American Graffiti

Introduction

American Graffiti is a film American directed by George Lucas, released on August 1, 1973 in the United States. The movie shows a group of friends of America in the 1960s. Their names are Curt Henderson (the main character, who must leave the home town the next day to go to university), Steve Bolander, and John Milner (a racer emeritus). They are on the eve of leaving the small town in California for their youth to pursue their studies at the university, to spend one last night parade and cross in their big American cars of the 1960s (Cadillac, General Motors, Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, etc) along Main Street with their small friends and dating relationship and car radios that broadcast the Rock'n Roll mythical mid-1950s and early 1960s. The movie depicts the happy go lucky youth of that time. Curt is looking for a pretty young blond he saw in a Ford Thunderbird on the white 3rd Street, going to see Wolfman Jack, a presenter on local pirate radio station that goes to their idol, and made ??friends (in spite of himself) with local thugs, the Pharaohs, Terry meets Debbie, driving Steve's car, and seduced John "walk" Carol, the younger sister of a girl he does not even know. Steve, meanwhile, remains with Laurie during part of the night (Weschler, 2000, 2-5). At dawn, a race of cars between John and Bob Falfa (a new driver came to town) takes place, just outside of town. This is already the next day, they take the plane to the university, many do not meet again but life goes on.

Comparison With Today

In 1973, his second film for George Lucas turns to the largely autobiographical comedy-drama with American Graffiti, where he portrayed American youth in the early 1960s. Having had the time, the film perfectly reflects his vision of "cruising" drive in the city, racing cars, the emergence of alternatives in the rock 'n' roll, the Wolfman Jack radio show. While the comedy is sketched seemingly paradoxically, American Graffiti is a sad movie, expressing nostalgia for a golden age, who always speaks to the audience present. The soundtrack uses thread as the radio which broadcasts American hits of the era and the comments of the moderator, Wolfman Jack, who plays in the film his own role(Weschler, 2000, 2-5). The film is very successful in the United States and is the basis for the hit television series Happy Days.

It was found that a collection of American cars from the 1960s was used to recreate the right atmosphere. To monitor their cars, some owners were still anxious to attend the filming which took place at night. The characters are inspired by the past director, the person he was in his childhood and his friends. In this film, one can discover for the first time Harrison Ford in the role of Bob Falfa. The latter, after playing many small roles in film and for television series, became a carpenter to support his family (he had two ...