I really wanted this to be a 40 year old "hot take" about how you can see the seeds of Star Wars in American Graffiti. That's not going to happen, unless you want to point to Harrison Ford's presence in both as a harbinger or point out how both are about leaving home behind (well, for a couple characters). There isn't anything to suggest that the one film would lead to the other. If anything, I finally get why people sometimes wonder what George Lucas' career would've looked like had Star Wars not come along. Would he have been more of an indie director or a Coppola rather than a creator who has seen his fans turn on him? It's hard to say.
The main thought I had while watching American Graffiti was that it must've given Richard Linklater confidence to make Dazed and Confused. There's no reason to expect American Graffiti to work. It's loosely structured. Its focus is wide. The plot is a collection of small stories rather than one driving narrative. The cast wasn't all that well known. I get why Lucas had so much trouble getting funding for this and why it was nearly released as a TV movie. It shouldn't work. But it does.
I love a good meandering movie, as long as it's filled with characters I like, which is certainly the case with American Graffiti. It has Ron Howard as the closest thing to a jerk that I've ever seen him, and still he wasn't so bad. I'm not comfortable with Richard Dreyfuss looking that young. Mackenzie Phillips was funny. The story with her was surprisingly sweet. I don't really have a lot to say about the movie. I really enjoyed it. If I was the right age, I could see it being one of my absolute favorites, powered by nostalgia. As is, I still got a lot out of it.
Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend
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