Saturday, October 15, 2022

American Graffiti (1973)

 Pros: Flawless acting and the solid twists and turns in the screenplay make this film something different. The plot is simple, four mismatched friends have one last night to enjoy their youth before some of them leave for college but nothing is ever as simple as that, some change their minds, several times over, others need to leave in order to save their future. The acting is also impeccable. The soundtrack is also flawless.

Cons: Teenagers apparently never need sleep and there is one scream overheard that never receives an explanation and sure, the plot is basic but it stills manages to be fascinating, though you don't always understand why the characters make the decisions that they do.

Recommend: Yes

Grade: A-

Side Notes:

-The cast is great, Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Charles Martin Smith, Paul LeMat, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and a young Harrison Ford. However, not as many of them became as famous as you would have thought.

-Richard Dreyfuss aged poorly in four years. By the time he won his Oscar, he was already going gray.

-Richard Dreyfuss never finds the girl he seeks and is forced to join a gang along the way, not wanting to commit crimes, he escapes to college though he had just changed his mind.

-Ron Howard decides to stay though he hates his little California town but choices to stay after his long-term girlfriend nearly dies. 

-Two of the four friends meet tragic, untimely endings.

-Out of the entire cast, only Candy Clark, a lookalike to Connie Stevens was Oscar-nominated and while she's great, it is hard to extoll her performance above all the others. Personally, I thought Mackenzie Phillips was great as the little girl desperate to be older. 

-The editing is also very consist throughout the film. 

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