American Graffiti

A drive down memory lane (or Main St.)?

When I watched a Bollywood movie “Friday Night Plan” on Netflix recently, it reminded me a lot about my all-time favorite coming-of-age classic – “American Graffiti”! I wanted to watch it again, to re-live the 1960s that I experienced through several Hollywood classics. When I heard about the passing of Suzanne Somers, I just had to! So, I did. On Amazon Prime (by getting a Trial subscription of Paramount+. There’s an option to rent it as well). It was an amazing trip back to the 1960’s for someone like me who only experienced this highly romanticized life of that era vicariously through such movies! In the words of Carol.. it sure was a bitchin time!

This was probably my 4th or 5th time watching it and as before it always gives me the edge of the seat thrills of the teenagers drag racing on Main St. America, or that of the underage geek trying to get someone to buy him liquor or that studious hero of the town doing mischievous things (like messing with the cop’s car) on the last day in town before heading off to college the next day! All this fun on one Friday night in a small town in California where everybody knows everybody else… (except for this new blonde driving a White Thunderbird that catches Curt’s attention at a red light!)!

This brilliant movie by George Lucas (produced by Francis Ford Coppola) that was made in 1973, and set in 1962, is loaded with all the clichés of the America of the 1960s that we heard about (and saw in multiple other movies) – Diners with waitresses on skates, kids crazy about their wheels, Rock and Roll, high School dances, racing, guys with slickback hairstyles etc. The classic hits of that time being played in the background by the DJ (Wolfman Jack) from the local FM station throughout the movie was definitely a highlight!

The number of actors from this movie that later went on to achieve amazing successes is astounding – Richard Dreyfuss (Best Actor Oscar winner for The Goodbye Girl, 1977), Ron Howard (2 Oscars), Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams and McKenzie Phillips!

Suzanne Somers had just one line in this movie and it made her career! Talk about being at the right place at the right time!

BTW, this movie that was made with less than $800,000 grossed $140 million at the box office!!

I was staring at the poster of the movie the other day and felt that there was something very familiar about it. Then it dawned on me that it was a Mort Drucker drawing! Mort Drucker of Mad Magazine… that I have been crazy about since I came across them in the 1970s in India! I have a good collection of them from the 80s… my prized possessions! I also found out that Mort not only did the poster for the movie, he also did the satire piece for Mad – titled “American Confetti”!

A Mort Drucker Poster!

This is the 50th year anniversary of the release of this classic! I heard that it was re-released in theaters a couple of months ago. That would have been a blast to experience this magic in a theater setting! No… we don’t need computer generated graphics to get our motors running! A simple script, a director and cast with passion can definitely do magic for under a million dollars (or $7 million in today’s money). Go check out this blast from the past… you won’t regret it! It is in the same coming-of-age genre as : Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Risky Business and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!