American Graffiti

Patrick Willems4.5

I love Star Wars but it's a tragedy that it prevented us from ever getting more movies from the George Lucas who made American Graffiti

Mike Ginn3.0

Pretty good for a movie about teenagers driving around saying hello to each other

Todd Gaines4.0

The Summer of '62. Before JFK went to Dallas. Before Vietnam. Before the Watts riots. The last summer of innocence for the first group of Baby Boomers. Our main characters in American Graffiti are these kids. They have no clue what's ahead of them. The music. The lack of a musical score is replaced by an almost constant soundtrack. The songs for the most part, follow the plot. This is something we will later see in two of my favorite movies: Dazed and Confused and Everybody Wants Some. I feel a slight disconnect with the song selections. I didn't grow up with this music. You could say some of it is "square". One of our characters reflects on how the music really did die with Buddy Holly. I think Rock 'n' Roll gets its groove back with the Beatles Invasion. So, the years between Buddy's death and the Beatles, did produce music that was safe, kinda bland and a tad bit stale. There's exceptions, and sometimes it's the DJ on the radio who's more entertaining than the actual music he's spinning. Enter, Wolfman Jack. The perfect DJ to play himself in American Graffiti. See what I mean, now?The cars. It's safe to say American Graffiti is the Godfather of the cruising / coming-of-age / day-in-the-life movie. If you're going to cruise, you need memorable cars. The '32 Duce Coupe is the fastest car on the strip, and it's driven by my personal favorite character, John Milner. The '55 Chevy driven by Harrison Ford's Bob Falfa. He's out on the streets, looking to race John. The '58 Chevy Impala that could make a fella called Toad, look almost cool. Also, the '56 T-Bird driven by Suzanne Somers' mysterious unknown hot blonde in car, which becomes Richard Dreyfuss' obsession throughout the movie. The cars are characters in American Graffiti, and in my opinion, just as important as the people.The characters. I'll admit it took me a good 20 minutes to fully get into American Graffiti. George Lucas takes his time introducing our central characters. With the sharp editing, the story easily goes from character to character, almost in some sort of pattern. I'm not going to discuss all the characters, but I'm going to hit some key points. Paul Le Mat's John Milner is the man! His character seems to get what's going on. I'll always wonder what would've happened if he got the part of Han Solo instead of Harrison Ford. Speaking of Mr Ford. He does look boss in his cowboy hat. Who knew people said boss in '62? Candy Clark's Debbie is smokin' fun, and she deserved her Oscar nomination. You can't help but fall in love with her. Lastly, Richard Dreyfuss' Curt dresses like his mother picked out his clothes. However, he does get into some misadventures, and you could say his character grows the most during the night. The closing. American Graffiti has plenty of humorous moments. However, there's a lot of drama, too. The trials and tribulations of young love. The uncertainty about what you want to do with the rest of your life. But, it's never cynical. Why? Because our cast has no clue what's to come. The end credits prove how fragile life really is, and it's a punch to your gut. I don't love American Graffiti, but I admire it. A lot of the movies I adore are heavily influenced by it. If you haven't seen it, give it a spin.