Nostalgic look back to a bygone era on my trip down the list of the AFI Top 100 (10th Anniversary Edition).
Film 75
75. "American Graffiti" (AFI Rank #62)
OK. Pop quiz. How many feature length studio films did George Lucas direct before 1999's "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace?"
Pop quiz answer: 3. George Lucas had directed 3 films in his entire life before he doubled that figure helming the often awful prequels to "Star Wars."
Now, of those 3 films, how many are in the AFI Top 100? 2. There are 2 films in the list that George Lucas directed, and this is the first one I've gotten to this year.
This film also marks a couple of other personal milestones. I'm now 3/4 of the way through the list, this film is the last of a bloc of 5 I hadn't seen before, leaving me only 5 films on the list that I haven't watched in their entirety. I've got 25 to go, but 20 I've seen, and most of those, I've seen...several times. I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel on this project. This is also the first film I've watched that was filmed in color in a while. The last 5 have all been monochromatic, and it made for a nice change to get to see some colors.
This film is described as a "coming of age" tale of one night in Modesto, California, as a group of recent high school graduates gets ready to go their separate ways the next day. College is calling two of the members of the class away, and this film celebrates their last night at "home."
Along the way we meet several intriguing characters, each with their own set of hangups and problems. We meet Curt (Richard Dreyfuss), who isn't sure he wants to go to college. We meet his younger sister, Laurie (Cindy Williams), who is now a senior in high school, but who is dating Steve (Ron Howard), who is scheduled to fly east in the morning with Curt, to some unspecified college. Steve is quite sure that he's ready to go, and breaks Laurie's heart by telling her that the best thing for their relationship would be for them to start seeing other people once he leaves. She is less than thrilled with the idea. We also meet Terry "The Toad" Fields (Charles Martin Smith), a little guy who obviously doesn't do so well with the ladies. We also meet mechanic and gearhead (and the guy with the fastest, coolest car around) John Milner (Paul Le Mat), who graduated with the rest, but is now ensconced in a trade. John appears to be the outsider of the group, as he looks like a guy who has moved on to adulthood, while the others are just trying to figure out what that may portend for them.
Stuffed, and I mean STUFFED with old music from the late 50s/early 60s, this film's soundtrack is unrelenting. Music is a near constant throughout the film, whether live or over the radio, being broadcast by "Wolfman" Jack, the coolest DJ around. The music almost becomes another character in the film, and "Wolfman," who makes a brief appearance late in the film, but who is a disembodied voice until then, is as much a device in the narrative as any of the people we see.
It is hard to sum up just what I watched when I watched this the other night. Without getting into long plot exposition, we wind up meeting several other characters as our principals go about their evening. We meet Debbie (Candy Clark), who gets picked up by Terry because of his bitching car (which actually belongs to Steve - who has asked Terry to watch it while he's at school). We meet Carol (Mackenzie Phillips), a pre-pubescent girl who spends several hours cruising with John. We meet the Pharaohs, a local "gang" that Curt winds up hanging out with. We meet a gorgeous blonde in a T-Bird played by Suzanne Somers who mouths "I love you" to Curt, and whom he spends the rest of the night trying to find. He even goes to the radio station, where he meets a man who claims not to be "The Wolfman," but who turns out to be just exactly that. He asks "Wolfman" to dedicate a song to the blonde, and leaves a phone number for her to call. We also meet Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford), who wants his shot at John Milner, so as to race him.
So, what happens?
Really...well...these people spend the night driving around, trying to work out their problems, or get laid, or get drunk, or get accepted. Framing all of this, and "home base," if you will, is Mel's Drive In, where the characters seem to always congregate. The film starts there, and the action essentially ends there. Mel's is where Steve goes and figures out that Laurie is too important to leave behind, and that his desire to go to college is second to his desire to be with her. Mel's is where Toad gets a second date with Debbie, then admits he's not all that he claimed to be. Mel's is where Curt gets a phone call from the mysterious blonde, and where he realizes that he DOES want to go to college, and nothing is going to stop him from that. Mel's is where John is challenged to his showdown with Bob, and he goes on to beat him in their race. Everything, for the most part turns out the way it should. The final shot of the film is Curt, on the plane, looking down and seeing the white T-Bird. It's a great shot, and it's a nice way to close the film. We then get the future of our 4 main MALE characters, but none of the FEMALES.
So. What makes this great? I'm not sure. I guess, to a certain extent, I admire that this film doesn't spoon-feed us what's happening, and just lets the story unfold and breathe. We then grow to understand and empathize with the characters, and we grow to root for them. We see them change in front of our eyes, over the course of ONE NIGHT. It's really cool. \Colors are vibrant throughout, and there is a real love for the era. This takes place in 1962, and it's obvious that Lucas loves this era. The music is great, and does such a great job of setting the scene. I also enjoyed finding familiar faces like Del Close, Susan Richardson, Debralee Scott, Joe Spano, and Kathleen Quinlan before they became famous elsewhere.
Really, though, for me...this film feels a lot like the phrase about pornography. "I can't describe it, but I know what it is when I see it." This film, I'm not really sure why I found it so good, but I did. I liked what I saw, I liked the way it made me feel, and I liked the tale that was told, and HOW it was told. It's a good to great movie. I'm glad I've finally seen it (I'd seen several bits of it previously). If you haven't, perhaps you should. I'd recommend it.
One thing, though. The title sucks.
Perhaps Roger Ebert can shed some light on it. I'm reading his original review, which can be found here. He didn't revisit it later. Let me read this real quick. Yeah, he says it better than I can. I wasn't alive until 1968, so I can't relate to the chain of events that shattered the youth of America, starting with the assassination of JFK in 1963. It's a great point, and one that I wish I thought of.
EDIT: I never critiqued the acting. Not going to. One other thing: I get, now, why the women aren't mentioned in the post script. Really, the men in this are the story. The only one that isn't "added" on as the film progresses is Laurie, and...well...
I'm not saying that is the right choice, but I understand it.
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