I have always had the belief that really bad movies have excellent soundtracks. It is true of "Armageddon" it is true of "A Knight's Tale" and it is true of "Dirty Dancing." In fact, it seems that in most cases, the better a soundtrack is the worse the film attached to it is. "American Graffiti" has one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard. Take that however you want to...
Actually, it's not that "American Graffiti" is a terrible movie, it's just not a very deep one. If you check your brain at the door and understand that you are watching a piece of fluff then it's really not too bad.
Set in Southern California, the film follows a group of recent high school graduates who are, for the most part, heading off to college the next day. As the larger group splits into smaller factions the movie follows the (mis)adventures of the gang. Like every other "coming-of-age" type film, there is the obligatory nerd (Toad) tough-guy-who-goes-by-his-last-name (Milner), the head cheerleader (Laurie) and the sensitive guy who is kind of the group's de-facto-leader (Curt, played by Richard Dreyfuss). Their various paths lead them on conquests as crazy as seeking love advice from DJ Wolfman Jack, cruising with an annoying jailbait girl, quasi-stalking an older woman, getting mixed up in one of those crazy hot-rod street races and Toad's quest to presumably lose his virginity. Yeah, all the cliches are there, though, in "American Graffiti"'s defense it presumably started these trends rather than borrowed them, so rather than calling George Lucas a copycat we wind up blaming George Lucas for subjecting us to movies like "The Goonies" and "Sixteen Candles."
I would liken watching "American Graffiti" to watching pro-wrestling: you have to suspend disbelief in order to buy a lot of the movie. You have to assume that a cool car is enough to get a misfit laid or that such a diverse group could ever be friends. But one thing that I refuse to accept with this movie is that I am expected to believe that Richard Dreyfuss- complete with his receding hairline and deep Richard Dreyfuss narrator voice- is supposed to be an 18 year old kid. Also, Cindy "Laverne and Shirley" Williams is very unbelievable as someone who is either young or a virgin.
"I like the color of your car there, man. What's that supposed to be? Sort of a cross between piss yellow and puke green?" (Bob Falfa "American Graffiti)
Normally, I am very critical of movies that are completely lacking in character development, however in "American Graffiti" it actually works and benefits the film. Since the movie takes place over the course of about 12 hours how much character development can there be? It would insult the viewer's intelligence for there to have been some significant overnight changes in any of these people. For all the bad things I can say about this movie, I can commend the real-time plot advancement and the simplicity of the main characters. So many high-school'ish movies try to instill more wisdom and insight into young lead characters than would really exist.
Another praise-worthy element of the narrative of this movie lies in the frequently jumping vignettes. These characters are all, for the most part, shallow and annoying. Thus we can spend a few minutes with them, laugh at their circumstances and be done with them for a little while as we check in on another set of people. Also, since each scene is segued very cleverly with a classic oldies song, the flow of the storyline is that much more creative, sort of like switching gears on a car, or changing the channel on a radio. I also like that there is a sort of "home base" for everyone, the setting of course being the stereotypical 50's/60's diner- it serves as the backdrop for the plot just like that era is the backdrop of the film itself.
One dramatic tool that I have always felt was a cop-out is the concept of the epilogue. A movie ends abruptly then a voice-over or an onscreen script tells us what happened to everyone. This is like taking someone from Point A to Point Z but leaving out the entire rest of the alphabet and the way it is done in "American Graffiti" is very unsatisfying. As if its not bad enough that they don't fill in the blanks, they take it one step further in this film by throwing in the cliche' of the rebel gets killed in the car accident.
I will probably never watch "American Graffiti" again, but that doesn't mean it was anywhere near as bad as I expected it to be. It is a simple period piece that doesn't pretend to be anything more than that. It is in this simplicity and honesty that the real appeal is able to come through. If it weren't for the sham of an ending I think I would have been able to appreciate this movie a lot more. By mentioning the deaths of both Milner and Toad (in Vietnam) George Lucas briefly flirts with the notion of implying a loss of innocence or a forcing to grow up, but he doesn't quite close the deal.
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