Review of American Graffiti (1973) by Ross M — 01 Mar 2010
After George Lucas made his debut with THX 1138 (1970), on insistance from his friend/producer Francis Ford Coppola. He decided to do something a little more mainstream. Lucas opted to do a film based on his childhood interests in the early 1960's, when Lucas was a teenager.
With a minimal budget, a cast of mainly unknowns and access to a whole load of brilliant songs from that era, this is what Lucas came up with. A love letter to what it was like being a teen in the early 60's.
Set in one night in the summer of 1962, it follows the exploits of 4 friends Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss), Steve Bolander (Ron Howard), John Milner (Paul LeMat) and Terry "The Toad" Fields (Charles Martin Smith).
Curt is leaving the following day on a $2,000 scholarship, Toad borrows Steve's car for the evening while Steve woos Laurie (Cindy Williams), Curt's sister. Meanwhile, John cruises around with teenybopper Carol (Mackenzie Phillips), quite reluctantly as well.
It's a pity Lucas didn't stick with films like this, he showed real confidence with this one. It's got a gentle sense of humour, and the performances are very good. The soundtrack, made up of songs from the 1950's and early 1960's are pitch perfect.
After this, Lucas started work on a script at first called The Adventures of Luke Starkiller. Whatever happened to that we wonder... :P.
This review of American Graffiti (1973) was written by Ross M on 01 Mar 2010.
American Graffiti has generally received very positive reviews.
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