American Graffiti (1973)

Wonderful movie about the last night of summer vacation for a high school graduating class located in the small town of Modesto in 1962. We follow the characters as they "cruise the strip" and get themselves into all kinds of adventures all to one of the best soundtracks there is. This is the movie that will catapult the careers of George Lucas and many actors into the stratosphere. The acting and directing are exceptional.

The film begins as main characters and old friends Steve(Howard), Curt(Dreyfuss), Terry "the toad"(Martin) and John(Le Mat) meet at the local Mel's Drive-In. Curt, who received a scholarship from the local Moose Lodge, is waffling about whether to go back East to school with Steve who is absolutely itching to get out of their small town. John is older and has been out of school for some time and is the resident drag racer with a constant line of challengers who want to go up against him at "Paradise Road" the local drag strip. Laurie (Williams) is Curt's sister as well as Steve's girlfriend and still has another year in school. We follow them and their schoolmates through various activities including sock hops, pick-ups, run-ins with the law, unsolicited relationships with the local gang (the Pharaohs), a hold-up and a woman in a white Thunderbird who declares her love for Curt. There is much more, but too much to list.

This movie includes many actors that were unknown but later became household names such as Harrison Ford, Suzanne Somers, Bo Hopkins, Richard Dreyfuss, Mackenzie Phillips, Cindy Williams and Wolfman Jack just to name a few. The majority of the movie was filmed in Petaluma California but parts were also filmed in Sonoma, Richmond, Novato and Concord. Many of the male characters were modeled after different parts of Lucas' own life. This was one of the first films to use already recorded music instead of a regular film score. The radio callers during Wolfman Jack's show were actual phone calls from his real radio show. This film was also shot in sequence.

The photos above are of my beautiful niece Jordyn wearing her grandfather's letterman's sweater from Dinuba High School (out in the valley South of Modesto) from 1959!!!

This movie is in my top 25. 112 Minutes. Rated PG. I give this movie FOUR AND ONE HALF STARS!!!!!