American Graffiti is a coming of age film that showcases the many different ways in which youth is shed by the need to move forward or accept what’s given and just move on. It stars a number of great actors when they were still young and fairly inexperienced. As a classic film it’s one of those that you might have had to watch in high school and then forgotten all about since it wasn’t geared towards your era. But honestly and truly it does show a lot of interesting scenes in which the life of a teenager just out of high school and looking to move on in life becomes increasingly complicated and even a lot more stressful than it should be.
But it was still an interesting look into the shift towards adulthood.
10. The film had an insanely low budget.
George Lucas couldn’t afford to pay a lot of the actors so he gave them screen credit instead. This was one of the first times this happened.
9. Harrison Ford didn’t want to cut his hair for the film.
He had such a short part in the film that he didn’t want to cut his hair for nothing, so he offered to wear a hat so people couldn’t tell how long it was.
8. Charles Martin Smith actually lost control of his Vespa.
The scene in which he crashes is genuine. Lucas just kept the camera rolling and used it in the film.
7. A lot of studios turned down this script.
A lot of this had to do with the fact that Lucas wanted 40 songs in the film which would have taken a lot of effort to procure the rights for.
6. The studio waited for six months to release the film.
They didn’t have a lot of faith in the film to begin with and therefore stalled the release. When it came out though the movie was a hit.
5. The owner of the Thunderbird was always within sight of his car.
He would always be wiping it down or checking to make sure it wasn’t getting smudged. He even drove Suzanne Somers a little nuts by telling her what she could and couldn’t do.
4. Shooting this film caused George Lucas to miss his high school reunion.
That’s what you call supreme irony right there.
3. The film was shot in sequence.
In order to make it look real the film was shot throughout the night so that the actors would appear tired and worn out as the night went on. This provided a more natural progression.
2. Wolfman Jack was specifically cast for his role.
Lucas had fond memories of listening to him when he was younger so he sought out Wolfman Jack to take up a role in the movie as himself.
1. There’s a rumor that R2-D2 got his name from the making of this film.
During the editing process it’s rumored that asked Lucas for reel two, dialogue two. The short version of this is R2-D2. Coincidence?
It was a fun film and worth watching.
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