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 8 wins & 5 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

Two boys are scheduled to leave for college in the morning. Each has his own doubts. They spend a final evening cruising the strip and have every adventure possible before dawn when they will each have to decide what they will do.

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Plot Keywords:

college | night | school | car | summer | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 August 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Locura americana

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

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene after the drag race in which John admits to Terry that he was losing when Falfa's car lost control and rolled was improvised by Paul Le Mat and Charles Martin Smith. They had not had time to prepare for that scene, as it had been scheduled to be shot at another time.

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Goofs

When Milner has a run-in with Officer Holstein, the Wolfman Jack montage we hear on the radio includes a clip from the song "Grazing In The Grass" by Hugh Masekela, released in the late 1960s.

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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

At the start of the closing credits, the character and actor names for the main characters randomly appear in time to the opening xylophone notes of the Beach Boys' All Summer Long, which continues to play over the credits.

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Connections

Referenced in One in a Billion (1984)

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Soundtracks

" (We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock"
Written by Max Freedman and James E. Myers
Performed by Bill Haley & His Comets
Courtesy of Decca 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.