This film really sets the bar for situational, slice-of-life, high school stories, huh? American Graffiti is a fantastic movie with heavy influences of its time that can be obviously seen throughout its narrative. This film was the one that truly put George Lucas on his path to incredible success and is a very interesting watch upon learning about this era of film history. Decent performances and an easy story to follow along with make this movie quite memorable, as well as the soundtrack and tone that was established very early on. Despite having a bit too much influence from the auteur style of the time, this movie still remains a classic to this day.
Four teenagers, Curt (Richard Dreyfuss), Steve (Ron Howard), John (Paul Le Mat), and Terry (Charles Martin Smith), seem to lead different lives with their various personalities but they all share one goal: to have an unforgettable night on the strip of their hometown before they have to leave for college in the morning. While the four of them split off on their own individual adventures, they are also looking for something, whether it be a girlfriend, redemption, or a fresh start. This narrative is perfect for this genre of film and the slice-of-life feel could not be defined any clearer. It is amazing to see the amount of influence that this movie has had on the genre and how stories could be told. This film follows practically four different protagonists and the surprising amount of stuff that they go through in less than 12 hours, but I never felt unattached to any of them. Even though some of their goals were a bit more childish or amateur than others, the vibe of all of their stories worked well together. I also loved all of the characters and how their almost archetypal personality traits meshed together for the different stories to work. My personal favorite was the unexpected friendship between John and the girl that crawled into his car and traveled with him throughout the night. What I thought would be an uncomfortable pairing turned into some of the best writing in the film. Along with much of the dialogue shared between our main characters, the writing in this movie is so deeply relatable to today's teenagers, even for being almost 50 years old.
The only piece of this film that I could not really tolerate was its use of the Hollywood auteur style of the time. For being one of Lucas' first films, I was hoping that he would utilize some of his own, original style rather than relying on what audiences were looking for. This film, thankfully, still manages to provide a story that's easy to follow along with without getting *too* weird like films around the same time. There was still a whole lot of influence, though. Many of the voiceovers and strange shots that were used are almost trademark of this experimental time in film and there was no lack of these elements. Even though the cinematography by Jan D'Alquen and Ron Eveslage was mediocre at best, they still served the style pretty well. The nihilistic ending of this film was also an aspect that was as annoying as it was out-of-the-blue. The title cards reading off what happened to all the characters was not necessary at all, given that this entire story is fictional. I felt like this was only added to make this movie part of the larger culture that was happening at the time, but it did not work for me at all. However, despite all of this mediocrity in terms of its technical elements and general flow, we still got a nice cameo from a babyfaced Harrison Ford, which in the end, is all that really matters.
American Graffiti is an undoubtedly classic, American film that attempts to encompass what life was really like for teenagers back in 1962. Even though this movie relies a bit too much on the experimental styles of the time, I still loved its story for what was presented. It never tried to be anything too spectacular but proved itself meaningful and emotional regardless. I would definitely recommend this film, especially to see the large influence that it had for the similar high school genre of the 1980s and 1990s.
My Rating: ★★★★
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