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| A 1960s-nostalgic drawn poster for George Lucas's American Graffiti |
American Graffiti comprises 4 stories of young people on one night in Modesto, California of 1962. - Young people cruising in their long cars, listening to rock 'n roll, fooling around with each other; young people who will soon have to leave their safe nests and fly out into the world.
Wonderful, fresh actors' performances embellish this romantic youth car drama from Ron Howard (I Spy (1966), TV-series), Charlie Martin Smith (Perfect Alibi (1995)) as 'the Toad' and others. It is written by Gloria Katz (Howard the Duck (1986)), Willard Huyck (Lucky Lady (1975)) and great Californian co-writer/director George Lucas (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)), who is from Modesto.
The music plays a great part of this narratively loose, refreshing and funny film, and it swings beautifully. American Graffiti combines the peculiar cruising phenomenon with such innocently charming lines such as, "Go kiss a duck!".
Innocent, underplayed or down-toned bordering on the conflict-averse and nearly sleep-inducing, Lucas's extraordinarily successful, nostalgic American Graffiti may boldly be labeled the deciding factor that Star Wars ever came to be, simply because of its surprisingly enormous success.
The film is by many considered an American classic.
Related post:
George Lucas: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) - Despite stale romance and Anakin, Episode II excites
Watch an original trailer for the film here
Cost: 777k $
Box office: 118 mil. $
= Blockbuster
[American Graffiti premiered 1 August (Los Angeles, California) and runs 112 minutes. Lucas developed the film following his unsuccessful sci-fi THX 1138 (1971), and all the major studios turned down his pitch except for Universal Pictures, who bounced the small 600k $ budget with 175k $, when Francis Ford Coppola (The Florentine (1999)) signed on to produce. Harrison Ford (The Fugitive (1993)) was focusing on a carpeting career and would only appear, if he didn't have to cut his hair. Shooting took place in California from June - August 1972. The unruly production is notorious for its many later stars appearing and for the rambunctious stories; Ford was thrown out of his Holiday Inn hotel for drunkenness and climbing its sign; Richard Dreyfuss (Nuts (1987)) concurred a gash in his head after being thrown in a pool on the day before he was to shoot closeup scenes; Paul Le Mat (Wishman (1992)) was hospitalized for an allergic reaction to walnuts; Lucas' hotel room was set on fire by an actor; and two camera operators were nearly killed filming the climactic race scene. The film was edited down from an initial 3½ hour version, and Universal threatened with releasing it only as a TV movie, if Lucas didn't cut 4 more minutes from his final version. Only through terrific word of mouth did Universal decide to give the film a 500k $ marketing campaign. It made sensational 55 mil. $ in North America. The only foreign market that was good for it was France, where it was a cult hit. The 4 minutes were put back for the 1978 re-release, where the film took another enormous 63 mil. $ in North America. It is one of the most profitable movies of all time and has exceeded 200 mil. $ in earnings with home video sales taken into accounts. According to Lucas, Coppola "still kicks himself" for not having financed the film himself. It was nominated for 5 Oscars: Supporting Actress (Candy Clark (Niagara, Niagara (1997))), lost to Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon, Director, lost to George Roy Hill for masterpiece The Sting, Editing, also lost to The Sting, Picture, also lost to The Sting, and Original Screenplay, lost to David S. Ward for The Sting. It won 2/4 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a BAFTA and other honors. Lucas returned with great sci-fi adventure Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), partially made possible due to profits from American Graffiti. A sequel by Bill L. Norton featuring most of the original cast, More American Graffiti (1979) was released to a much smaller reception. American Graffiti is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of American Graffiti?
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