History Film / AmericanGraffiti

''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 [[ComingOfAgeStory coming-of-age]] comedy-drama film directed by Creator/GeorgeLucas, based on his memories of growing up in the late [[TheFifties 1950s]] and early [[TheSixties '60s]]--and thereby managing to cram in as much of that era's PopularHistory as possible. (He was, of course, [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny one of the first to do this]].) It is the first film to be produced by Creator/{{Lucasfilm}}. Lucas's friend and fellow filmmaker Creator/FrancisFordCoppola, who was just coming off his own success directing ''Film/TheGodfather'', produced the film along with Gary Kurtz.

* ShroudedInMyth: The Blonde in the T-Bird. Everyone Curt runs into seems to have seen or heard of her, but none of them can give an honest answer of who she really is.
** The original plan was that she was a figment of Curt's imagination, but there wasn't enough money in the budget for the special effects to pull it off.

* PomPomGirl:

* PoliceBrutality: The second film features scenes of police officers attacking Vietnam War protestors.

!!Your tropes came out uglier than I am. Oops, that didn't come out right.

!!This film provides examples of:

** {{Justified|trope}}, in that these songs were still only a few years old in 1962 and received occasional airplay on the radio (the "golden oldies" phenomenon) and ''Series/AmericanBandstand''.

** {{Justified}}, as these songs were still only a few years old in 1962 and received occasional airplay on the radio (the "golden oldies" phenomenon) and ''Series/AmericanBandstand''.

* MakeOutPoint: The spot by the canal where the kids go to, as Wolfman Jack puts it, "[[UnusualEuphemism watch the submarine races]]".

''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 [[ComingOfAgeStory coming-of-age]] comedy-drama film directed by Creator/GeorgeLucas, based on his memories of growing up in the late [[TheFifties 1950s]] and early [[TheSixties '60s]]--and thereby managing to cram in as much of that era's PopularHistory as possible. (He was, of course, [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny one of the first to do this]].) Lucas's friend and fellow filmmaker Creator/FrancisFordCoppola, who was just coming off his own success directing ''Film/TheGodfather'', produced the film along with Gary Kurtz.

* DraftDodging: Possibly hinted at with [[spoiler:Curt]] in the epilogue.

** There are no [[JerkJock Jerk Jocks]] or AlphaBitch characters with any real screen time. The nerdiest character idolizes the drag racer, who shows a lot of [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Brother Instincts]] to the nerd. The NiceGuy main characters have JerkAss tendencies from time to time. As much as Milner and Carol get on each others nerves, they end up teaming up to pull a prank on a group of jerks they encounter, and by the end of the movie they've gotten to like one another.

** One of the songs that Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids (as [[FakeBand Herbie and the Heartbreakers]]) perform at the high school dance -- "She's So Fine" -- is ''not'' a vintage oldie, but an original tune (albeit in a deliberately {{retraux}} doo-wop style) written by the band.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: John and Carol can't help but laugh after being the victims of a water balloon prank, even as Carol swears revenge. At least one of the girls who pranked them also laughs rather than getting scared or angry when John and Carol retaliate by spraying whip cream on their cars' windows and letting the air out of their tires.

The movie has a lesser-known sequel, 1979's ''More American Graffiti'', which was set in TheSixties and according to Lucas "made all of ten cents".

A huge (and unexpected) hit for Creator/{{Universal}}, ''American Graffiti'' established Lucas's box-office bona fides, kicked the already-existing '50s nostalgia boom of the [[TheSeventies '70s]] into high gear, and provided the template for countless teen comedies to follow. The film is also notable for its EnsembleCast of soon-to-be-well-known young actors, including Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/RonHoward,[[note]]Howard was actually the best-known one at the time of filming, having already been a child star and a regular on ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow''[[/note]] Paul Le Mat, Creator/CharlesMartinSmith, [[Series/LaverneAndShirley Cindy Williams]], Creator/MackenziePhillips, Creator/SuzanneSomers, Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/KathleenQuinlan, and Creator/JoeSpano. Also featured is famous radio disc jockey Creator/WolfmanJack playing a version of himself.

* NiceHat: Bob Falfa's white cowboy hat.[[note]]Harrison Ford wore the hat to cover up his '70s styled hair.[[/note]]

** One notable featured act is Music/TheBeachBoys, whose "Surfin' Safari" is heard on the radio and even discussed by John and Carol. Showing the changing culture of the era, the jaded and older John hates their surf music and bemoans what has happened to rock and roll since the 1959 death of Music/BuddyHolly, while the younger Carol thinks they are "boss". Ironically enough, many people nowadays tend to think of surf music (and by extension, all rock music from before UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion) as just another type of "'50s music" (when in reality there were only three surf songs released prior to 1960, and they were more like doo-wop anyway).

* TeacherStudentRomance: It is implied at the school's dance that one of these is occurring between a male teacher and a female student, but since the characters aren't really important, it's never delved into.

A huge (and unexpected) hit for Creator/{{Universal}}, ''American Graffiti'' established Lucas's box-office bona fides, kicked the already-existing '50s nostalgia boom of the [[TheSeventies '70s]] into high gear, and provided the template for countless teen comedies to follow. The film is also notable for its EnsembleCast of soon-to-be-well-known young actors, including Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/RonHoward,[[note]]Howard was actually the best-known one at the time of filming, having already been a child star and a regular on ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow''[[/note]] Creator/CharlesMartinSmith, [[Series/LaverneAndShirley Cindy Williams]], Creator/MackenziePhillips, Creator/SuzanneSomers, Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/KathleenQuinlan, and Creator/JoeSpano. Also featured is famous radio disc jockey Creator/WolfmanJack playing a version of himself.

''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 [[ComingOfAgeStory coming-of-age]] comedy-drama film directed by Creator/GeorgeLucas, based on his memories of growing up in the late [[TheFifties 1950s]] and early [[TheSixties '60s]]--and thereby managing to cram in as much of that era's PopularHistory as possible. (He was, of course, [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny one of the first to do this]].) Lucas's friend and fellow filmmaker Creator/FrancisFordCoppola, who was just coming off his own success directing ''Film/TheGodfather'', produced the film with Gary Kurtz.

''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 [[ComingOfAgeStory coming-of-age]] comedy-drama film directed by Creator/GeorgeLucas, based on his memories of growing up in the late [[TheFifties 1950s]] and early [[TheSixties '60s]]--and thereby managing to cram in as much of that era's PopularHistory as possible. (Of course, [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny he was one of the first to do this]].) The film was produced by Lucas's friend and fellow filmmaker Creator/FrancisFordCoppola, who was just coming off his own success with directing ''Film/TheGodfather''.

A huge (and unexpected) hit for Creator/{{Universal}}, ''American Graffiti'' established Lucas's box-office bona fides, kicked the already-existing '50s nostalgia boom of the [[TheSeventies '70s]] into high gear, and provided the template for countless teen comedies to follow. The film is also notable for its EnsembleCast of soon-to-be-well-known young actors, including Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/RonHoward,[[note]]Howard was actually the best-known one at the time of filming, having already been a child star and a regular on ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow''[[/note]] Creator/CharlesMartinSmith, [[Series/LaverneAndShirley Cindy Williams]], Creator/MackenziePhillips, Creator/SuzanneSomers, Creator/HarrisonFord, and Creator/KathleenQuinlan. Also featured is famous radio disc jockey Creator/WolfmanJack playing a version of himself.

A huge (and unexpected) hit for Creator/{{Universal}}, ''American Graffiti'' established Lucas's box-office bona fides, kicked the already-existing '50s nostalgia boom of the [[TheSeventies '70s]] into high gear, and provided the template for countless teen comedies to follow. The film is also notable for its EnsembleCast of soon-to-be famous young actors, including Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/RonHoward,[[note]]Howard was actually the best-known one at the time of filming, having already been a child star and a regular on ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow''[[/note]] Creator/CharlesMartinSmith, [[Series/LaverneAndShirley Cindy Williams]], Creator/MackenziePhillips, Creator/SuzanneSomers, Creator/HarrisonFord, and Creator/KathleenQuinlan. Also featured is famous radio disc jockey Creator/WolfmanJack playing a version of himself.

A huge (and unexpected) hit for Creator/{{Universal}}, ''American Graffiti'' established Lucas's box-office bona fides, kicked the already-existing '50s nostalgia boom of the [[TheSeventies '70s]] into high gear, and provided the template for countless teen comedies to follow. The film is also notable for its EnsembleCast of soon-to-be famous young actors, including Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/RonHoward,[[note]]Howard was actually the best-known one at the time of filming, having already been a child star and a regular on ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow''[[/note]] [[Series/LaverneAndShirley Cindy Williams]], [[Series/OneDayAtATime1975 Mackenzie Phillips]], Creator/SuzanneSomers, Creator/HarrisonFord, and Creator/KathleenQuinlan. Also featured is famous radio disc jockey Creator/WolfmanJack playing a version of himself.