Day
103 American
Graffiti [1973]
Screenplay George Lucas, Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck
Director George Lucas
Cinematography Ron Eveslage & Jan D’Alquen
Music George
Lucas, Kim Fowley & Karin Green
Leads Richard
Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, MacKenzie
Phillips, Cindy Williams, Wolfman Jack, Harrison Ford
Production Lucasfilm Ltd., The Coppola Company
IMDb 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes 95%
Coming-of-age
films may well just be my favourites at the moment. Probably because I am
experiencing the purgatory between education and employment myself and films
about the last days of high-school or college (as they are always American)
take me back to that warm, fuzzy place where there is very little to worry
about. This one did it less than Dazed and Confused (Day 52) and Slacker
(Day 78), but probably because it’s a whole generation older. Set in Modesto,
California in 1962, it follows a bunch of teens driving around the city on the
last day of the summer holidays before their adult lives begin. It’s not about
the plot really, it’s about being young, listening to music, looking for
someone to cruise around the city with to show off your shiny motor car. I’m
sure it influenced Linklater massively in the making of the aforementioned
films. There isn’t a character to dislike, and each sub-plot is just as fun and
quotable as the next. Full of ad-libs and goofs that Lucas kept in, the film is
so good because despite being set nearly 60 years ago the characters and their
feelings regarding their futures are relatable and their actions realistic. The
constant verbal diarrhoea of young America is fantastic, all the guys hitting
on the girls, all the girls giving as good as they are getting, making friends
was easy back then. A bit too far back for me but this film is a cult hit because
of the nostalgia it induces. It hasn’t aged too badly either.
Acting 3 / 4
Writing 3 / 4
Cinematography 2 / 4
Music 3.5 / 4
HWF rating 3 / 4
Comments
Post a Comment