"American Graffiti- what gives? " Topic

Hello,
I've been using Netflix to obtain movies that are considered 'classics', movies I never got around to seeing because they're before my time, or that show up all the time as cultural references… things like "The Warriors", "The Graduate" and "Vanishing Point" for example.

So I rented "American Graffiti" and was less than impressed. Can someone explain why that movie is a classic must-see? It strikes me as a boring nostalgia-fest, and the only thing I can think of that maybe makes it a landmark of any sort is that it is a precursor to the various coming-of-age films like "Breakfast Club" and "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist". Nostalgia for its own sake is not worth exploring IMO, doesn't every generation look back to better times?

When it was released, there wasn't a lot of nostagia for the '50s and early '60s. The film, for good or ill, inspired other treatments of the time. And yes, it also inspired a number of other coming-of-age films.

The critical acclaim stemmed mostly from achieving a good feeling for the time and place with a virtually unknown cast. Critics and the public liked it because it "felt" real.

And again for good or ill, without its success, Lucas might not have been able to make "Star Wars".

Allen

Try Hollywood Knights. It's similar in nature but much more entertaining.

American Graffiti has Ritchie Cunningham in…what more could you want?

Pete

That makes sense Allen, nice to hear another viewpoint.

Ritchie Cunningham, heh heh…

It was one of those movies with an unknown ensemble cast that became huge later.Plus, it had Wolfman Jack!

It helps to be a worshipper of George Lucas, and believe that he can do no wrong.

I agree with Allen, it was a great movie in the context of the time.

I believe it was American Graffiti which led to the creation of "Grease" and "Happy Days" et al (for better or for worse).

It's kind of like watching Star Wars for the first time 30 years after it was released. You've seen all the movies that were inspired by – or ripped off from the movie, so the original, ground-breaking film winds up looking derivative.

If you care to, look at it from the meta angle. For instance, Ford's car has the license plate of THX 138 and there are other references within the movie to other people an things.

Wyatt

Try Hollywood Knights. It's similar in nature but much more entertaining.

"VOOOOOO-LARRR-E…"

I was eight when 'American Graffiti' was released, and remember hearing people talk about it and about the excellent soundtrack, which I think was one of the major reasons why it's popularity endured for so long. To get all of those songs, you either had to have bought the original 45 RPM records or bought the old Oldies But Goodies series of albums. I didn't see the movie until I was about 13 or 14, and then only an edited version, but it gave me a flavor of what I missed being born when I was.

I do remember that after 'American Graffiti', a wave of Fifties nostalgia swept our culture for some years after during the '70s, as evidenced by the movies and tv series it inspired (I'm surprised no one's mentioned 'The Lords of Flatbush' yet! ). When I was in junior high, our school would have "Fifties Day" a couple of times a year, which was pretty cool.

Ah, memories.

"Rock N Roll's been goin' down hill since Buddy Holly died."

This is probably my favorite from the soundtrack:

YouTube link

But you can get to most of the others from it; just look for the carhop album cover. Yes--*album*, dammit!

Allen

American Graffiti came out in in 1973. It was set, if I remember right, in 62-63? Just a 10 year difference. The movie "The Wedding Singer took a similar nostalgic ten years look back at the 80's, but the effect wasn't the same. The era shown in AG marked a great sea change throughout the entire world. What had been acceptable before then-- colonialism, racism, a subservient role for woman-- was looked down upon in the new age, even if not completely vanquished. The movie showed the coming of age of the first hopeful generation born into that new world, the world we live in still.

I remember my parents watching the first pre-video, pre-cable broadcast of AG on ABC's movie of the week sometime in the late 70's. They were enraptured. I guess it was because they were looking at a world that had they once lived in, a world that was long since gone.

And before anyone gets on their high horse about how bad the 1960's were-- The Beatles, MLK's March on Washinton, Jimi Hendrix, Voting Rights Act of 1965. To me, THAT was the 60's as much as anything else.

OK, *this* might actually be my favorite:

YouTube link

Allen

It put Modesto on the map…ahead of Barstow.

And Modesto hasn't yet recovered.

Those kids were the original "boomers." In addition to that great music, it had that end of innocense backplot going, which paralleled what the nation was going through at that time. So those of us who are pushin, or having just passed 60 could identify with the characters and the story. We all knew someone who had been killed by a drunk driver, or in Nam. And we all knew exactly what song we were listneing to when we heard the news.

"And before anyone gets on their high horse about how bad the 1960's were-- The Beatles, MLK's March on Washinton, Jimi Hendrix, Voting Rights Act of 1965. To me, THAT was the 60's as much as anything else."

Smith and Carlos? Power to the People? I still keep a black glove in the van, just in case.

Allen

Hi

For people of an age, Graffitti wasn't a coming of age, just a reflection of the time. Listening to Wolfman all night…yup.

I thought it was reasonable reflection of the times, and the choices teens were making. Actually similar to Hollywood kniights.

A friend from highschool emailed me from texas last week all excited because he met Candy Clark at an auto show!

Rocky

American Graffiti: nope, can't say that I remember a single scene or character. Wait, didn't the guy in "Never Cry Wolf" get his first role in AG? "Toad" or something like that; he was a nerd; now it's coming back, I think they showed him at the end in 'Nam knocking himself down with his gun on full-auto. I do remember Ronnie Howard in AG but can't recall anything else. You'd think I'd remember the girls; but I can't pull out anything from the soup of the pop and rock and roll songs that constantly followed the "action" (if that's a suitable word for what they were doing). Altogether a forgettable experience. But, I'd probably enjoy it a lot more now than back when it came out….