American Graffiti Notes (Beyond the Bay)

​George Lucas
            -Near death car crash at 17, figured he would be car mechanic or driver. (June ’62)
-THX1138 flop (cold, unemotional & didn’t connect with audience) $1.2M budget at WB
            -Challenged by wife/friends to write traditional film/wanted to make abstract films/tone poems & collections of images.  “I’m going to show you how easy it is to emotionally involve an audience.”
            -Directing Style
                        -Cerebral & detached directorial style
                        -Uncommunicative, no social graces
                        -Only response on set was “terrific.  Now let’s do it again”
                        -“Im going to do my directing in the editing room”
                        -Believed first 5 minutes & last 25 minutes are the most important
            -Offered movies like Tommy & Hair, based on musicals after release
            -Lucas started writing Star Wars 1 month after screening. 3 months after opening Lucas was in Allen Ladd, Jr’s office at Fox. “I want to be in business with you”
 
Francis Coppola
            -Determined to stand between Lucas & studio.  Lucas was reluctant after debacle of THX that he blamed in large part on Coppola.  Told Lucas everything was great.  Told studio they were getting everything they were paying for.
            -Absentee producer who didn’t see THX completed film until he watched with studio executives, who hated it.  “Put the freaks up front”.
 
Pre-Production
            -Script
                        -Treatment:  co-writers Gloria Katz & Willard Hyck write 15 page treatment that Lucas shopped around Hollywood.  No takers.  He flew to Caane & United Artists gave him $10k for development, which he sent to screenwriter who produced nothing he wanted, so he wrote it himself & brought back Katz & Hyck to punch up specific scenes before production began.
                        -Lucas wrote scenes set to songs (originally wanted 80 songs)
                        -Lucas used working title of “Another Quiet night in Modesto” as working title
                        -Stuidios turned down script, thinking songs would be too expensive
                        -Katz & Hyck didn’t like postscript title cards.  Thought they were too morbid.
                        -Characters:  Based on Lucas at various ages
                                    -Curt:  USC Years
                                    -Steve:  Junior College years
                                    -John Milner:  teenage street racing years
                                    Terry the toad:  Freshman year
 
            -Casting
                        -Fred Roos (Oscar for producing Godfather 2) Mayberry RFD & Andy Grif Show
                                    -90% of movie is in the casting.
                                    -responsible for casting Ford, Dreyfuss, Williams
                        -McKenzie Phillips.  Only 12 Cal law dictated that Producer be legal guardian
                        -Harrison ford only agreed to part if he didn’t have to cut his hair.  Came out of retirement from lucrative carpentry biz that supported wife & 2 kids
                        -Ron Howard & Cindy Williams:  Williams 7 years older than Howard
                        -Paukl LeMat:  boxer & part time actor.  Character named after Jon Milius
                        -Candy Clark:  Model, who came to reading in costume
                        -Kathleen Quinlen:  first part. Recommended by HS drama teacher.  Later received Oscar nom for Apollo 13 with Howard.
                        -Wolfman Jack
 
            -Studio Support
                        -Easy Rider led Universal to fund 5 films with bugets under $1,000,000
                                    -Hired Hand, The Last Movie, Taking Off (all 1971)
                                    -Silent Running & American Graffiti in 1972
 
 
Production
            -Budget:  $600,000.  Universal added $175k once Coppola signed on
                        -$80,000 of budget was for song rights (Elvis too expensive)
                        -Lucas received $25k, plus 25% points
                        -Coppola $25k, plus 10% net points form Uni & 15 points from Lucas
 
            -Shooting
                        -San Rafel kicked production out after 1 day
                        -Moved to Patoluma, which locked more like Modesto
                        -28 days from 9pm to 6am (Lucas shot 6-10 script pages a night)-June of 1972
                        -Shot in secuence for the most part (sock hop scene & crash)
                        -Sock hop scene, including bathroom cut aways done in 1 day
                        -MISTAKES
                                    -Charles Martin Smith actually crashed Vespa
                                    -McKenzie Phillips laughed when hit in face by balloon
                                    -Dimentia 13 on marquee
                        -CARS
                                    -300 (pre-’62) classic cars were used after ads in papers
                                    -Thunderbird owner buffed car between takes & warned Sommers about
what not to touch, etc.
                                    -Bob Falfa’s (H Ford) was the same car used in 2 Lane Blacktop. 
                                    -John Milner’s car license plate THX138
                                    -Cruising uniquely American mating ritual
                        -Camera Operators/Cinematographer
                                    -Lucas initially used 2 camera operators & wanted to shoot dark, but they couldn’t get the look he wanted, so he brought in Haskell Wexler.  He commuted for 5 weeks between LA & Petaluma, shooting commercials during the day
                                    -Wexler used Richard Dreyfuss’ shirt as test pattern to set cameras.
                                    -Shot in Technoscope, expanded 16MM
                        -Cast Shenanigans
                                    -Lucas’ hotel room set on fire
                                    -Ford, Hopkins & LeMat always drunk.  Ford kicked out.  They climbed atop sign on roof.
                                    -LeMat threw Dreyfuss into the pool gashing his head (induction scene shiner can be observed)
 
Post-Production
            -1st cut by Lucas was 3 hours long.  Cut down to 1 hour 50 minutes
-Studio Reaction
                        -Universal executives (Ned Tanen) hated the film & thought it un-releasable
                        -Coppola offered to buy film from UNI at preview, whipping out checkbook, Tanen & Coppola didn’t speak for 20 years.
                        -Universal wanted to recut as TV movie
                        -Universal hated title & wanted to change it.  Lucas refused
                        -“Rock Around the Block” or “Another Slow Night in Modesto”
 
            -Preview
                        -Northpoint Theatre in San Francisco on Jan 28, 1973
                        -Dream preview.  Audience stood & applauded at completion
            -Soundtrack
                        -Wolfman Jack worked for pirate radio station in Mexico ’64-’66.  Avoided paying royalties, but powerful enough to be heard in Modesto
                        -Sold 3 million copies. 
                        -41 of 43 songs used in the movie (Gee, by the Crows & Louie, Louie
                        -“World-izing music on soundtrack
           
 
Reception/Reviews
            -Coppola, the wonderkind, received most of the credit upon release
            -Universal forced the removal of 3 scenes in initial release, but after Star Wars, Lucus insisted they be re-inserted for every future iteration
                        -Steve telling off the teacher at Dance
                        -Large chair with car salesmen
                        -Ford singing Some enchanted Evening
            -70% of reviews were positive
            -4 stories, told simultaneously was controversial 
 
Legacy
            -#62 best film by AFI
            -One of the most profitable films in Hollywood History, with $120M on $750k cost.
            -Lucas called AG his “I, Vitollini” which led William Freidkin  to say “My god, doesn’t he take himself so seriously.”
            -Sequel:  directed & written by Bill Norton, journeyman TV director.  Flashback style.