Sunday, September 03, 2006

(We've Been Havin' Fun) All Summer Long

The first (and maybe only, now that I think about it) movie review I ever wrote was in 8th grade for my school newspaper, and the movie was American Graffiti. I can’t remember what I wrote, but I do remember that it was short – couldn’t have been more than two paragraphs. My parents had to talk me and my friends into seeing it, but we were glad that they did – we loved it, and it became so popular at our school that we ended up having a 1950s dance before school ended that year.

The story of the movie is so well known today that it’s difficult to imagine that nearly every actor in the movie was a total unknown at the time it was released. Ron Howard was semi-famous for having played Opie on the Andy Griffith show, but it’s a safe bet that no one at the time would have predicted that an Oscar was in his future. Same for Richard Dreyfuss – he was beginning to make a name for himself, but who could guess that in just a few summers, he would star in the first mega-blockbuster summer hit, and become a household name. The list goes on – Cindy Williams, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, MacKenzie Phillips, and some guy named Harrison Ford, who would only go on to become the biggest movie star on the planet. Oh, and the director – just a nerd from Modesto, California named George Lucas.

I was surprised to see that the movie isn’t ranked in the Top 200 at the Internet Movie Database, so maybe its stock has dropped in recent years. Truth be told, not a lot happens in the movie, which takes place in one night, just before school begins – a bunch of driving around, a bunch of clichés (boy and girl break up and make up, smart kid has a run in with the hoods, dorky kid tries to pick up the hot chick, and on and on and on…), and not much to speak of in the way of cinematographic genius.

But it works. It transcends every cliché that it contains, and without question it contains the best (or certainly, most natural) acting performances in any movie that George Lucas has ever directed. The best performance in the movie comes from Paul LeMat, who really does instill some depth into John Milner, the cool hot-rodder who knows that his time as the drag king is coming to an end, but really can’t do anything else. For me, the most memorable performance is that of Wolfman Jack, in a role that can’t be called anything more than a cameo. But his scene is absolutely essential – stuck in a little radio station studio out in the middle of nowhere, with a broken refrigerator chock full of melting popsicles – because it underscores that rock ‘n roll music is the real star of this movie. The Wolfman sits alone in his little studio, and essentially brings hope to everyone in the world who happens to be listening to him at that given moment.

Of course, the music is magnificent – a veritable soundtrack of the 1950s and early 1960s that includes a ton of huge hits, but also just enough obscurities to render it authentic. No movie since has made better use of rock ‘n roll, although hundreds have tried and a few have come close. George has great taste, no doubt about it.

Everyone knows that summer really ends on Labor Day weekend, so it's a good time to spend a couple of hours with American Graffiti. One could certainly do worse.

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