• Post category:Movies
  • Post last modified:May 15, 2021

American Graffiti: One Last Night

WHERE WERE YOU IN ’62?

Years ago, when I wrote my review for Falkenberg Farewell (2006), an internationally little-known Swedish film that did very well with Swedish critics but perhaps not anywhere else, I referenced my own life as a teenager in my hometown. But I failed to mention American Graffiti, which seems a bit strange. Not that those films have much in common in terms of style, but they definitely both came out of a genuine desire to get in touch with each filmmaker’s youth. This was George Lucas’s breakthrough after his sci-fi film THX 1138 (1971) and it became a huge phenomenon, spawning many imitations.

Gathering in a parking lot
The year is 1962. In Modesto, California, it’s the last night of summer and four friends from high school gather in the parking lot of a drive-in diner. Curt Henderson and Steve Bolander (Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard) are leaving for the same college the day after. Curt is having second thoughts, but Steve is more concerned about the future of his relationship with Curt’s sister Laurie (Cindy Williams). He’s told her that maybe they should start seeing new people now that they’ll be separated from each other, and this doesn’t come as good news to Laurie.

Part of this crowd are also John Milner (Paul Le Mat), the local drag racing champ, and Terry ”The Toad” Fields (Charles Martin Smith), a nerdy guy who’s not exactly smooth with the ladies.

Challenged by Coppola
It’s been said that Francis Ford Coppola, who worked with Lucas on THX 1138, challenged him to write a script that would be commercial and well-liked by audiences. This is not how Star Wars came about. Instead, Lucas started thinking about his years as a teenager and a cultural phenomenon that had disappeared from the streets of California – cruising. When Lucas was a kid, he and his buddies used to slowly drive around in cars, hanging out and trying to impress girls. He felt like documenting this tradition on film and wrote three characters that would symbolize different stages of his youth. Even the drag-racing champ is an incarnation of Lucas. It wasn’t easy to find financing for a film that didn’t have a clear lead, but instead came off as sort of a musical montage where most scenes were expressly accompanied by a pop song from the era; that last fact would also result in a large licensing bill.

Still, the movie eventually got made and it struck a chord among audiences who fell in love with this portrait of a time that seemed innocent, before Kennedy was murdered and the Vietnam War destroyed thousands of families’ lives. The movie probably came at exactly the right time. The sense of nostalgia is palpable. One early idea for the script was in the vein of an exploitation movie, which is exactly the opposite of what Lucas was looking for; he wanted the film to have a documentary-like feel. The way the songs follow the story feels natural and creates an irresistible flow. Perspective keeps shifting between the buddies, who are credibly and charmingly portrayed by a first-rate, young cast where Dreyfuss in particular had a breakthrough; this was also the movie that gave Howard his job on Happy Days.

I can’t relate to anything about cruising even though I live in Sweden, a country that, in rural places, borrowed that tradition. I can however sympathize with the bittersweet feel of one’s youth ending, and that’s what keeps the movie forever relevant.

American Graffiti 1973-U.S. 110 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola. Directed by George Lucas. Screenplay: George Lucas, Gloria Katz, Willard Huyck. Editing: Verna Fields, Marcia Lucas. Cast: Richard Dreyfuss (Curt Henderson), Ron Howard (Steve Bolander), Paul Le Mat (John Milner), Charles Martin Smith (Terry ”The Toad” Fields), Cindy Williams, Candy Clark… Wolfman Jack, Harrison Ford, Kathleen Quinlan, Suzanne Somers.

Trivia: Followed by More American Graffiti (1979).

Golden Globe: Best Motion Picture (Comedy/Musical).

Last word: “In the process of doing ‘American Graffiti’ and getting so many letters from young people saying, ‘Wow, this film really changed my life; I finally figured out what being a teenager is about’, I realized that film had a far greater impact – and accomplished what I was trying to accomplish in my first film”. (Lucas, “George Lucas: Interviews”)

 

IMDb

What do you think?

5 / 5. Vote count: 2

Got something to say?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.