American Graffiti

During the production of THX 1138 (1971), producer Francis Ford Coppola challenged co-writer/director George Lucas to write a script that would appeal to mainstream audiences.[5] Lucas embraced the idea, using his early 1960s teenage experiences cruising in Modesto, California. "Cruising was gone, and I felt compelled to document the whole experience and what my generation used as a way of meeting girls," Lucas explained.[5] As he developed the story in his mind, Lucas included his fascination with Wolfman Jack. Lucas had considered doing a documentary about the Wolfman when he attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts, but he ultimately dropped the idea.[6]

Adding in semiautobiographical connotations, Lucas set the story in his hometown of 1962 Modesto.[5] The characters Curt Henderson, John Milner and Terry "The Toad" Fields also represent different stages from his younger life. Curt is modeled after Lucas's personality during USC, while Milner is based on Lucas's teenage street-racing and junior college years, and hot rod enthusiasts he had known from the Kustom Kulture in Modesto. Toad represents Lucas's nerd years as a freshman in high school, specifically his "bad luck" with dating.[7] The filmmaker was also inspired by Federico Fellini's I Vitelloni (1953).[8]

After the financial failure of THX 1138, Lucas wanted the film to act as a release for a world-weary audience:[9]

[THX] was about real things that were going on and the problems we're faced with. I realized after making THX that those problems are so real that most of us have to face those things every day, so we're in a constant state of frustration. That just makes us more depressed than we were before. So I made a film where, essentially, we can get rid of some of those frustrations, the feeling that everything seems futile.[9]

After Warner Bros. abandoned Lucas's early version of Apocalypse Now (during the post-production of THX 1138), the filmmaker decided to continue developing Another Quiet Night in Modesto, eventually changing its title to American Graffiti.[6] To co-write a 15-page film treatment, Lucas hired Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who also added semiautobiographical material to the story.[10] Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz began pitching the American Graffiti treatment to various Hollywood studios and production companies in an attempt to secure the financing needed to expand it into a screenplay,[5] but they were unsuccessful. The potential financiers were concerned that music licensing costs would cause the film to go way over budget. Along with Easy Rider (1969), American Graffiti was one of the first films to eschew a traditional film score and successfully rely instead on synchronizing a series of popular hit songs with individual scenes.[11]

THX 1138 was released in March 1971,[5] and Lucas was offered opportunities to direct Lady Ice, Tommy, or Hair. He turned down those offers, determined to pursue his own projects despite his urgent desire to find another film to direct.[12][13] During this time, Lucas conceived the idea for a space opera (as yet untitled) which later became the basis for his Star Wars franchise. At the 1971 Cannes Film Festival, THX was chosen for the Directors' Fortnight competition. There, Lucas met David Picker, then president of United Artists, who was intrigued by American Graffiti and Lucas' space opera. Picker decided to give Lucas $10,000 to develop Graffiti as a screenplay.[12]

Lucas planned to spend another five weeks in Europe and hoped that Huyck and Katz would agree to finish the screenplay by the time he returned, but they were about to start on their own film, Messiah of Evil,[10] so Lucas hired Richard Walter, a colleague from the USC School of Cinematic Arts for the job. Walter was flattered but initially tried to sell Lucas on a different screenplay called Barry and the Persuasions, a story of East Coast teenagers in the late 1950s. Lucas held firm—his was a story about West Coast teenagers in the early 1960s. Walter was paid the $10,000, and he began to expand the Lucas/Huyck/Katz treatment into a screenplay.[12]

Lucas was dismayed when he returned to America in June 1971 and read Walter's script, which was written in the style and tone of an exploitation film, similar to 1967's Hot Rods to Hell. "It was overtly sexual and very fantasy-like, with playing chicken and things that kids didn't really do," Lucas explained. "I wanted something that was more like the way I grew up."[14] Walter's script also had Steve and Laurie going to Nevada to get married without their parents' permission.[8] Walter rewrote the screenplay, but Lucas nevertheless fired him due to their creative differences.[12]

After paying Walter, Lucas had exhausted his development fund from United Artists. He began writing a script, completing his first draft in just three weeks. Drawing upon his large collection of vintage records, Lucas wrote each scene with a particular song in mind as its musical backdrop.[12] The cost of licensing the 75 songs Lucas wanted was one factor in United Artists' ultimate decision to reject the script; the studio also felt it was too experimental—"a musical montage with no characters". United Artists also passed on Star Wars, which Lucas shelved for the time being.[13]

Lucas spent the rest of 1971 and early 1972 trying to raise financing for the American Graffiti script.[13] During this time, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Columbia Pictures all turned down the opportunity to co-finance and distribute the film.[15] Lucas, Huyck and Katz rewrote the second draft together, which, in addition to Modesto, was also set in Mill Valley and Los Angeles. Lucas also intended to end American Graffiti showing a title card detailing the fate of the characters, including the death of Milner and the disappearance of Toad in Vietnam. Huyck and Katz found the ending depressing and were incredulous that Lucas planned to include only the male characters. Lucas argued that mentioning the girls meant adding another title card, which he felt would prolong the ending. Because of this, Pauline Kael later accused Lucas of chauvinism.[15]

Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz took the script to American International Pictures, who expressed interest, but ultimately believed American Graffiti was not violent or sexual enough for the studio's standards.[16] Lucas and Kurtz eventually found favor at Universal Pictures, who allowed Lucas total artistic control and the right of final cut privilege on the condition that he make American Graffiti on a strict low budget.[13] This forced Lucas to drop the opening scene in which the Blonde Angel, Curt's image of the perfect woman, drives through an empty drive-in cinema in her Ford Thunderbird, her transparency revealing she does not exist.[17]

Universal initially projected a $600,000 budget but added an additional $175,000 once producer Francis Ford Coppola signed on. This would allow the studio to advertise American Graffiti as "from the man who gave you The Godfather (1972)". However, Lucas was forced to concede final-cut privilege. The proposition also gave Universal first-look deals on Lucas' next two planned projects, Star Wars and Radioland Murders.[16] As he continued to work on the script, Lucas encountered difficulties on the Steve and Laurie storyline. Lucas, Katz, and Huyck worked on the third draft together, specifically on the scenes featuring Steve and Laurie.[18]

Production proceeded with virtually no input or interference from Universal since American Graffiti was a low-budget film, and executive Ned Tanen had only modest expectations of its commercial success. However, Universal did object to the film's title, not knowing what "American Graffiti" meant;[18] Lucas was dismayed when some executives assumed he was making an Italian movie about feet.[15] The studio, therefore, submitted a long list of over 60 alternative titles, with their favorite being Another Slow Night in Modesto[18] and Coppola's Rock Around the Block.[15] They pushed hard to get Lucas to adopt any of the titles, but he was displeased with all the alternatives and persuaded Tanen to keep American Graffiti.[18]

The film's lengthy casting process was overseen by Fred Roos, who worked with producer Francis Ford Coppola on The Godfather.[10] Because American Graffiti's main cast was for younger actors, the casting call and notices went through numerous high school drama groups and community theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area.[7] Among the actors was Mark Hamill, the future Luke Skywalker in Lucas' Star Wars trilogy.[17]

Over 100 unknown actors auditioned for Curt Henderson before Richard Dreyfuss was cast; George Lucas was impressed with Dreyfuss' thoughtful analysis of the role,[7] and, as a result, offered the actor his choice of Curt or Terry "The Toad" Fields.[17] Roos, a former casting director on The Andy Griffith Show, suggested Ron Howard for Steve Bolander; Howard accepted the role to break out of the mold of his career as a child actor.[7] Howard would later appear in the very similar role of Richie Cunningham on the Happy Days sitcom.[19] Bob Balaban turned down Terry out of fear of becoming typecast, a decision he later regretted. Charles Martin Smith, who, in his first year as a professional actor, had already appeared in two feature films, including 20th Century Fox's The Culpepper Cattle Co. and four TV episodes, was eventually cast in the role.[20]

Although Cindy Williams was cast as Laurie Henderson and enjoyed working with both Lucas and Howard,[21] the actress hoped she would get the part of Debbie Dunham, which ended up going to Candy Clark.[10] Mackenzie Phillips, who portrays Carol, was only 12, and under California law, producer Gary Kurtz had to become her legal guardian for the duration of filming.[17] For Bob Falfa, Roos cast Harrison Ford, who was then concentrating on a carpentry career. Ford agreed to take the role on the condition that he would not have to cut his hair. The character has a flattop in the script, but a compromise was eventually reached whereby Ford wore a stetson to cover his hair. Producer Francis Ford Coppola encouraged Lucas to cast Wolfman Jack as himself in a cameo appearance. "George Lucas and I went through thousands of Wolfman Jack phone calls that were taped with the public," Jack reflected. "The telephone calls [heard on the broadcasts] in the motion picture and on the soundtrack were actual calls with real people."[18]

Although American Graffiti is set in 1962 Modesto, California, Lucas believed the city had changed too much in 10 years and initially chose San Rafael as the primary shooting location.[17] Filming began on June 26, 1972. However, Lucas soon became frustrated at the time it was taking to fix camera mounts to the cars.[22] A key member of the production had also been arrested for growing marijuana,[15] and in addition to already running behind the shooting schedule, the San Rafael City Council immediately became concerned about the disruption that filming caused for local businesses and therefore withdrew permission to shoot beyond a second day.[22]

Petaluma, a similarly small town approximately 20 miles (32 km) north of San Rafael, was more cooperative, and American Graffiti moved there without the loss of a single day of shooting. Lucas convinced the San Rafael City Council to allow two further nights of filming for general cruising shots, which he used to evoke as much of the intended location as possible in the finished film. Shooting in Petaluma began June 28 and proceeded at a quick pace.[22] Lucas mimicked the filmmaking style of B-movie producer Sam Katzman (Rock Around the Clock and Your Cheatin' Heart) in attempting to save money and authenticated low-budget filming methods.[17]

In addition to Petaluma, other locations included Mel's Drive-In in San Francisco, Sonoma, Richmond, Novato, and the Buchanan Field Airport in Concord.[23] The freshman hop dance was filmed in the Gus Gymnasium, previously known as the Boys Gym, at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley.[24]

More problems ensued during filming: Paul Le Mat was sent to the hospital after an allergic reaction to walnuts. Le Mat, Harrison Ford, and Bo Hopkins were claimed to be drunk most nights and every weekend, and had conducted climbing competitions to the top of the local Holiday Inn sign.[25] One actor set fire to Lucas' motel room. Another night, Le Mat threw Richard Dreyfuss into a swimming pool, gashing Dreyfuss' forehead on the day before he was due to have his close-ups filmed. Dreyfuss also complained over the wardrobe that Lucas had chosen for the character. Ford was kicked out of his motel room at the Holiday Inn.[25] In addition, two camera operators were nearly killed when filming the climactic race scene on Frates Road outside Petaluma.[26] Principal photography ended August 4, 1972.[23]

The final scenes in the film, shot at Buchanan Field, feature a Douglas DC-7C airliner of Magic Carpet Airlines which had previously been leased from owner Club America Incorporated by the rock band Grand Funk Railroad from March 1971 to June 1971.[24][27][28]

Lucas considered covering duties as the sole cinematographer but dropped the idea.[17] Instead, he elected to shoot American Graffiti using two cinematographers (as he had done in THX 1138) and no formal director of photography. Two cameras were used simultaneously in scenes involving conversations between actors in different cars, which resulted in significant production time savings.[22] After CinemaScope proved to be too expensive,[17] Lucas decided American Graffiti should have a documentary-like feel, so he shot the film using Techniscope cameras. He believed that Techniscope, an inexpensive way of shooting on 35mm film and utilizing only half of the film's frame, would give a perfect widescreen format resembling 16mm. Adding to the documentary feel was Lucas's openness for the cast to improvise scenes. He also used goofs for the final cut, notably Charles Martin Smith's arriving on his scooter to meet Steve outside Mel's Drive-In.[29] Jan D'Alquen and Ron Eveslage were hired as the cinematographers, but filming with Techniscope cameras brought lighting problems. As a result, Lucas commissioned help from friend Haskell Wexler, who was credited as the "visual consultant".[22]

Lucas had wanted his wife, Marcia, to edit American Graffiti, but Universal executive Ned Tanen insisted on hiring Verna Fields, who had just finished editing Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express.[30] Fields worked on the first rough cut of the film before she left to resume work on What's Up, Doc? After Fields' departure, Lucas struggled with editing the film's story structure. He had originally written the script so that the four (Curt, Steve, John, and Toad) storylines were always presented in the same sequence (an "ABCD" plot structure). The first cut of American Graffiti was three and a half hours long, and in order to whittle the film down to a more manageable two hours, many scenes had to be cut, shortened, or combined. As a result, the film's structure became increasingly loose and no longer adhered to Lucas's original "ABCD" presentation.[29] Lucas completed his final cut of American Graffiti, which ran 112 minutes, in December 1972.[31] Walter Murch assisted Lucas in post-production for audio mixing and sound design purposes.[29] Murch suggested making Wolfman Jack's radio show the "backbone" of the film. "The Wolfman was an ethereal presence in the lives of young people," said producer Gary Kurtz, "and it was that quality we wanted and obtained in the picture."[32]

Despite unanimous praise at a January 1973 test screening attended by Universal executive Ned Tanen, the studio told Lucas they wanted to re-edit his original cut of American Graffiti.[31] Producer Coppola sided with Lucas against Tanen and Universal, offering to "buy the film" from the studio and reimburse it for the $775,000 (equivalent to $4.7 million in 2019)[34] it had cost to make it.[23] 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures made similar offers to the studio.[6] Universal refused these offers and told Lucas they planned to have William Hornbeck re-edit the film.[35]

When Coppola's The Godfather won the Academy Award for Best Picture in March 1973, Universal relented and agreed to cut only three scenes (about four minutes) from Lucas' cut—an encounter between Toad and a fast-talking car salesman, an argument between Steve and his former teacher Mr. Kroot at the sock hop, and an effort by Bob Falfa to serenade Laurie with "Some Enchanted Evening"—but decided that the film was fit for release only as a television movie.[23]

However, various studio employees who had seen the film began talking it up, and its reputation grew through word of mouth.[23] The studio dropped the TV movie idea and began arranging for a limited release in selected theaters in Los Angeles and New York.[11] Universal presidents Sidney Sheinberg and Lew Wasserman heard about the praise the film had been garnering in L.A and New York, and the marketing department amped up its promotion strategy for it,[11] investing an additional $500,000 (equivalent to $2.9 million in 2019)[34] in marketing and promotion.[6] The film was released in the United States on August 11, 1973[2] to sleeper hit reception.[36] The film had cost only $1.27 million (equivalent to $7.8 million in 2019)[34] to produce and market, but yielded worldwide box office gross revenues of more than $55 million (equivalent to $317 million in 2019)[34].[37] It had only modest success outside the United States, but became a cult film in France.[35]

Universal reissued Graffiti in 1978 and earned an additional $63 million (equivalent to $247 million in 2019),[34] which brought the total revenue for the two releases to $118 million (equivalent to $463 million in 2019)[34].[6] The reissue included stereophonic sound[37] and the additional four minutes the studio had removed from Lucas' original cut. All home video releases also included these scenes.[23] Also, the date of John Milner's death was changed from June 1964 to December 1964 to fit the narrative structure of the upcoming sequel, More American Graffiti. At the end of its theatrical run, American Graffiti had one of the greatest cost-to-profit ratios of a motion picture ever.[6]

Producer Francis Ford Coppola regretted having not financed the film himself. Lucas recalled, "He would have made $30 million (equivalent to $173 million in 2019)[34] on the deal. He never got over it and he still kicks himself."[35] It was the 13th-highest-grossing film of all time in 1977[36] and, adjusted for inflation, is currently the 43rd highest.[38] By the 1990s, American Graffiti had earned more than $200 million (equivalent to $391 million in 2019)[34]in box-office gross and home video sales.[6] In December 1997, Variety reported that the film had earned an additional $55.13 million in rental revenue (equivalent to $88 million in 2019).[34][39]

Universal Studios first released the film on DVD in September 1998,[40] and once more as a double feature with More American Graffiti (1979) in January 2004.[41] Aside from the four minutes originally deleted from Lucas' original cut retained, the only major change in the DVD version is the main title sequence, particularly the sky background to Mel's Drive-In, which was redone by ILM. Universal released the film on Blu-ray with a new digitally remastered picture supervised by George Lucas on May 31, 2011.[42][43]

American Graffiti received widespread critical acclaim. Based on 49 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of the critics enjoyed the film with an average score of 8.43/10. The consensus reads: "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".[44] Roger Ebert gave the film a full four stars and praised it for being "not only a great movie but a brilliant work of historical fiction; no sociological treatise could duplicate the movie's success in remembering exactly how it was to be alive at that cultural instant".[45] Gene Siskel awarded three-and-a-half stars out of four, writing that although the film suffered from an "overkill" of nostalgia, particularly with regards to a soundtrack so overstuffed that it amounted to "one of those golden-oldie TV blurbs," it was still "well-made, does achieve moments of genuine emotion, and does provide a sock (hop) full of memories."[46]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "American Graffiti is such a funny, accurate movie, so controlled and efficient in its narrative, that it stands to be overpraised to the point where seeing it will be an anticlimax."[47] A.D. Murphy from Variety felt American Graffiti was a vivid "recall of teenage attitudes and morals, told with outstanding empathy and compassion through an exceptionally talented cast of unknown actors".[48] Charles Champlin of The New York Times called it a "masterfully executed and profoundly affecting movie."[49] Jay Cocks of Time magazine wrote that American Graffiti "reveals a new and welcome depth of feeling. Few films have shown quite so well the eagerness, the sadness, the ambitions and small defeats of a generation of young Americans."[50] Pauline Kael of The New Yorker was less enthused, writing that the film "fails to be anything more than a warm, nice, draggy comedy, because there's nothing to back up the style. The images aren't as visually striking as they would be if only there were a mind behind them; the movie has no resonance except from the jukebox sound and the eerie, nocturnal jukebox look." She also noted with disdain that the epilogue did not bother to mention the fates of any of the women characters.[51] Dave Kehr, writing in the Chicago Reader, called the film a brilliant work of popular art that redefined nostalgia as a marketable commodity, while establishing a new narrative style.[52]

American Graffiti depicts multiple characters going through a coming of age, such as the decisions to attend college or reside in a small town.[10] The 1962 setting represents nearing an end of an era in American society and pop culture. The musical backdrop also links between the early years of rock 'n' roll in the mid-to-late 1950s (i.e., Bill Haley & His Comets, Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly) and the early 1960s British Invasion, which Don McLean's "American Pie" and the 1972 revival of 1950s acts and oldies paralleled during the conception and filming.

The setting is also before the outbreaks of the Vietnam War and the John F. Kennedy assassination[10] and before the peak years of the counterculture movement. American Graffiti evokes mankind's relationship with machines, notably the elaborate number of hot rods—having been called a "classic car flick", representative of the motor car's importance to American culture at the time it was made.[53] Another theme is teenagers' obsession with radio, especially with the inclusion of Wolfman Jack and his mysterious and mythological faceless (to most) voice.

American Graffiti was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture but lost to The Sting. Further nominations at the 46th Academy Awards included Best Director (George Lucas), Best Original Screenplay (Lucas, Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz), Best Supporting Actress (Candy Clark) and Best Film Editing (Verna Fields and Marcia Lucas).[54] The film won Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) at the 31st Golden Globe Awards, while Paul Le Mat won Most Promising Newcomer. Lucas was nominated for Best Director and Richard Dreyfuss was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical.[55] More nominations included Cindy Williams by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for Best Actress in a Supporting Role,[56] Lucas for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing,[57] and Lucas, Huyck and Katz by the Writers Guild of America for Best Original Comedy.[35]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 1998: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – #77[58]
• 2000: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – #43[59]
• 2007: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – #62[60]