American Graffiti

American Graffiti is a timeless movie that chokes me up every time I watch it, as specially when i think of what it means to lucas and how Richard Dreyfuss in the films is basically based on george lucas and what he went through.

What are some of your favorite parts and what are some things you see in the movie? Lets discuss this.

 

http://imgur.com/a/xtHpa#0

This is a rare picture of a reunion of the whole cast taken by vanity fair a cupel years ago, when you look at lucas in this pic it is a reminder of what a personal story it was for him to tell as a filmmaker and an artist. There is just so much going on in this picture, harrison ford is also in the picture on his characters car. What an awesome photograph. So much meaning behind it. IMO anyone who is a star wars fan or fan of anything lucas should take the time to learn about american graffiti.

 

What no graffiti love?

Lets talk some graffiti guys, come on...

 

I agree, it's a classic. I LOOOOVE the soundtrack and actors. Plus, high school's over, what's not to love about that?

My favorite character is the blonde girlfriend of the nerdy guy. I apologize, I'm bad with names.

And Harrison Ford!!!

I thought the relationship between the greaser and the younger girl was interesting and sweet.

 

My favorite movie, period. Like Jeanine said, HIGH SCHOOL'S OVER. And it captures that feeling. That very feeling is what makes life worth living. And just by evoking that feeling, it becomes fresh in your mind. It's more than just a feel-good movie, it's good for your soul.

 

Do you know that it's the middle part of a trilogy?
If you want to try it out:

Radioland Murders (features Curt's parents, played by Charles Martin Smith & Candy Clark!)
American Graffiti
More American Graffiti (a really cool movie that only gets better as time passes)

There ya go, an obscure cinema fact unveiled

 

Ehhhh... Radioland Murders... I have it actually... Very different from both American Graffiti and More. Might have to try this "trilogy" tonight.

I was considering including Radioland Murders in my extended Saga viewing order, but I really don't like Radioland Murders that much.

I GUESS this could work, but I don't like the idea of it.

Radioland Murders
The Prequel Trilogy
THX 1138
American Graffiti
The Classic Trilogy
More American Graffiti...

or just plain not. This requires further thought.

I really love More American Graffiti, almost more than the first one. Glad I'm not alone.

 

I was recently out in Petaluma and had to stop and take a photo of my car on "Paradise Road."

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...0829806037946.413001.649427945&type=3&theater

You can see the same tree on top of the hill in both photos

 

I think Lucas also worked on the Woodstock documentary.

 

IMDB doesn't list Woodstock, but it does show him as camera crew in Gimme Shelter.

 

Yea

Yes, he was cameraman on what was basically "the last" carefree style, 1960's concert. It was a lot like woodstock, it was totally done for the people BY the people, they actually used the hells angels motercycle gang as security and roomer has it there was even a Mafia presents at the concert behind the scenes. The rolling stones where there along with many others. It was wild to say the least.

And Lucas was the camera man

 

You're thinking of Martin Scorsese. And yes, GL worked on Gimme Shelter.

Scary parallel - Woodstock was celebrated as the peak of the 1960s, while the Altamont concert (the subject of Gimme Shelter) is widely regarded as what killed the spirit of the 1960s off, when a Hell's Angel on bad acid stabbed a festival goer to death for no reason, other than that he was a black man accompanying a white woman to a rock concert. All captured on film & the core of the documentary.

Several years later, the unexpected success of a couple of films called Jaws and Star Wars would take similar blades to the already rotting New Hollywood & destroy all creative thinking in the Hollywood studio environment, with the new era celebrating its peak with the likes of Top Gun, Die Hard and Days of Thunder - the execrable latter film penned by New Hollywood's Shakespeare, Robert Towne, the genius involved in re-writing Bonnie & Clyde and The Godfather, as well as writing his own masterpieces with The Last Detail, Chinatown & Shampoo. Towne later wrote the screenplays for the first two Mission: Impossible films.

Now that's turning to the Dark Side.

 

AG is amazing - I watched it again recently on DVD. Though I wasn't around in the '60's & can't relate to the music, the themes are universal & it's easy to see why the movie has remained so popular over the years. Great plot-lines (all running concurrently), superb soundtrack, & excellent, natural acting by a group of relative unknowns definitely make for an amazing film. It's also interesting to note that the movie seemed to spark nostalgia for the 1950's/early '60's that happened later (mid-late '70's) with shows like Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, etc.

Also worth noting that the profits & name Lucas made for himself re: AG enabled him to make ANH, something that he would otherwise have been unable to do.

From a technical/picture quality standpoint, however, I am dissapointed in the regular DVD - one of the issues I've always had when watching the film are that the night scenes are at times quite hard to see & the picture quality is at times off (in one of the "cruising" scenes when the cars are stopped at a light, there are large spotlights on the side of the road - I'm guessing this was to help with the darkness issue, since the spotlights didn't seem to be connected to the film itself).

I have not seen the AG Blu-ray, however, and for all I know these problems may be less obvious on this edition...

 

The Blu-ray is gorgeous.

You can get AG and THX-1138 on blu-ray off amazon for DIRT CHEEP. I got them both for like $7 bucks a piece.

 

I never knew that they had that connection, and now my mind is blown!

 

Thanks for the heads-up. As I posted in another thread re: my Blu-ray SW Saga review, I just recently got a Blu-ray player and they're superb - while I was on the fence for a long time about the format, I am now a true Blu-ray convert. And, as you mentioned, I've noticed that Blu-ray DVD's themselves have really gone down in price over the last 6 months.

Re: Radioland Murders, I agree that's an amazing film as well. Very underrated and probably little seen when it hit theatres in 1994 (I myself only saw it years later), it's obviously Lucas' homage to the old radio shows that he grew up with.

Re: the connection that RM has to AG, Thanks for the post. However, though I remember Candy Clark in the film, it's actually Bo Hopkins (who played the leader of the Pharaohs gang in AG) who plays the father. Here's the IMBD list of the cast in the film:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110939/fullcredits

 

Perfectly evoking the end of an era, American Graffiti is a nostalgic masterpiece about the last days of innocence brilliantly directed by George Lucas and featuring timeless performances from the likes of Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard. How can anyone not love it?

 

Great little film which is both fun and has a feel-good quality to it. For a movie that has no specific plot and several stories where stuff happens it works really well and it has some really endearing characters and moments. I'm surprised that apparently so few on this forum have seen it, judging by the rather few posts in this thread.

 

I've seen it and More American Graffiti and liked them. I just rarely come to this forum. The sequel is different and has its own aesthetics with the various filming styles used. I've never had a sense that a movie should have a so-called "plot" and can enjoy it without expecting storylines to result in some kind of formulaic climax.

 

No, he was at Altamont for Gimme Shelter.

That concert is commonly known as the anti-Woodstock because of the Hell's Angel's security, bad vibes, and the death of a concertgoer at the hands of some Angels.

 

In some ways I think American Graffiti is Lucas's best movie (considering that neither ESB or RoTJ was directed by him, so there's a sense in which they're not really "his").

 

ROTJ was essentially directed by GL....he's even stated so in a few interviews.

 

So George Lucas claimed that George Lucas had a great idea? Color me shocked

 

I almost forget how big the film STILL IS in the car enthusiast community. I ran into this older, blue collar guy today who was talking loudly in the market at the deli counter about how much he loved the movie and how its one of his favorite car movies and how he made thousands selling cars at auctions. He was bragging about how he had Candy Clarks autograph on a poster. It was kinda funny.

The best part: "...and that George Lucas he made all the STAR WARS too!!" ^_^

Made my day.

 

I still need to see this movie.