American Graffiti (1973)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: One of the most influential of all teen films, American Graffiti is a funny, nostalgic, and bittersweet look at a group of recent high school grads' last days of innocence.
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Cast
as Curt
as Steve
as John
as Laurie
as Falfa
as Blonde in T-Bird
as Rock Band
as Terry
as Debbie
as Carol
as XERB Disc Jockey
as Joe Young
as Carlos
as Ants
as Jane
as Peg
as Eddie
as Mr. Wolfe
as Girl
as Announcer
as Car Salesman
as Budda
as Vic
as Man at Accident
as Al
as Judy
as Carhop #2
as Hank
as Policeman Holstein
as Jeff Pazzuto
as Ferber
as Girl in Studebaker
as Falfa's Girl
as Balloon Girl
as Gas Station Attendant
as Wendy
as Carlos
as Bobbie
as Kip Pullman
as Bozo
as Girl in Dodge
as Falfa's Girl
as Man at Accident
as Kid at Accident
as Rock Band
as Dale
as Mr. Wolfe
as Man
as Bum
as Clerk
as Thief
as Manin Alley
as Old Man
as Old Woman
as Badass #1
as Mr. Gordon
as Hank
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Critic Reviews for American Graffiti
All Critics (44) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (2) | DVD (6)
The movie is a comic poem which celebrates the past but also catalogues its textures with telling precision. American Graffiti looks like no other movie, an achievement which is always the best measure of a truly gifted director.
This superb and singular film catches not only the charm and tribal energy of the teen-age 1950s but also the listlessness and the resignation that underscored it all like an incessant bass line in one of the rock-'n'-roll songs of the period.
There is brilliant interplaying and underplaying, of script, performers and direction which will raise howls of laughter from audiences, yet never descends on the screen to overdone mugging, pratfall and other heavy-handed devices normally employed.
A brilliant work of popular art, it redefined nostalgia as a marketable commodity and established a new narrative style, with locale replacing plot, that has since been imitated to the point of ineffectiveness.
The film that launched a thousand careers.
American Graffiti acts almost as a milestone to show us how far (and in many cases how tragically) we have come.
Audience Reviews for American Graffiti
George Lucas is happily in his element discussing, remembering, life in small town United States before the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the arrival of the Beatles. While there's old cars and plenty of early rock and roll radio, malt shops and cruising the strip, it's in the electricity of the sock hops that Lucas really feels his groove. Nice stuff, even if the thrust of the thing is chiefly about how being white and well thought of is no guarantee of happiness. Of the four main characters, clichès all (one squeaky clean class president, one James Dean-like gearhead, one "smart guy", and one spazz nerdtype), only one "gets lucky" and he gets an asswhupping. Luckily the music saves the thing.
Super Reviewer
My favorite George Lucas film, "American Graffiti" nails youthful nostalgia almost perfectly, with believably charming, yet confused characters, an incredible, almost omnipresent soundtrack, and great car-based visuals which are trance-inducing as well as useful in placing audiences firmly within the strangely familiar world of teenagers in 1962.
Super Reviewer
"American Graffiti" is the type of movie that I can see a lot of people disliking, but by the end of the movie, after all the characters go through their transformations, it is very interesting, funny, and heart warming to see how mature kids used to be, when they needed to be. They still have an insane amount of fun while knowing that life is coming, tomorrow. Their plan is to have one last great night on the town, picking up girls, having sex, and street racing. There have been many films made that are similar to this concept, but George Lucas directs this in ways that I never would have seen coming. The characters are loveable, the premise is relatable, an the era of the 1960's was captured with perfection. The retro feel of the entire movie had a smile on my face. Still, it feels a little too long and some of the dialogue is corny. Overall, "American Graffiti" is a classic teen dramedy that everyone can relate to. It's terrific entertainment!
Super Reviewer
American Graffiti Quotes
| Debbie: | Besides, it only took me one night to realize if brains were dynamite you couldn't blow your nose. |
| Carol: | Your car is uglier than I am. That didn't come out right. |
| Curt Henderson: | I'm telling you this was the most perfect, dazzling creature I've ever seen! |
| Steve Bolander: | She's gone. Forget it. |
| Curt Henderson: | She spoke to me, she spoke to me right through the window. I think she said I love you...That means nothing to you people?...You have no romance, no soul?...Someone wants me. Someone roaming the streets wants me...Will you turn the corner? |
| Curt Henderson: | She spoke to me, she spoke to me right through the window. I think she said I love you. That means nothing to you people? You have no romance, no soul? Someone wants me. Someone roaming the streets wants me. Will you turn the corner? |
| Steve Bolander: | Do you want to end up like John? You just can't stay 17 forever! |
| Steve Bolander: | You wanna end up like John? You just can't stay seventeen forever. |
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