“American Graffiti,” the 1973 landmark teen drama that was a game-changer in the history of American cinema, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
Opening credit roll in the high school film that begat all classic American high school films, “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
Beginnings
A long time ago in a galaxy (or maybe a kitchen) far, far away—before making movie history with “Star Wars”—young George Lucas was an aspiring filmmaker, coming off a commercially disappointing film debut, and thinking about his next move in Hollywood.
Lucas’s production company co-founder, Francis Ford Coppola, white-hot after directing “The Godfather,” challenged Lucas to write a mainstream audience-appealing film. Rising to the challenge, Lucas wrote “American Graffiti.”
Lucas shot this low-budget rock ‘n’ roll jukebox film in approximately one month, in the NorCal towns of San Rafael and Petaluma. The sleeper hit of ‘73, it was full of groundbreaking cinematic innovations, one of which is the catapulting of unknown actor-casts to future movie stardom via high school movies.
“Graffiti” would secure for Lucas the financial backing and film-helming confidence to tackle “Star Wars” and was also the first time he and longtime collaborator Harrison Ford worked together. Young Ford’s star-making turn as bad-boy hot-rodder Bob Falfa in his ‘55 Chevy was a dry run for galactic bad-boy Han Solo in his hot-rod spaceship, the Millennium Falcon.
Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford) dissing John Milner's hot rod, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
“Graffiti,” featuring a culturally resonant, nonstop soundtrack of 41 golden-oldie hits, is one of the most influential coming-of-age films ever made, suffused with nostalgia and teenage rebellion in the bittersweet final days betwixt adolescent innocence and imminent adulthood, eventually becoming a film of genuine sociological importance. It’s a comic poem about the Hero’s Journey that looks like no other movie—one of the best measures of a truly gifted director.
American Graffiti
“American Graffiti” takes place in Modesto, California, in 1962, the twilight of American innocence, at the start of the Vietnam War but before the Soviet-communist-planted seeds of subterfuge took root in America via drugs, assassinations, free love, divisive racial tension, and political protesting, to name a few.
Born from Lucas’s autobiographical experiences of 1950s car cruising and early rock ‘n’ roll culture, it tells the story of a group of teenage friends and their adventures and misadventures over the course of one night.
The famous Mel's Drive-In, where car-cruising teens gather, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
The Characters
In this region of “The Valley,” hanging out at neon-lit Mel’s curb-service diner is the starting point of every Modesto youth’s weekend night. At Mel’s, the shakes are thick, the burgers juicy, and roller-skating carhop waitresses zip around, balancing heaped trays. Then, it’s off to cruise Main Street in muscled-up hot rods meant to entice the girlies, as well as engine-revving challenges, and tire-squealing peel-outs at stoplights.
The four main characters are straight-arrow Steve Bolander (Ron Howard), bad-boy drag racer John Milner (Paul Le Mat), Coke-bottle-glasses-wearing nerd Terry “The Toad” Fields (Charles Martin Smith), and the true star of the movie—the other nice guy—the slightly whimsical Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss).
The revelations they experience over the course of the night end up having a profound impact: They are either revealed to the audience in a new light or see the world around them in a new light.
Steve Bolander (Ron Howard) getting ready to dance with girlfriend Laurie (Cindy Williams) at the high school sock hop, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
To Stay or Go
Recent grads and best buddies Curt and Steve are heading East to college in the morning, but brainy Moose Lodge scholarship winner Curt is getting cold feet.
Meanwhile, former class president Steve attempts to break up with longtime steady girlfriend (Curt’s sister and head cheerleader Laurie Henderson, played by Cindy Williams) because he wants the freedom to fool around at college. His smarmy, gaslighting treatment of Laurie reveals that underneath the all-American boyish good looks and smalltown politeness—he’s not really a nice guy.
Steve (Ron Howard) explaining to his steady girl, Laurie (Cindy Williams), why they should see other people ("So that we'll know for sure, that we're really in love. Not that there's any doubt"), in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
John Milner (Paul Le Mat), the town’s 22-year-old local drag-racing legend, with his powerful ‘32 yellow Ford Deuce Coupe and his T-shirt-sleeve-rolled Camel pack, still acts like it’s 1958, trying to pick up high school girls. Milner’s the template for Matthew McConaughey’s character Wooderson in Richard Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused“ (the entirety of which is actually an homage and update of “Graffiti”).
John and Carol
A cruising cutie John Milner is interested in explains that she's going steady, but Judy's little sister is available for him to drive around with, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
On this particular night, Milner ends up getting practical-joke bamboozled by a carload of cuties and stuck driving one of their bratty, blue-streak-talking, 13-year-old little sisters around. After his initial disgust at Carol’s (Mackenzie Phillips) age, and his hysterical attempts to explain her embarrassing presence to his fans by saying that he’s babysitting his cousin, they end up having a blast together.
Big John Milner (Paul Le Mat) lays down the law to 13-year-old pipsqueak Carol (Mackenzie Phillips). She is to strictly behave herself concerning him, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
The scenes of Milner’s slow transformation into a protective, heroic, older brother are the most touching, memorable, and funniest in the movie. Most of their comedic moments come from Carol’s skinny, precocious young self repeatedly attempting to “get a little action” and throwing herself at the dashing older man, causing him to be shocked and to loudly and vehemently rebuff her foolishness. Deep down, they both know she’s bluffing.
John Milner (Paul Le Mat) being interrogated by a local cop to the immense delight of Carol (Mackenzie Phillips), in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
Curt and the Pharaohs
Meanwhile, Curt, cruising with Steven and Laurie, gets completely obsessed for the night with a beautiful, mysterious blonde in a white Thunderbird (Suzanne Somers), who mouths “I love you” at him at a stoplight before disappearing around a corner.
Suzanne Somers’s screen debut as the mysterious blonde in the 1956 Ford Thunderbird, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
Curt also survives getting “kidnapped” by the Pharaohs, a local greaser gang, and put through a cop-car-destroying gang initiation by the sly and perennially bemused gang leader Joe (Bo Hopkins).
The '61 Ford Galaxy police car that's been destroyed by a hook and steel cable surreptitiously attached to the rear axle as a gang prank, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
Hopkins’s Joe, while seeming somewhat out of place (the two other gang members are Latino), is a true alpha with keen perception. He’s the only one who knows that the mythical Wolfman Jack does not broadcast out of Mexico, as cohort Carlos thinks, or circle around in a plane that never lands (Carol’s understanding of the Wolfman myth). Joe knows that Wolfman’s radio tower is right out on the outskirts of town. He also knows that the beautiful T-Bird blonde Curt fancies is a “dirty-dollar Sherry.”
Curt (Richard Dreyfuss, C) is about to get bullied by Carlos (Manuel Padilla Jr., L) and Joe (Bo Hopkins), in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
What’s fun about the Pharaohs subplot is that while Curt’s being trapped in the Pharaohs’ back seat definitely has a hostile racial element to it, he turns the tables on it and gains the gang’s respect, which is a turning point in his understanding that he’s truly outgrown his environment.
Toad and Debbie
Toad (Charles Martin Smith, R) is ready to cry he's so happy being entrusted with Steve's car (Ron Howard), in “American Graffiti.” "I'll love and protect this car until death do us part," he says. Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
While all of the above is happening, nerd-loser Toad is ecstatic that Steve has bequeathed him the use of his car while he’s away at college.
Toad (Charles Martin Smith, R) is about to get the world's most pernicious used-car salesman (John Brent, in big chair), trying to sell him a Corvette and take his '58 Chevrolet Impala, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
Cruising around, constantly faced with the fact that even a cool car won’t make him cool, to his own amazement, Toad actually manages to pick up Debbie (Candy Clark), a bleached blonde looking for liquor and cheap thrills. “Buenas Noches!!” shouts Toad as a pickup line. Debbie’s thrilled to be told that she looks like Connie Stevens and Sandra Dee.
"I love the feel of tuck and roll upholstery," says Debbie Dunham (Candy Clark) to the cruising Toad (Charles Martin Smith), in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
Clark and Smith almost steal the movie from Le Mat and Phillips with equally funny lines:
Debbie (Clark): Maybe it’s the goat-killer, and he‘ll get somebody, and we’ll see the whole thing.”
Toad (Smith): I don’t wanna see the whole thing!!! Who do you think will take the regionals this year???
"How'd you like a knuckle sandwich?" inquires Vic (Joe Spano), one of easy-girl Debbie's former "boyfriends," of the pint-sized, bespectacled Toad at Mel's Drive-In, in “American Graffiti.” "No, thanks!" Toad replies. "I'm waiting for a double Chubby Chuck." Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
Terry’s main lesson of the night is that merely being his highly intelligent self (instead of lying about his “hunting ponies” that he uses to “hunt bears with”) is enough to impress a girl.
Debbie (Candy Clark) and Toad (Charles Martin Smith) recounting their night's worth of cheap thrill adventures, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
The long night leads to the final showdown between challenger Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford) in his black, monstrously beefed-up ‘55 Chevy Bel Air, and Milner.
Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford, L) finally locates John Milner (Paul Le Mat) to set up a drag race, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
Loser Revelations
Back to Curt (basically a stand-in for Lucas). While attempting to bask in the nostalgia of his high school memories, Curt has a series of revelations about people he didn’t think were losers, but who are, in fact. The high school teacher he once looked up to is sleeping with a female high school student, and his excuse for quitting Middlebury College stinks of the similar self-deceptions that all Curt’s friends will soon be using.
Curt demystifies Wolfman Jack, gains the respect of the Pharaohs he formerly feared, learns the woman of his dreams is a prostitute, and witnesses the pontificating Steve dwindle into a backsliding coward. Curt’s the only one who realizes how fleeting it all is. He knows if he gets on that airplane tomorrow morning, the village life he leaves won’t be the village life he returns to. If he returns.
Curt (Richard Dreyfuss, R) discovers a nameless, popsicle-eating individual in a radio studio on the edge of town who gives sage advice and sounds a lot like disc jockey Wolfman Jack but claims not to be (played by Wolfman Jack himself), in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
Music
The film’s multiple intersecting narratives and the use of a diegetic soundtrack (heard by the film’s characters as well as the audience) create a tangible sense of time and place. Throughout, the voice of all-night deejay Wolfman Jack’s comedic patter emanates from various car radios, functioning as the film’s de facto narrator. The reason every new movie featuring young people from 1973 to the present features a pop soundtrack is due to this groundbreaking feature from “American Graffiti.”
He who is apparently not disc jockey Wolfman Jack (Wolfman Jack), using a little echo/reverb to demonstrate that "the Wolfman is everywhere-where-wherrrre..." but is not, in fact, him, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
That’s a Wrap
Many other films came along later that duplicated the one-night structure of “American Graffiti,” telling a story with a gang of characters. But “Graffiti” catches not only the charm and tribal energy of the teen-age 1950s but also the listlessness and the resignation underscoring it all.
Falfa's '55 Chevrolet One-Fifty (L) versus Milner's '32 Ford 5-Window Coupe getting ready to burn rubber, in “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
As The Beach Boys’ “We’ve been having fun all summer long” fades during the credit roll, it’s hard to shake the sad feeling that the end of summer heralds the end of fun. “American Graffiti” shares powerful nostalgia with “Gone With the Wind,” which is why it always leaves you with a bittersweet ache.
Movie poster for “American Graffiti.” Lucasfilm Ltd./The Coppola Company/Universal Pictures
‘American Graffiti’
Director: George Lucas
Producer: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Candy Clark, Harrison Ford, Wolfman Jack, Bo Hopkins
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Release Date: August 11,1973
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Mark Jackson
Film Critic
Mark Jackson is the chief film critic for the Epoch Times. In addition to film, he enjoys martial arts, motorcycles, rock-climbing, qigong, and human rights activism. Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Williams College, followed by 20 years' experience as a New York professional actor. He narrated The Epoch Times audiobook "How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World," available on iTunes, Audible, and YouTube. Mark is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.
