Luckily, I didn't dwell on it too long. Nostalgia is healthy for the mind and soul. Filmmakers have found inspiration in their early lives, turning their experiences growing up into classic films. Peter Yates BREAKING AWAY (1979) about four young friends caught between high school and college living in Bloomington, Indiana is based on screenwriter Steve Tesich's experiences while attending Indiana University. Barry Levinson borrowed his growing up in Baltimore to make three semi-autobiographical films including DINER (1982), TIN MEN (1987), and AVALON (1990). More recently, Steven Spielberg went back to his young life to show how he became a young filmmaker in THE FABELMANS (2022). But my favorite film that takes an audience back to a seemingly more innocent, fun era in 1962 is George Lucas's AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973). Lucas's first film THX-1138 (1971), a dystopian science fiction film had bombed. His friend and mentor Francis Coppola suggested he make a more personal film for his sophomore effort and AMERICAN GRAFFITI emerged from that guidance, a movie about teenagers and rock & roll, and the uniquely American mating ritual of cruising in your car to pickup girls.
The profound effect that AMERICAN GRAFFITI had on me as a nine-year-old is immeasurable. No, I did not get to see the film when it was released in 1973. But I had neighbors, four brothers recently relocated from Ohio, older than me who lived in the cul-de-sac below my house. They had seen AMERICAN GRAFFITI and they owned the soundtrack. My first AMERICAN GRAFFITI experience was going to their house and listening to the early rock and roll songs and ballads by artists like the Beach Boys, Bill Haley and the Comets, the Platters, Buddy Holly, and Fats Domino among others. The music so inspired me that I convinced three of my classmates to perform a lip sync to one of GRAFFITI'S songs "Little Darlin" by the Diamonds at a second grade talent show. In junior high school, we had a 50's dance one year (I think inspired by AMERICAN GRAFFITI and the TV show HAPPY DAYS). All the boys came to the dance in lettermen's jackets and the girls in poodle skirts borrowed from our parents and grandparents. There was a 50's dance competition. A female classmate of mine and I won the Cha-Cha competition (still one of my proudest accomplishments). AMERICAN GRAFFITI reawakened our collective love for nostalgia and the past whether it was classic cars, clothing styles, or music.
With a screenplay by George Lucas and the husband-and-wife team of Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck (INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM), produced by Francis Coppola, and directed by George Lucas based on his high school years growing up in Modesto, California, AMERICAN GRAFFITI takes place the last summer night in 1962 in a small northern California valley town. Four young men cross paths at Mel's Drive-In aka Burger City, their futures that night fresh and unknown. Steve Bolander (Ron Howard) and Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfus) are headed to college on the East coast the next morning. Steve is dating Curt's younger sister Laurie Henderson (Cindy Williams). Terry "the Toad" Fields (Charles Martin Smith) is the nerd of the bunch, terrible at convincing any girls to go out with him or look cool riding a moped. Terry looks up to John Milner (Paul Le Mat), tall and handsome who drives the fastest hot rod in town. The film tracks the adventures of each of them that night before they go their separate ways as the omniscient local DJ (Wolfman Jack) plays music and reads love dedications over the soundtrack.
Steve, Laurie, and Curt go back to their high school where the freshman sock hop is happening (and the band Flash Cadillac and the Continentals perform). On the way, Curt catches sight of a beautiful blonde (Suzanne Somers) in a white Thunderbird who mouths "I love you" to him before driving off. Curt will spend the rest of the night trying to find this mystery "goddess." At the dance, Steve (former class president) suggests to Laurie (current head cheerleader) that they date other people while he's away at college and she finishes her senior year of high school. This doesn't sit well with Laurie. Curt's undecided if he wants to go to college yet. Curt leaves the dance and catches a ride with former fling Wendy (Deby Celiz) and her friend Bobbie (Lynne Marie Stewart). They cruise around town. Curt gets tangled up with a local gang called the Pharaohs led by Joe (Bo Hopkins) and two other members Carlos (Manuel Padilla, Jr) and Ants (Beau Gentry). He's forced to pull a prank on the local police in town, winning the admiration of the Pharaohs who want to make Curt a member through a blood initiation (Curt politely declines).
Steve asks Terry to watch his car while he goes away to college. Terry's ecstatic and begins cruising 3rd Street in his new "car" where he picks up Debbie (Candy Clark), a slightly kooky girl who's impressed with his new wheels and that Terry thinks she looks like "Connie Stevens." Debbie will prove to be more than Terry can handle as he tries to buy alcohol for her (witnessing an armed robbery in the process), makes out with her by the canal, and gets violently sick from the alcohol. John cruises the strip looking for girls and hears from other drivers that a cowboy named Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford) is looking to race him. John feels the pressure as the best racer in town having to fend off rivals. John flirts with a car full of girls and accidentally takes in juvenile 12-year-old Carol (Mackenzie Phillips) who wants to stay out all night. Carol manages to pierce John's tough guy image as she and John pull some pranks on other teenage girls cars cruising before Falfa finds John and challenges him to a drag race.
Steve and Laurie drive to the canal to make out but end up having another fight. Laurie kicks him out of her car and drives off. Steve runs into Terry and Debbie who have lost Steve's car at the canal. They walk back to Burger City. Curt drives to a small radio station outside of town to find Wolfman Jack and make a dedication and leave a phone booth number for the T-Bird blonde to call. Terry and Debbie stumble across Steve's stolen car. Terry gets beat up by the thieves who stole it but John comes to the rescue after dropping Carol off at her home. Steve talks to Burger City waitress Budda (Jana Bellan) and tells her he and Laurie broke up. Laurie sees Steve and Budda talking, becomes jealous, and jumps into Bob Falfa's '55 Chevy. Steve finds out Laurie's with Falfa and takes his car back from Terry as they all head out to Paradise Road for the climactic drag race between John and Falfa. During the race, Falfa crashes but he and Laurie walk away from his smashed-up Chevy before it explodes. Terry tells John he's still the king. John admits he was losing the race before the crash. Steve tells Laurie he's not going to college back East and they get back together. They all go to the airport the next morning to see Curt off to college who has changed his mind after his encounter with Wolfman Jack. AMERICAN GRAFFITI concludes with high school senior photos of Steve, Curt, John, and Terry and what became of them after that final summer night together. It's a poignant conclusion to a nostalgic trip down George Lucas's Memory Lane.
AMERICAN GRAFFITI is a time capsule of a period of innocence in America, right after the Cold War but before the Vietnam War and John F. Kennedy's assassination. A period after Elvis was king, Buddy Holly died, and before the British Invasion. Director Lucas shows us a slice of Americana, a place where waitresses (or carhops) at a Drive-In deliver your cheeseburger and cherry coke to your car on roller skates. A place where every teenager has a bitchin or boss Chevy or Ford automobile. A place where you could go to a dance and do the "hop", the "swing", or the "cha-cha." A place where rock and roll music permeates the airwaves from car radios throughout the night. A place where good natured pranks like throwing water balloons or letting off a cherry bomb in the boys bathroom or smearing whipped cream on cars or "mooning" a passing car by pressing your butt cheeks against the car window or pulling down someone's pants in front of a girl was as wild as it got in a small town in 1962.
It's not all sock hops, milk shakes, and crew cuts though in AMERICAN GRAFFITI. The film has a dark side as well. When Curt talks to Mr. Wolfe (Terry McGovern), one of his favorite teachers at the freshman dance, they're interrupted by Jane (Kay Lenz but credited as Kay Ann Kemper), a pretty student who needs to talk to Mr. Wolfe privately. We never know what their teacher/student discussion is as Curt walks off. Is it an inappropriate relationship? Could Jane be pregnant? The film leaves it a mystery. During the night, John Milner takes Carol to an automobile graveyard. Perhaps foreshadowing John's future, John tells Carol the tragic demise of each wrecked car and its hot rod driver. One racer was killed by a drunk driver he confides to Carol. Throughout AMERICAN GRAFFITI, we witness John as a cool customer with fast car driving skills. But he's also cognizant of safety where other hot shots like Bob Falfa are not. Drag racing is a dangerous business especially for teenagers. John realizes that with high speeds, death could be around the next curve or intersection.
At first glance, there doesn't seem to be much in common between AMERICAN GRAFFITI and Lucas's next slightly larger space fantasy four years later called STAR WARS. One GRAFFITI character hints at a connection. Wolfman Jack in a way is a mystical, enigmatic character similar to STAR WARS Obi-Wan Kenobi or Yoda or even the wizard from THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939). For most of GRAFFITI, we never see the Wolfman. We only hear him. Stories abound from teenagers that the Wolfman transmits his radio show thousands of miles away in Mexico. Curt learns from Joe of the Pharoahs that the Wolfman is really just on the outskirts of town, in a non-descript building. Curt visits the Wolfman at the station (only the Wolfman pretends at first to just be a guy working for the famed DJ). Curt's interaction with the Wolfman will alter his life choice. Like Luke Skywalker leaving Tatooine after meeting Obi-Wan, Curt decides to go back East to college afterall. Of the four main characters in AMERICAN GRAFFITI, only Curt, who met the Wolfman, leaves town to find his future.
Lucas's use of music in AMERICAN GRAFFITI is groundbreaking. The movie's soundtrack is not a composed score but a series of late 50s and early 60s rock and roll songs and ballads. Lucas and his sound editor Walter Murch place each music selection to coincide with the mood or action of the scene. The Platters "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" comes on at the sock hop when Steve and Laurie are forced to dance after having a fight about dating other people. Steve is blinded by his desire to date other women while at college. When John is tricked by a car full of girls to take 12-year-old minor Carol as a passenger, freeing her older sister from babysitting her for the night, Del Shannon's "Runaway" plays on the radio. It's a radical idea, using actual rock and roll songs to illicit emotions rather than a traditional score. A big chunk of AMERICAN GRAFFITI'S budget ($80,000) went to purchasing the rights to each song ($2,000 per song). Lucas would come up with the idea of putting out an AMERICAN GRAFFITI soundtrack with all the songs on it. The album would become a best seller. After the success of the album, the price to purchase the rights to an artist or groups song or songs for a film would become more expensive.
The characters and setting for AMERICAN GRAFFITI would also have a lasting effect on future Hollywood films and television shows. The nebbish Terry "the Toad" Fields played by Charles Martin Smith might be the first modern film nerd (Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Jerry Lewis played variants of the nerd back in the day). With his slicked back hair and black rimmed glasses, the Toad is the guy we all went to school with, a lovable, socially awkward teenager (possibly you or me) who couldn't score with the girls but was smart and had useful skills to various cliques. These dweebish characters would emerge in other films from John Landis's ANIMAL HOUSE (1978) to Paul Brickman's RISKY BUSINESS (1983) to John Hughes SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984). The nerds would even rise up in Jeff Kanew's REVENGE OF THE NERDS (1984) forming their own college fraternity.
There's no question that AMERICAN GRAFFITI inspired the popular television show HAPPY DAYS that aired on ABC from 1974 to 1984. For the first few seasons, HAPPY DAYS even used Bill Haley and the Comets "Rock Around the Clock" as its theme song just as AMERICAN GRAFFITI had Haley's song over its opening titles. And I like to think that the supposed bad boy John Milner in GRAFFITI may have been a prototype for Henry Winckler's Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli in HAPPY DAYS. Both Milner and the Fonz exuded cool and toughness on the outside but both young men had a heart of gold inside. But HAPPY DAYS first appeared as a segment on the television show LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE in 1969. The plot didn't grab the network's attention. After the success of Lucas's AMERICAN GRAFFITI, HAPPY DAYS creator Garry Marshall decided to try it as a pilot on its own. Although set in Wisconsin instead of the Merced Valley of Northern California, Marshall caught lightning in the bottle a second time with HAPPY DAYS, even casting Ron Howard from AMERICAN GRAFFITI as All-American good kid Richie Cunningham.
One of the joys of coming-of-age films are the young, unknown actors who appear in them early in their careers and go on to become major stars in one way or another. AMERICAN GRAFFITI would have several actors that AMERICAN GRAFFITI would catapult to success. Richard Dreyfus had mostly appeared in television shows and an uncredited brief appearance in Mike Nichols THE GRADUATE (1967) when he landed one of the leads in AMERICAN GRAFFITI. Dreyfus's exuberance and infectious laugh as college bound Curt Henderson would land him bigger roles with Lucas's filmmaking friend Steven Spielberg in the blockbusters JAWS (1975) and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977).
For Ron Howard, AMERICAN GRAFFITI would be a coming out party for the actor who had been acting (most famously as Opie Taylor in THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW) since he was a young child. As outgoing high school president Steve Bolander, Howard had his first opportunity in GRAFFITI to play a young adult. It's fun to see a not so squeaky-clean Howard as his character Steve is slightly full of himself. Steve pops off at a former high school teacher at the sock hop and even tries to have sex with his girlfriend Laurie on his last night in town (he's unsuccessful). Howard would go on to greater fame than Opie as teenager Richie Cunningham in the television hit HAPPY DAYS from 1974 to 1984. Besides continuing to act in films like Don Siegel's THE SHOOTIST (1976) with John Wayne, Howard would make the leap to directing. His first foray would be the low budget GRAND THEFT AUTO (1977) a car chase film perhaps inspired by AMERICAN GRAFFITI'S car culture and produced by indie producer Roger Corman. Lucas would later hire Howard to direct WILLOW (1988), a fantasy film starring Val Kilmer. Howard would become a successful film director with hits like BACKDRAFT (1991), APOLLO 13 (1995), and A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001) starring Russell Crowe where Howard would win the Academy Award for Best Director.
Harrison Ford and Cindy Williams were part of a group of young actors that included Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, and John Cazale who worked with the young filmmakers Coppola and Lucas in their early films. Both Ford and Williams would appear in Coppola's THE CONVERSATION (1974) after making AMERICAN GRAFFITI with Lucas. For Harrison Ford, rival drag racer Bob Falfa in GRAFFITI may be the only villain that Ford ever played in his career. Life would forever change for Harrison Ford working with George Lucas as Ford would go on to play space mercenary Han Solo in Lucas's STAR WARS (1977) and subsequent sequels and as professor/archaeologist Henry "Indiana" Jones in Steven Spielberg's RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), created by Lucas and Philip Kaufman. Although Cindy Williams would not make many more feature films after her role as Laurie Henderson in AMERICAN GRAFFITI, she (like fellow GRAFFITI co-star Ron Howard) would become a huge television star in her own ABC hit series LAVERNE & SHIRLEY (1976-1983) as Shirley Feeney, co-starring with Penny Marshall. In GRAFFITI, Williams has the most normal female role as Laurie, the dutiful girlfriend of Steve but Williams makes it her own, giving Laurie humor and pathos.
The most underrated characters (and actors) in AMERICAN GRAFFITI in my opinion are Terry "the Toad" Fields played by Charles Martin Smith and Debbie played by model turned actress Candy Clark. Smith provides the blueprint for the nerd as Terry "the Toad." He makes "the Toad" human and not a caricature. Terry has no luck with girls. He will have his hands full this night with the more experienced Debbie, making up story after story to impress her, having one crazy adventure after the other. When we first see Debbie walking down the sidewalk (from Terry's point of view), she looks pissed off like she's just broken up with a guy or had to fend off wolves howling at her from their cars. Terry's approach is different, goofy.
As played by Clark, Debbie seems like she may have been around the block a few times. She likes boss cars and cheap alcohol. She fends off a former beau who tries to rekindle whatever they had while she's with Terry. Debbie and Terry make a lovable couple even if Debbie probably should have hooked up with John Milner. But not on this night. Terry scores with the blonde and John drives around with a minor. Smith and Clark would both have durable careers after AMERICAN GRAFFITI. Smith had a good run in the 1980s appearing in Carroll Ballard's NEVER CRY WOLF (1983), John Carpenter's STARMAN (1984), and Brian DePalma's THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987) with Kevin Costner and Sean Connery. Clark would work opposite David Bowie in Nicolas Roeg's THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (1976) and appear with Robert Mitchum and James Stewart in Michael Winner's remake of THE BIG SLEEP (1978). In GRAFFITI, it's all about odd couples whether it's Terry and Debbie or John and Carol.
Every time I watch AMERICAN GRAFFITI, the one character I find more and more fascinating with each viewing is drag racer John Milner played by Paul Le Mat. The Milner character reminds me of people I went to high school and/or college with who didn't want to evolve. They were stuck in that one period of life. While Steve and Curt prepare to fly off to college and leave their sleepy town and dull lives, John wants to stay and keep having fun. He wants to cruise for chicks every night and race hot shots who think they can dethrone the king. John's a dinosaur and by the end of the film, he begins to realize it. John may exude a bad boy image on the outside but reveals his soft side when dealing with young Carol or rescuing the Toad from a beating. Le Mat's brooding performance should have led to more leading man roles but they were few and far between. He would appear with Candy Clark in Jonathan Demme's CITIZENS BAND (1977), a CB radio spin echoing GRAFFITI and Demme's acclaimed MELVIN AND HOWARD (1980) with Mary Steenburgen and Jason Robards. A former boxer, Le Mat's career never reached the peak of his feature debut in AMERICAN GRAFFITI.
Kudos to casting director Fred Roos (who worked with Coppola on THE GODFATHER films and APOCALYPSE NOW) who found future stars like young Mackenzie Phillips (TVs ONE DAY AT A TIME) who plays the precocious Carol who jumps into John Milner's car to Kathleen Quinlan who was just starting college when she landed the small speaking role of Peg, Laurie's friend. Quinlan would become an established actress appearing in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS (1991) and APOLLO 13 starring Tom Hanks and directed by fellow GRAFFITI star Ron Howard. Suzanne Somers would turn a almost non-speaking role as the Blonde in the T-Bird into a future starring role as the bubble headed blonde Chrissy on the popular ABC comedy series THREE'S COMPANY. Kay Lenz (appearing as Kay Ann Kemper) who has a bit part as Jane, the girl who needs to talk to the teacher privately at the sock hop would go to play opposite William Holden in BREEZY (1973) and have a decent career in films and television. Even Bo Hopkins, one of my favorite character actors who usually played psychos or criminals in Sam Peckinpah films like THE WILD BUNCH (1969) and THE GETAWAY (1972) gets to display some comedic skills as Joe, the oldest member of the local gang the Pharoahs. Joe, like John Milner, doesn't seem like he wants to grow up.
Some final AMERICAN GRAFFITI trivia tidbits. Check out the license plate of John Milner's yellow hot rod. THX 138. It's Lucas's (or his prop department) nod to Lucas's previous film THX-1138. Another homage is made by Lucas to his producer and friend Francis Coppola. Coppola's first feature, a horror film called DEMENTIA 13 (1963) is showing on the theater marquee behind the police car which loses its axle due to Curt and the Pharoahs prank. I won't even nitpick that DEMENTIA 13 came out a year after 1962 when AMERICAN GRAFFITI takes place. One of the badasses who begins to beat up Terry before John intervenes was played by Johnny Weismuller Jr, son of the original Tarzan Johnny Weismuller, Sr. With his mentor Coppola producing, the young Lucas had some great technical talent helping him behind the camera including renowned cinematographer Haskell Wexler as his visual consultant (BOUND FOR GLORY, COMING HOME) making the night time scenes glow and famed editor Verna Fields (JAWS) cutting the film with Lucas's then wife Marcia Lucas.
Although it didn't know it at the time, AMERICAN GRAFFITI would revolutionize storytelling in films and television. Telling and following four different storylines at once was frowned upon by the studio at the time. Today multiple storylines is the norm in television, cable, movies, and streaming from NBC's THE WEST WING to HBOs THE SOPRANOS. The use of late 50s and early 60s rock and roll songs as its main music source in AMERICAN GRAFFITI is a standard for films set in any decade from DIRTY DANCING (1987) to Martin Scorsese's GOOD FELLAS (1990). Ending the film with credits on what became of the four main characters in GRAFFITI after their last summer night had never been seen before. Both ANIMAL HOUSE and Ivan Reitman's STRIPES (1980) would use the same technique to tell what happened to their characters after the film in a more humorous way. There would be a sequel to AMERICAN GRAFFITI called MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1979) directed by Bill Norton that would continue following the characters from AMERICAN GRAFFITI that starred originals Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Paul Le Mat, Candy Clark, Charles Martin Smith, Mackenzie Phillips, and Bo Hopkins. Because the end credits to AMERICAN GRAFFITI were so powerful and finite for me, I have refrained from watching the sequel. All of these storytelling methods are now commonplace in the industry thanks to AMERICAN GRAFFITI.
George Lucas will forever be known as the man who changed Hollywood after the successes of his STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES franchises but his non-flashy film about his teenage days called AMERICAN GRAFFITI is where it really started. Showcasing young talent that would go on to have even bigger careers and unveiling new styles of storytelling, Lucas like his mentor and friend Francis Coppola would pave the way for a new wave of future filmmakers to also alter Hollywood including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Robert Zemeckis to name a few. AMERICAN GRAFFITI would introduce me to original classic rock and roll music and to a new type of dancing that I had never seen before. GRAFFITI would forever change my life and turn me into a fan of my own personal nostalgia. I will always look back and not feel guilty.
