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Title: American Graffiti
Director: George Lucas Starring: Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Candy Clark, Cindy Williams, Paul DeMat, Charles Martin Smith Studio: Universal Studios Release: 1973 IMDB Rank: 8 |
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This week’s featured film is American Graffiti from 1973, co-written & directed by George Lucas. The film was released by Universal Studios on August 1st and has been hailed as the quintessential film about the cruising culture of the early 1960’s. Set in Modesto, California, Lucas’ hometown, American Graffiti focuses on 4 recent high school graduates the night before 2 of them leave for college. Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Cindy Williams, Paul Le Mat, Candy Clark, & Charles Martin Smith star.
Before I talk about American Graffiti, however, let’s talk about a world where Star Wars does not exist. No movies, with billions of dollars in box office receipts, no bed sheets, toy figurines, drinking cups or light sabers. No Jedi’s, no death star, no x-wing fighters or Yoda. No dark side & no Force. Without American Graffiti & a faulty seatbelt that galaxy far, far away would quite likely have been nothing but a dream in George Lucas’ mind. His first film, THX138 had been a dismal flop. He had disappointed the studio that had made it. He had strained his relationship with Francis Ford Coppola, who had helped produce it & was the most powerful filmmaker at the time. More importantly, however, Lucas had alienated his audience by making a cold & unapproachable movie that nobody at the time cared for.
Before I talk about American Graffiti, however, let’s talk about a world where Star Wars does not exist. No movies, with billions of dollars in box office receipts, no bed sheets, toy figurines, drinking cups or light sabers. No Jedi’s, no death star, no x-wing fighters or Yoda. No dark side & no Force. Without American Graffiti & a faulty seatbelt that galaxy far, far away would quite likely have been nothing but a dream in George Lucas’ mind. His first film, THX138 had been a dismal flop. He had disappointed the studio that had made it. He had strained his relationship with Francis Ford Coppola, who had helped produce it & was the most powerful filmmaker at the time. More importantly, however, Lucas had alienated his audience by making a cold & unapproachable movie that nobody at the time cared for.
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Lucas had grown up south of San Francisco in the town of Modesto, where he cultivated his love of fast cars, cruising & drag racing. Just before his high school graduation Lucas’ Italian sportscar was broadsided, flipping it several times before it hit a tree. Fortunately for Lucas he had had a rollbar installed just weeks before & his seatbelt snapped, ejecting him from the car, saving his life. As he recovered from his injuries he lost interest in auto racing & turned to his other passion, Science fiction & fantasy stories. He spent 2 years in junior college before transferring to USC’s renowned film school, where he met Steven Spielberg, John Millius, & Walter Murch, among others who would shape film history for the next 50 years.
After the failure of THX138, Lucas was challenged by his wife & others to make a film that would emotionally involve an audience. Believing the task would quite simple, Lucas enlisted screenwriters Gloria Katz & Willard Hyck to write a 15 page treatment about Lucas’ stories of cruising the streets of Modesto during high school that he would shop to the studios. Every studio turned him down, citing his previous track record or the subject matter. Without money & without financing Lucas decided to write the script himself and persuaded Universal Studios to put up $600,000 to make the film, provided Lucas could find a ‘name actor’ to appear. Failing to attract anyone of note, Lucas turned to his estranged friend Francis Ford Coppola, who Lucas blamed for THX’s failure. Coppola agreed to produce, with Universal even adding another $175,000 to the budget.
Academy award winning producer Fred Roos agreed to help to cast the film & spent 5 months scouring the ranks of young actors to come up with the group of unknowns who would go on to great fame. He had produced the Andy Griffith show, so Ron Howard was well known to him, but at the time Howard was struggling to escape his childhood image. Candy Clark, who would go on to be nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Debbie, was a model who had never appeared in a film & Richard Dreyfuss was a bit actor on TV series. Harrison Ford, who plays Bob Falfa, had to be coaxed away from a lucrative career as a carpenter to appear.
After the failure of THX138, Lucas was challenged by his wife & others to make a film that would emotionally involve an audience. Believing the task would quite simple, Lucas enlisted screenwriters Gloria Katz & Willard Hyck to write a 15 page treatment about Lucas’ stories of cruising the streets of Modesto during high school that he would shop to the studios. Every studio turned him down, citing his previous track record or the subject matter. Without money & without financing Lucas decided to write the script himself and persuaded Universal Studios to put up $600,000 to make the film, provided Lucas could find a ‘name actor’ to appear. Failing to attract anyone of note, Lucas turned to his estranged friend Francis Ford Coppola, who Lucas blamed for THX’s failure. Coppola agreed to produce, with Universal even adding another $175,000 to the budget.
Academy award winning producer Fred Roos agreed to help to cast the film & spent 5 months scouring the ranks of young actors to come up with the group of unknowns who would go on to great fame. He had produced the Andy Griffith show, so Ron Howard was well known to him, but at the time Howard was struggling to escape his childhood image. Candy Clark, who would go on to be nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Debbie, was a model who had never appeared in a film & Richard Dreyfuss was a bit actor on TV series. Harrison Ford, who plays Bob Falfa, had to be coaxed away from a lucrative career as a carpenter to appear.
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Shooting began in June of 1972 in San Rafael, California because Modesto had changed too much in the intervening 10 years to look like a 1962 backdrop. After 1 night, however, San Rafael kicked the production out of town, so they relocated 20 miles north to Petaluma and shot for 28 straight nights from 9 PM to 6AM, with the entire cast living together in a local motel. The film was shot in sequence, with the exception of the sock hop scene, which was shot in 1 night. Because of the age disparity of the cast, Mackenzie Phillips (Carol) was only 12 years old & Harrison Ford was nearly 30, there were lots of downtime issues that included public drunkenness, a hotel room fire, and an injury to Richard Dreyfuss that included stitches & is evident in several scenes, if you look closely.
More than 300 pre-1962 cars were used for the shoot, with many of the car owners driving their own cars. Bob Falfa’s car was the same car used in the 1971 film Two Lane Blacktop, starring James Taylor & Warren Oates. Lucas felt that each of the main characters’ car reflected their personality and each of their personalities represented Lucas at a certain period of his life.
As Lucas wrote the script he imagined a specific song for each scene & wrote the scene around that song. Initially, there would have been almost 80 songs in the film, but securing rights issues & length caused Lucas to reduce the number of songs to 43, with 41 appearing on the triple platinum soundtrack album. Noticeably absent are the songs of Elvis Presley because they were too expensive, even though more than 10% of the budget went towards song rights. Lucas wanted to create wall to wall music for the film, but pay close attention to how sound is used throughout, with the volume increasing & decreasing depending on the needs of the scene. Radio disc jockey Wolfman Jack creates thread throughout the film, connecting different scenes & different places. He was famous in the early 60’s for broadcasting from a pirate radio station in Mexico & would have been a natural on air in 1962.
More than 300 pre-1962 cars were used for the shoot, with many of the car owners driving their own cars. Bob Falfa’s car was the same car used in the 1971 film Two Lane Blacktop, starring James Taylor & Warren Oates. Lucas felt that each of the main characters’ car reflected their personality and each of their personalities represented Lucas at a certain period of his life.
As Lucas wrote the script he imagined a specific song for each scene & wrote the scene around that song. Initially, there would have been almost 80 songs in the film, but securing rights issues & length caused Lucas to reduce the number of songs to 43, with 41 appearing on the triple platinum soundtrack album. Noticeably absent are the songs of Elvis Presley because they were too expensive, even though more than 10% of the budget went towards song rights. Lucas wanted to create wall to wall music for the film, but pay close attention to how sound is used throughout, with the volume increasing & decreasing depending on the needs of the scene. Radio disc jockey Wolfman Jack creates thread throughout the film, connecting different scenes & different places. He was famous in the early 60’s for broadcasting from a pirate radio station in Mexico & would have been a natural on air in 1962.
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Lucas’ first cut of the film was nearly 3 hours long, but that was never shown to studio heads. Instead, they were invited to a preview showing on January 28th, 1973 in San Francisco. While the packed audience loved the film, studio brass hated it some much they deemed it unreleasable. Coppola whipped out his checkbook & offered to buy the film, telling executives they should be down on their knees thanking Lucas for creating such a wonderful film. Universal was comfortable removing 3 scenes from the film & proceeding towards a summer release. Later, Lucas forced Universal to put the scenes back in the film & every subsequent iteration of the film has included those scenes.
Reviews for the film were mostly positive, but the box office results were astonishing, with more than $115 million dollars during its first release year, making it one of the most profitable films ever made. Within 3 months of finishing American Graffiti Lucas was in the offices of 20th Century Fox pitching a film about space ships and imaginary creatures, securing a deal based on an early screening of American Graffiti. Studio head Allen Ladd Jr. famously said, “I want to be in business with you.” & the deal was struck. Lucas would go on to direct just 6 more films and none outside the Star Wars franchise, and his legacy is primarily built around Star Wars success, but Lucas saved his career, while proving a point to his wife that would serve him well, later, by making a little film called American Graffiti.
Reviews for the film were mostly positive, but the box office results were astonishing, with more than $115 million dollars during its first release year, making it one of the most profitable films ever made. Within 3 months of finishing American Graffiti Lucas was in the offices of 20th Century Fox pitching a film about space ships and imaginary creatures, securing a deal based on an early screening of American Graffiti. Studio head Allen Ladd Jr. famously said, “I want to be in business with you.” & the deal was struck. Lucas would go on to direct just 6 more films and none outside the Star Wars franchise, and his legacy is primarily built around Star Wars success, but Lucas saved his career, while proving a point to his wife that would serve him well, later, by making a little film called American Graffiti.