American Graffiti (1973)

A couple of high school grads spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.

Director:

George Lucas

Writers:

George Lucas, Gloria Katz

Stars:

Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Curt
Ron Howard	...	Steve (as Ronny Howard)
Paul Le Mat	...	John
Charles Martin Smith	...	Terry (as Charlie Martin Smith)
Cindy Williams	...	Laurie
Candy Clark	...	Debbie
Mackenzie Phillips	...	Carol
Wolfman Jack	...	Disc Jockey
Bo Hopkins	...	Joe
Manuel Padilla Jr.	...	Carlos
Beau Gentry	...	Ants
Harrison Ford	...	Bob Falfa
Jim Bohan	...	Holstein
Jana Bellan	...	Budda
Deby Celiz	...	Wendy

Storyline

It's the proverbial end of the summer 1962 in a small southern California town. It's the evening before best friends and recent high school graduates, Curt Henderson and Steve Bolander, are scheduled to leave town to head to college back east. Curt, who received a lucrative local scholarship, is seen as the promise that their class holds. But Curt is having second thoughts about leaving what Steve basically sees as their dead end town. Curt's beliefs are strengthened when he spots an unknown beautiful blonde in a T-bird who mouths the words "I love you" to him. As Curt tries to find that blonde while trying to get away from a local gang who have him somewhat hostage, Curt may come to a decision about his immediate future. Outgoing class president Steve, on the other hand, wants to leave, despite meaning that he will leave girlfriend, head cheerleader and Curt's sister, Laurie Henderson, behind. Steve and Laurie spend the evening "negotiating" the state of their relationship. Meanwhile...

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Plot Keywords:

car | high school | rock 'n' roll | california | drag racing | 

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Taglines:

...is back! [1978 Re-release]

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 August 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Američki grafiti

Filming Locations:

American Zoetrope Studios, San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$777,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$115,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Lucasfilm, The Coppola Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min 112 min (re-release) (1978)

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Dolby System®)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

As the plane takes off in the final scene, a drive-in movie screen can be seen in the distance. This was the original screen at the Solano Drive-in, which operated until the fall of 2004, and has since reopened, showing double-features, as of December 2008.

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Goofs

Terry wears a pair of blue and white suede shoes and eventually near the end while sitting on the curb of Mels Diners he is wearing white suede shoes.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Terry Fields: Hey, what do you say, Curt? Last night in town... you guys gonna have a little bash before you leave?
Steve Bolander: The Moose have been looking for you all day.
[hands a check to Curt]
Steve Bolander: They got worried... thought you were trying to avoid them or something.
Terry Fields: What is it? What do ya got?
Curt Henderson: Oh, great.
Terry Fields: That's $2,000 man! Two thousand dollars!
Steve Bolander: Mr. Jennings gave it to me to give to you. He says he's sorry it's so late, but it's the first scholarship the Moose Lodge has given out. And he, uh, says they're ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Worded epilogues prior to the credits shows what happen to the characters following the movie. While this has since become commonplace in films, it was considered innovative at the time.

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Connections

Featured in The Making of 'American Graffiti' (1998)

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Soundtracks

Barbara Anne
Written by Fred Fassert (uncredited)
The Regents
Courtesy of Roulette Records:

User Reviews

The American Garden

The summer of 1962, for these four Youths, it's the closest they will ever get to the Garden of Eden. The music, the cars, the drinking, the dancing, and the innocence, American Graffiti is a harder film to make than Star Wars. To identify with the generation and to create truth from the characters, George Lucas's masterpiece is American Graffiti. From the town Big shot, the future Race car Driver, the Perfect Couple, and the local Nerd, it is amazing how the audience identifies with all these characters from out past. Like a page out of the high school year book, this movie jumps back into the early 60's, before the war, before the lines were drawn, the age of innocence in America would soon be coming to an end. This is the last party of the summer before the dream finally ends.