Review of American Graffiti (1973) by Shawn E — 01 Jun 2010

One of the greatest films ever made and proof that George Lucas was a talented filmmaker before Star Wars came along and defined the remainder of his career. This coming of age story benefits from capturing the look and feel of the 50s wonderfully (even if it does, technically, take place in 1962) and even though I wasn't alive in this era, I'll go ahead and assume that this beautiful snapshot of that time and place in particular was exactly what it was like.

From the writing and direction to the wonderful performances of the entire cast and crew (Richard Dreyfuss in particular gives what is probably the best performance in the movie). Fun, touching, and incredibly nostalgic, American Graffiti captures that slightly overwhelming transitional time in a young person's life when the future is up in the air better than practically any other film since and it does it with a whole lot of heart.