Revisiting "American Graffiti"

This past Wednesday evening I visited the Cinemark North Hills to take in another Fathom Events presentation of an old movie on a big screen.  This one was 1973's "American Graffiti".  This was the second feature film directed by George Lucas, and it depicts a single night in the lives of a group of teenagers, the night before two of them were to leave their small California town and set off for college "back East".

When this movie was released in 1973, it was viewed as a "nostalgia piece" which is odd when you consider that it takes place in 1962, a mere eleven years in the past.  However, when you think about it, 1962 could have, indeed, been viewed with nostalgia in 1973...Jack Kennedy was still alive and in the White House, no one in America had ever heard of the Beatles, there was no drug culture to speak of, no hippies, and no mention was even made of a place called Viet Nam, although we are starkly made aware of it in the coda at the end of the movie, just before the credits roll.

This movie is probably most remembered for two things.  One, an absolutely terrific soundtrack featuring vintage pre-British Invasion American rock and roll.  The music plays almost continuously throughout the movie, sometimes even drowning out some of the dialog, something that I did not remember from when I first saw this movie back in '73.  

The second notable thing about the movie is the cast which included, among others....

Ron Howard, just after "Andy Griffith", just before "Happy Days", and long before he went on to become one of America's best directors, and an Oscar winner.

Richard Dreyfuss, before "Jaws", before an Oscar in "Good-Bye Girl", and many other great roles.

Cindy Williams, before "Laverne and Shirley".

Suzanne Somers, before "Three's Company" (she wasn't even billed in this one).

MacKenzie Phillips, before whatever that sitcom was that she was in.

And perhaps most famous of all, Harrison Ford, before "Star Wars" before "Indiana Jones" and on and on.

That George Lucas sure had an eye for talent, didn't he?

So, the question put to me was..."How good is this movie, really, forty-three years after it first came out?"  My answer:  It's a good movie, but I'm not sure that I'd call it a call it a classic.  It does a great job in setting the mood of one particular point in time in our culture.  It also captures the insecurities and the fears of kids on the cusp of adulthood.  In those respects, "American Graffiti" nails it, especially when it gives you that "Whatever happened to..." bit at the end.

There are some really good scenes, but I was struck by one comic scene of which I had no memory.  Towards the end of the movie Laurie (Williams), after a fight with boyfriend Steve (Howard) allows herself to be picked up by Bob Falfa (Ford). She jumps into Ford's hot rod  and icily says "Don't say anything and we'll get along just fine."  Hotshot Falfa/Ford regards her sitting all the way across the front seat from him and begins to sing, in an affected deep voice, "Some Enchanted Evening".  It was totally out of character for Falfa and out of context for the rest of the music in the movie, but it worked and was just a great scene by Ford and Williams.



As with all of these Fathom events movies, it played once on Sunday, and twice on Wednesday.  I don't know how many people came on Sunday, but when I bought my ticket on Wednesday, the ticker seller told me I was the first person to buy a ticket for it that day.  Three other people showed up after I did for the 7:00 show.  That can't be good for business, but I hope that this was an aberration, and that these Fathom Events special screenings will continue.

Television Thoughts - No Spoilers

Some quick hit television thoughts.....

• The season three finale of "The Americans", while not disappointing, it did not pack the punch of previous season-ending episodes.  This entire season seemed to be a bit of a miss-mash of too many plot lines that only confused the viewer (or at least the two viewers that reside at our house).  As friend Fred Shugars has stated, perhaps, one of he overlying themes to emerge from this season is that "you can't trust teenagers".
• We are now halfway through the final season of "Mad Men" with only three episodes remaining.  We have invested six years into watching this series, and it is disappointing that in this last year, our overall sentiment is "Well, we have to watch, but we can't wait for it to be over".  All of the characters have devolved into people that are just plain unlikeable to the point where you just don't care what happens to them. (Possible exception: Peggy Olsen.)  
• Perhaps the producers of "Mad Men" should have just ended it a season to two ago and gone out on top.  It's too bad that long running TV shows feel that they must end a show's run with some blockbuster tie-all-the-strings-together Grand Finale.  It rarely works out to anyone's satisfaction.  Exhibit A of this theory of mine is "Seinfeld".

• Has anyone watched this new TBS sitcom "Your Family or Mine"?  I have tried watching it on two separate occasions, and I could not get through to the end of either episode.  Crude and awful.  And one of the stars is Richard Dreyfuss!  I suppose that at this stage of his career, and Oscar winner like Dreyfuss is entitled to an gig like this to guarantee himself an easy phone-it-in paycheck, but it's a shame to see a guy who starred in such things as American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters, The Good-bye Girl, and Mr. Holland's Opus performing in something as dreadful as this.