American Graffiti

          Before the world of Star Wars began, George Lucas made a film in 1973 called American Graffiti. It is about the night before a couple of recent high school graduates leave town for college. Given that it takes place in 1962, this night includes a drive-in restaurant, car races, car make-outs, a diner with a waitress on roller skates, an arcade, and classic dance moves. We follow different couples/groups of teens, often crossing paths with each other. It is a super fun ensemble piece, with grooving tunes of the time playing throughout. My favorite story line is the one in which a cool dude with slicked-back black hair accidentally ends up driving around a much-younger girl -- I'm talking around thirteen years old. She's a naive youth hoping for some action, and he's looking to get rid of her for someone his own age. This film has a nice look to it, and feels genuine and true to the time. It's funny and just real fun to watch. After watching The Usual Suspects last night, it was especially nice to cosy up to a movie that doesn't require hard thinking. Lucas makes it easy to slip right into the action and feel like you're back in the '60s. With an ultra-low budget of under $800,000, it became a successful blockbuster at the box office, surprising Universal Studios tremendously. Many adversities were faced in the making of this movie, but the perseverance of everyone involved allowed the film to turn out as great as it did.