens, since you yourself might have been one of them before.
skyfall-33402 My third favorite movie ( 2: Titanic, 1: Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End ). Even though this movie only takes place in one night, so much happens in it. Imagine this: it's 1963, and it's the last day of high school. Kids are driving up and down the street in their Mustangs and T-Birds, playing their Elvis and Bill Haley. I saw this movie about a month ago ( I'm 12 ) and I saw about 10 minutes of it, until I had to go to bed, because I started it to late. I watched it the next night and I loved it.
writtenbymkm-583-902097 I just read the other reviews and one thing jumps right out at me. All the reviewers -- whether they liked the movie or not -- seem to accept without question that in the late 50s and early 60s (the movie is supposedly one night in 1962), teen boys got in their hot rods and big souped-up muscle cars and "cruised" around and around and around and around. Now, I never lived in Modesto, or anywhere else in California, so maybe that actually happened there. But everybody in the world didn't grow up in Modesto, California. I myself grew up in twenty-something mostly small towns in seven different states in the American south and Midwest, in the time period represented in this movie. In all those states, in all those towns, I never, repeat, never, ever, saw a "hot rod." When I was old enough to drive, I did not get in a car and spend the evening and night "cruising" the town's streets, looking for girls to pick up. Most guys had to borrow their parents' cars. I knew one guy with his own car, and it was a really cheap old Ford that had trouble getting up steep hills. We didn't cruise around looking for girls, we called a girl and made a date, picked her up at her parents' house, and took her to a hamburger place or a movie theater or possibly to a school dance. Any girl who allowed herself to be picked up and driven around would've gained a terrible reputation and been avoided by everyone else. So I don't get it, I don't get the time and setting and atmosphere and characters, they are alien to me and not from the 50s and 60s I experienced. Maybe the title of this movie should have been "California Graffiti."
mayem_5 Worst movie i've ever seen, i mean, i knew about G. Lucas's lack of skill but this is awful. I can only imagine how this man has come to be a movie director by poorly ripping off styles and being so clumsy with the camera. This time he delivers a slow, pretentious movie that goes nowhere. Within an almost two hour-long torture in which the characters are as flat as they could possible be, Lucas show us how mediocre film maker he is by not displaying any knowledge about cinematographic language at all, a still camera, boring shots and a soporific story that should have ended before the first 10 minutes. I managed to get to the end of it so i could have a valid opinion but it didn't worth it. Please don't watch it unless you have sleep problems.