On this day in 1973, the nostalgic teenage coming-of-age movie American Graffiti, directed and co-written by George Lucas, opens in theaters across the United States. Set in California in the summer of 1962, American Graffiti was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture, and helped launch the big-screen careers of Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford, as well as the former child actor and future Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard. The film’s success enabled Lucas to get his next movie made, the mega-hit Star Wars (1977).
George Lucas was born May 14, 1944, in Modesto, California, and attended film school at the University of Southern California. He made his directorial debut in 1971 with the futuristic feature THX 1138, which was based on an award-winning project he produced in film school. His next movie was American Graffiti, which followed two young men (Howard and Dreyfuss) who spend a final night cruising around town with their buddies before they are both scheduled to leave for college the next morning. One of the producers of the film was Francis Ford Coppola, who a year earlier had emerged from relative obscurity to direct the instant classic The Godfather. In addition to his Best Director nod, Lucas was also nominated for the American Graffiti screenplay, which he co-wrote with Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck.
Lucas’ career-making space odyssey, Star Wars, broke box-office records and ushered in a new wave of filmmaking centered around special effects and fast-paced storylines. The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and ultimately collected six Oscars, for Best Effects, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, Best Music, Best Sound and Best Film Editing. Star Wars made millions in merchandise tie-ins and spawned multiple sequels, becoming one of the most popular franchises in movie history.
Lucas struck gold again with the screenplay for 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Ford (whom Lucas also directed in three Star Wars films) as the globetrotting archaeologist Indiana Jones. Raiders of the Lost Ark also became a successful multi-film franchise.
Star Wars series, the Indiana Jones films, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump, Men in Black and the Harry Potter movies.
Is it true Tom Hanks came out as a pedo, and it’s already been forgiven and forgotten?
The bullshit runs so deep in Hollywood, you need wings to stay above it.
I always did like the scene with the chain around axle of cop car!
The real stars of the movie were the ones with four wheels.
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The Toad and the Impala
No character in the movie embodies this desire to just go as much as Terry “The Toad” Fields (played by Charles Martin Smith). The Toad’s got a good heart, but he’s kind of nebbish and kind of a dweeb. He rides around in his (properly cool) Vespa Scooter, but it’s not until Ron Howard’s (total jackass) Steve Bolander hands over the keys to his ’58 Impala that his night turns around.
The Toad reinvents himself behind the wheel of that car, charming Debbie Dunham (Candy Clark) into cruising with him for the evening. The Toad enacts all of the teenage boy’s fantasies in one night: he gets a cool car, scores some booze, gets in a fight, and goes home with the girl. The Impala turns the Toad into a self-styled Tiger.
He’s still kind of a dweeb, though.
The Chevy Impala is a hell of a machine, one whose legacy is still felt today. The Impala first appeared as a concept car in 1956 and had more in common with the sleek Corvette than the thunderingly huge cruiser it would become. The first true Impala was introduced in 1958, and that model is still the best car to ever wear that badge.
The Impala marked a huge change for Chevrolet, with a completely different structure than any of the manufacturer’s other cars. It was a car meant to evoke luxury and wealth, the very definition of “go big or go home.” Everything about the car was meant to pop. The dual-headlights would be unmistakable from miles away, even in the dead of night. It was long and low and wide, less a car and more a speedboat with wheels. And everything about the body, from the interminable bonnet to the sloping roof to the subdued tailfins and sculpted fenders, was meant to draw the eye.
The Impala was the first of Chevy’s cars to wear the crossed-flags badge, and the first in their line to offer a convertible (Toad drives around in the superior hardtop because for all his faults, Steve has good taste). It wasn’t just a car, it was a fantastic promise.
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https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2013/09/02/cruising-the-cars-of-american-graffiti
My big Sis (RIP) and her hubby had an Impala just like this one. Such a cool cruiser. And I’m fond of the Studebaker coupe the girls are cruising in.
I used to work for the Radio station whose call letters they use for Wolfman’s segments. It’s KTRB which was the Top 40 station in Modesto, CA where Lucas grew up back in the day.
I was the right target audience for that movie seeing it in my freshman high school year. A guy at school had transferred in from that area wearing his mustangs school jacket, he became instantly cool. The impala badge on the recent chevys make me cringe. My dad bought the 1972 sedan with the 454 engine. Wolfman Jack was on armed forces radio and came to Japan doing commercials for private business. Someone asked him if he would come and be dj for our high school dance at a U.S. Air Base and he did. He made it into the yearbook. I had his LP he put out. Sorry I donated it to goodwill with all my records when cds were less weight to move. Thanks for the memory spark.
It came out in 1973, the year when we withdrew from Vietnam, and was set in 1962, just before we got into Vietnam. Americans craved some entertainment that would punch the rewind button and take them back to a more innocent, safer, and fun America.
That was a fantastic movie. I also have the book.