One end-of-Summer night to remember in 1962 for five 18 y.o. Friends in Modesta California. American Graffiti is the Godfather of Coming Of Age films, produced by Francis Ford Coppola who ensured the financing, and marks the first feature-length film by director George Lucas (who was also writing the Star Wars screenplay at the time), the beginning of Harrison Ford's major film career (and his long-time collaboration with Lucas), and kicked off a late 50s/early 60s music nostalgia craze in the 1970s.
The film stands on its own merit as one of the all-time greatest comedies, and one of the Top 100 Greatest Films Ever Made, even without all the historic film footnotes and rich trivia. I highly recommend this film for all ages 10 to 110!
The fabulously integrated period soundtrack ate up the majority of this film's budget, as it was filmed almost entirely at night in just four weeks on location in the Valley.
A MUST-SEE MOVIE easily making my 100 Greatest Films list, and resides on my "IMDb Top 10 Greatest Comedy Films" list. Graffiti's immense popularity in the 1970's made it THE highest grossing film for many years after its release.
'AG' Influenced the late 50s/early 60s music and dance nostalgia revival of the 1970s, including the 'Happy Days' and spin-off 'Laverne & Shirley' TV shows (starring Ron Howard and Cindy Williams, with Howard going directly from AG to Happy Days (along with Mel's Diner), while Richard Dreyfuss headed over to film George Lucas' best friend's new horror-thriller movie about a giant rogue people-eating shark...the beginning of yet another multi-film actor-director collaboration that resulted in 'Jaws', and 'Close Encounters of a Third Kind', the two films that established the career of the most successful film-maker of all time.
Graffiti on many levels resides at the epicenter of the beginning of the history of modern filmmaking. Born out of the creative mind that was just starting to create the Star Wars franchise, and led to the new world of advanced FX and film sound production, and launched modern animation (Pixar), with the film's financial and production backing ('AG' never would have made otherwise) by the genius that made the greatest film of all time ('The Godfather'), which led to the Lucas/Spielberg collaborations, and all of this continuing to directly or indirectly influence the filmmaking industry at large (and will for generations to come), this is an historically and culturally significant must-see movie...(that is also fun and safe for ages 10+).
The film stands on its own merit as one of the all-time greatest comedies, and one of the Top 100 Greatest Films Ever Made, even without all the historic film footnotes and rich trivia. I highly recommend this film for all ages 10 to 110!
The fabulously integrated period soundtrack ate up the majority of this film's budget, as it was filmed almost entirely at night in just four weeks on location in the Valley.
A MUST-SEE MOVIE easily making my 100 Greatest Films list, and resides on my "IMDb Top 10 Greatest Comedy Films" list. Graffiti's immense popularity in the 1970's made it THE highest grossing film for many years after its release.
'AG' Influenced the late 50s/early 60s music and dance nostalgia revival of the 1970s, including the 'Happy Days' and spin-off 'Laverne & Shirley' TV shows (starring Ron Howard and Cindy Williams, with Howard going directly from AG to Happy Days (along with Mel's Diner), while Richard Dreyfuss headed over to film George Lucas' best friend's new horror-thriller movie about a giant rogue people-eating shark...the beginning of yet another multi-film actor-director collaboration that resulted in 'Jaws', and 'Close Encounters of a Third Kind', the two films that established the career of the most successful film-maker of all time.
Graffiti on many levels resides at the epicenter of the beginning of the history of modern filmmaking. Born out of the creative mind that was just starting to create the Star Wars franchise, and led to the new world of advanced FX and film sound production, and launched modern animation (Pixar), with the film's financial and production backing ('AG' never would have made otherwise) by the genius that made the greatest film of all time ('The Godfather'), which led to the Lucas/Spielberg collaborations, and all of this continuing to directly or indirectly influence the filmmaking industry at large (and will for generations to come), this is an historically and culturally significant must-see movie...(that is also fun and safe for ages 10+).