Movie 218/1001 ~ American Graffiti

Made in 1973, American Graffiti is the tale of four men in one night in Modesto California, set in 1962. These four men are all leaving high school and are going to spend the last night of their lives with all four of each other's company before two of them travel to university the next morning. The film is directed by George Lucas and was a gigantic financial success in the box office. The film also stars Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, and (briefly) Suzanne Somers. The film has no original score; the soundtrack is entirely comprised of time period musical hits. I enjoyed the movie, but I didn't really like it. Many people really enjoy this film and especially like how it captures the time period and uses many innovative lighting techniques, but I didn't find the movie that interesting. Sometimes, I wonder if this and other movies lose something on me because of the distance in time since it came out and the current date. Ebert said that it brought him back into his childhood and he loved it and it is ranked respectably on the AFI best movies list, but I can't say that I particularly enjoyed it.

***