American Graffiti [RSC Film Club 33]

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

The genre for August's Film Club selection, as nominated by @Conwas school/college films.  The winning entry, nominated by both @djw180and @Squirrelis George Lucas's ode to his teenage years, American Graffiti.

Set over the last night of summer vacation, the film follows a group of teenagers as they hang out for the last time, cruising in their hot rods, trying to pick up girls and looking to the future.  It stars Ron Howard (Happy Days) before he became an Oscar winning director and Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws), with an expansive supporting cast that includes Harrison Ford (you know who he is).  Not only did the film fuel the wave of 50s/60s rock 'n' roll nostalgia of the 70s that resulted in the sitcom Happy Days and culminated in the smash hit musical Grease, but it was also so successful that it enabled writer/director George Lucas to self-fund his next project, Star Wars.  

This is the only George Lucas film that I haven't seen (if you've never seen his debut film THX 1138 you need to check it out), and is very different from the rest of his filmography which is all sci-fi.  This seems like a very personal film to him which I can't wait to see, as he is often criticised for being quite a cold filmmaker.  I often wonder what kind of films Lucas would've made if Star Wars didn't take over his whole career.

 it only took me one night to realize if brains were dynamite you couldn't blow your nose

Edited August 29, 2021 by LimeGreenLegend

[Con 5,703]

I have never watched this. I look forward to it very much. 

[djw180 6,836]

As much as I love Star Wars, this for me is George Lucas' best film. When the school / college category came up this did not come to mind. As I often do, I looked up a 'best <insert name of genre> films of all time' list and this was towards the top and I remembered it all takes place on the night of a school prom and the night before two of main characters are due to leave to go away to university. Another member of the cast worth a mention is Candy Clark who got a best supporting actress nomination. It's also got a lot of classic cars in it, so should appeal to many here.

Edited August 8, 2021 by djw180

[Sinister 2,578]

Useless Trivia time. The 55 Chevy that Harrison Ford drives in this movie is the same car that was used in the movie Two Lane Blacktop. 

[djw180 6,836]

For me this is George Lucas' best, and I say that as massive Star Wars fan. It's set in the early 1960s and is a story of four 17 year old Californian boys as they spend their last night before two of them leave to 'head back East' to go to university. I remember an interview with George Lucas I saw a long time ago, long before I had seen this film, and I seem to recall him saying that whilst this is not really semi-autobiographical, it is based on the sort of things he and his friends did when they were the same age, cruising the str*p in a mid Californian, smallish city.

It's made as four separate stories running in parallel that start and end together. After meeting up at the local diner two of them go to the freshman hop (what we in the UK would probably call the school disco) and two others head out in their cars. Ron Howard plays Steve, the former class president and star pupil, spending time with his Girlfriend, Laurie, trying to persuade her that he loves her so much that it must be OK for them to date other people while he is at college. Richard Dreyfuss plays Curt, Steve's best friend and Laurie's brother, also leaving for college the following morning. After leaving the hop early he joins an ex-girlfriend and one of her friends, then having made an unappreciated jokes get kicked out the car and winds up with a trio from local gang 'The Pharaohs'. Paul le Mat plays John, a street racer who mods his own cars, not going to college and though it's not clearly stated I assume he left school a couple of years before Steve and Curt. He knows there is a new racer in town, played by Harrison Ford, looking for him to set up a race. But he ends up spending the night effectively baby sitting the 12 year sister of a girl he was trying to impress. Finally Charles Martin Smith plays Terry (Toad), the nerdy, short, short sited, unattractive kid of the group, also not leaving for college, who having been given Steve's car to look after ends up convincing a beautiful girl, Debbie, played in an Oscar nominated performance by Candy Clark, to join him, and ends up genuinely impressing her.

The 60s cars and 50s/60s Rock & Roll music provide a wonderful back drop to the film. As far as I can recall there are no studio shot scenes. They are mostly shot on 'the str*p' or a few locations in and around town. So those cars, the streets and, in a way, that music are the sets. There's numerous shots just showing the cars accompanied by the music. And I love that, even though I am not really into cars nor 60s music. That fact I even like this at all is testament to the brilliant direction, really atmospheric. When I watch this I can almost feel the late summer evening heat. The acting is very good, but Candy Clark definitely gives the stand out performance (A pity she did so little after this, the only other thing I have seen her in is a brief appearance in Season 3 of Twin Peaks). I love that it almost happens in the real time. It's just under 2 hours long and the whole film probably only covers about 6 to 8 hours, with most of the action in the first few of those. The brief bio of what happened next before the credits is quite poignant as well, given at least one of those four would inevitably have ended up in Vietnam.

 I give this a firm 10/10.

Edited August 23, 2021 by djw180

[Con 5,703]

American Graffiti (1973)

Reading that the film is set in 1962 with a heavy 1950's soundtrack didn't sound like something I would enjoy watching because I am no fan of that era in America. To put it in perspective, out of all the songs, I think I genuinely liked about three of them. I am just not a fan of that time period. But seeing the cars at the start of the film really got me excited because I do think cruiser culture of that era was magnificent, so I figured that would be the best part of the film. But as the film progressed, I found myself really attached to the characters, and I think that was due in part to the terrific pacing. The film doesn't possess a complex storyline, so keeping me engaged with such a simple premise was going to be a challenge, but George Lucas got me. 

So lets get into the positives. I already mentioned the awesome pacing.  I absolutely loved the cinematography, even for a film this dated, the transfer I watched was outstanding. The crispness of every scene really helped me get immersed. The lighting, especially around town once the sun goes down, was superb. The acting and writing were very entertaining and engaging. The Toad (Charles Martin Smith) storyline was so good as he totally gets lucky regardless of how awkward he comes across.  I particularly loved the scene after Toad has the car stolen and he has to walk with Debbie (Candy Clark) and she begins talking about the Goat Killer Serial Killer, I was in stitches and when she delivers this line: "If its the Goat Killer. He might get someone and we can see it". I was already in love with her character but when she says that, I wanted her phone number. lol. She was so funny and so genuine about wanting to see the killer, it was probably my favorite moment in the whole film. The other line that almost made me spit my popcorn out was from Carol (Mackenzie Phillips) when John (Paul Le Mat) is getting his paintjob insulted by Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford) and Carol defends him by yelling: "You know what, your car is uglier than I am! That didn't come out right". It was moments like that which put such a smile on my face and is the main reason I had so much fun watching this film. These characters all had something going on just below the surface. Like how John seems to be the older guy who still holds on to his high school popularity and stays relevant by racing his hot rod. I found it interesting that he would get stuck the entire film with Carol, who came across as a wannabe runaway but she herself has no idea why, she does mention her father being hard *n her but it didn't come across as she was living in an overtly abusive household. At first I felt that Curt's (Richard Dreyfuss) storyline was boring and thin. He wants to find the blonde (Suzanne Sommers) in the T-Bird and his struggle to discover who she was just wasn't doing it for me. But then that story is salvaged when he decides to sit on a stranger's car to watch the televisions through the store window. I loved that the Pharaohs just didn't f*ck with Curt just to start trouble with him, but instead because he was sitting on a car of someone they knew like he was in his living room. I was shocked that Curt decides to hang out with them and I felt it just showed his desperation to feel alive. It's gotta be boring always doing the right thing. The weakest storyline was Steve's (Ron Howard) his story basically revolves around whether to break up with Laurie (Cindy Williams) and I just didn't get into it and I should have because back in that era, there was no texting or emails. So when your lover went off to college, letters were probably the most surefire way to communicate from a distance. I guess i just like my love stories to be more heart-wrenching visually.  But heart-wrench does arrive at the very end right before the end credits when we see the update slide and we learn that:

Spoiler

John was killed by the drunk driver in '64 and Toad was never heard from again after going missing in Vietnam in '65. Curt moved to Canada. Steve was the only one that never left home but lost his close friends. Time is something none of us can escape. Memories are all we have in the end. And that is sad. 

I don't have very many negatives as I understood what the film was about, just a snapshot of one last day before uncertainty and huge decisions have to be made. That being said, the story wasn't very complex and I really wanted a tragedy to occur, perhaps not with the main characters but with some of the supporting ones. But that's a negative out of personal preference. I know we have that crash at the end but as you know, only thing hurt was John's ego since he knew Bob was a faster driver. But I still found that moment compelling as John realizes he is one race loss away from obscurity and irrelevance. At first I disliked the scene when Curt is on the plane and he looks down and sees the white T-Bird and it just made his story feel so incomplete, especially after that phone call goes nowhere. But after digesting that scene some more, I found that it could represent that one thing that Curt finally finds redeemable about his mundane life and sets up excitement whenever he gets back home. This also contrasts with Toad's experience that night, so I guess it's a minor annoyance than a negative. The music wasn't my favorite, I don't know why, I just can't get into most of the songs. It should be no surprise that I never became a Frank Sinatra fan and I'm okay with that. A minor negative while visually one of the best parts of the film, was the Cruiser Culture featured in the film. I absolutely loved the cars as they were true eye-candy. But I did ask myself, "Damn, everyone in this town has an amazing vehicle. Were those cars that inexpensive that almost everyone has one in the film?" I just felt there was on oversaturation of vehicles but I'm only complaining because of realism as they served as an awesome aesthetic in the film. One last negative is for the people that think this is a film about street art or street artists from the '50s, in fact there is not one piece of street art anywhere in the film.

Final Verdict....4/5....Over my lifetime I had heard about this film but never had an inclination to sit down and watch it due to the factors I mentioned about the time period. But I am glad I was able to watch it thanks again to this Film Club as I had a really good time with these mostly wholesome characters and the situations some of them find themselves in. From the start we get that Toad scooter crash and I knew it was going to be fun following that one character that crashes his scooter and it looked so real and that is because it was a blooper. LMAO. Glad it stayed in the film as it set the tone for me. Every Star Wars fan should love this film because it gave Lucas the resources required to make his very popular and admired space film. This also has to be Jay Leno's favorite film with all those amazing car models. This is one of those family-friendly films that I can see a father watching with his teenage son and them talking about how someday the teen will be in the same situation as the characters in American Graffiti. I personally never left after high school, probably because I was such a mediocre student in that college was never an option, a decision I fully regret now as who knows what my life would be today and this is what makes this film redeemable for me, these character's stories don't end at the finale of the film and instead, their stories were just beginning. A special thank you to DJ and Squirrel for nominating this film. 

Edited August 26, 2021 by Con

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

“Where were you in '62?”  Not about to graduate high school seeing as it was a quarter of a century before my birth.  But thanks to the loving nostalgia of George Lucas's sophomore picture, American Graffiti; the cars, the music, the production and costume design all coalescing into a believable whole, I could swear that I was there.  Set over a single night, the last night of the summer break, the film follows a group of recently graduated high school students as they contemplate their futures.  

There's Steve (Ron Howard), top of the class, dating the head cheerleader Laurie (Cindy Williams), and then there's his best friend and her brother Curt (Richard Dreyfuss).  Steve can't wait to leave their small California town for college, while Curt is staying behind, not ready to let go of his past just yet.  Making up the main cast is loveable loser Toad (Charles Martin Smith) who gets a new lease on life when Steve tasks him with taking care of his car while he's away, and finally John (Paul Le Mat), older than the others and the faster drag racer on the str*p.  His plans for a fun night are stymied when he is saddled with babysitting duty for the precocious 12 year old Carol (Mackenzie Phillips).

For the most part these characters are well drawn with actual development even though they are basically archetypes; the nerd, the all-American, the cheerleader, the bad boy etc, they never fall into the realm of stereotypes.  My favourite character is Curt.  He starts off playing it safe, but through his run-ins with the beautiful blonde that eludes him all evening (Suzanne Somers) and his escapades with the street gang, The Pharaohs, he learns to embrace adventure and the lure of the unknown.  At the end, when the blonde calls him he doesn't even need to talk to her, it was the chase that excited him. 

 This is why, at the end of the film, he decides to leave town for college, despite the very strong ties he has with the place, stronger than any other character.  My favourite scene in the film emphasises this without any dialogue.  At the high school dance he leaves the party to walk through the dark and empty corridors of his old school almost as if he's haunting them, the music fading into silence in the background.  He walks up to what I assume was his locker and tries his old combination, but it doesn't work.  A rueful smile plays across his face.  Life moves on and so must he.  Honestly, that scene almost bought me to tears.  

Steve is another story.  He comes across as all ambition and no heart.  He breaks up with Laurie because of the distance that will soon be between them and then basically attempts to r*pe her.  I don't think he changed much throughout the duration of the film, and his decision at the end to stay just feels like it was made to act as a juxtaposition to Curt's decision to leave.  Toad is fantastic, I don't think anyone would argue with that.  He is the prototype McLovin; the scene where he tries to buy some booze is basically the same as the scene in Superbad.  The way his character develops, and he finds confidence in his real self, no lies about how badass he is, was so heart-warming and deserved.  

Coming a close second to Curt in my ranking of favourite characters is John, the hot shot racer who faces a mid life crisis in his early twenties as he is forced to take responsibility for a child and is also challenged for his drag racer crown by Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford).  Honestly, at the start of the film this guy came across like one of those creepy dudes who can't let go of their high school glory days and is still trying to pick up teenagers.  When he gets stuck with Carol I was prepared for the worst.  I mean, these were the days when Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13 year old cousin.  Thankfully their relationship turned out to be a really sweet one, at times bickering like siblings, other times he felt like a real guardian trying to look out for her.  

The biggest strength for this film is how it really has a solid and believable sense of time and place.  The costumes and hair styling are period perfect, as are the gorgeous automobiles.  I don't know anything about cars except how s*xy I think they are, and there are some s*xy cars in this film.  The fact that it takes place over a single night makes you feel like you are experiencing this in real time along with the characters, making you invest more.  But I think the main thing that really gives this a sense of authenticity is the soundtrack.  Apart from the lack of Elvis (too expensive) this is full of classic rock 'n' roll, but what really sells it is that every single song is diegetic.  That is, the characters can hear it as well as the audience.   We only hear songs if they're on the radio, being played at the diner, or the band at the high school hop.  Again, this is something that really puts you in the story alongside the characters, and Lucas does it here perfectly.  

Overall this is a fantastic movie.  I was having a blast as soon as the intro to Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and his Comets started playing and it didn't let up until the end credits.  This is a genuinely touching film about growing up that has it all, laughs, action, romance.  Now I've finally seen all of Lucas's directorial filmography it really does make me kinda sad that Star Wars was such a monumental success and he never went back to making films like this.