AMERICAN GRAFFITI

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1973 Universal 110 min

In a series of touching and telling vignettes, AMERICAN GRAFFITI follows a memorable crew of small town teenagers through one momentous night in 1962. The film was directed by George Lucas and is loosely based on his own teenage hot-rodding years in Modesto, California. The film presents a collage of American youth on the brink of maturity and the complex experiences of the coming decade. The enormous financial and critical success of GRAFFITI (it grossed over $100 million) allowed Lucas the freedom to finance one of the most beloved and highest-grossing films of all time, STAR WARS.

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That's not HAPPY DAYS, but AMERICAN GRAFFITI did inspire the long running sitcom.

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Anachronisms: Set in 1962, many of the cars seen in the film were made after that year.

AMERICAN GRAFFITI'S success can be credited to an ensemble of filmmakers, actors and music. The movie was produced by Francis Ford Coppola and Gary Kurtz (Kurtz produced the first two STAR WARS films as well) and the screenplay was written by George Lucas, Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck. The film's cast includes Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford. Also contributing great performances were underrated actors Paul LeMat and Charles Martin Smith. Look for Suzanne Somers of THREE'S COMPANY fame as the blond in the white T-Bird that Dreyfuss chases into the night.

The film was edited by Marcia Lucas (George's wife at the time) who worked on films including STAR WARS, TAXI DRIVER and ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE . George's direction, Marcia's film editing and the great music of the era are combined to create a unique cinematic flow from one scene to the next. Many of the filmmakers involved with GRAFFITI were part of Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope, a small film studio based in San Francisco, California. This group worked hard to establish a filmmaking scene outside of Hollywood. The Rock and Roll music featured on the movie's sound track became a new vogue and sparked a fifties revival.

Marin County residents might recognize a few places in the movie. Some of the cruising scenes were shot on Fourth St. in San Rafael, where a Friday Night Cruise took place for many years. And the Freshmen Hop dance scene was shot at the Tamalpais High School gym in Mill Valley.

Trivia