"Lucas telling what we already knew"

Title: American Graffiti

Year: 1973
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romantic
Director: George Lucas
Writer: George Lucas, Gloria Katz, Willard Huyck
Runtime: 110min
Cast: Richard Drefuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips
Produc.: Universal Pictures, Lucasfilm, The Coppola Company
Budget: $777.000 dollars approx.

American Graffiti follows the nocturnal wanderings of teenagers from Modesto (California), on the last night of summer of 1962; before they must return to their duties. It will be a time when everyone wants to go dancing, drinking and for a car ride, among many other things.

One of the reasons that led me to be interested in this film was that it was a product directed by George Lucas himself, but that was not Star Wars. The idea of enjoying a work of this man in which there were no spaceships or lasers, was tempting. And even more, when in the IMDB (site approached by me a lot) the film had a 7.6/10, which is no small thing.

Expanding my initial description, American Graffiti would become to be the equivalent of going overnight to document the comings and goings of different groups of adolescents, and go with the camera jumping from character to character, witnessing how the circumstances are given for each one of them. The problem I encountered was the lack of an interesting storyline; merely tells us how to live those hours each.

The film starts, and after the opening credits we are raising awareness of different characters, which in this case are mostly friends and acquaintances together, and then each will take its course. John (Paul Le Mat), one of these, picks out a ride in his car, and then let the night decide what is going to happen. On the other hand we have Steve (Ron Howard as very young), which about to leave the city gives his car to his friend Terry (Charles Martin Smith), in order to watch it for him. Instead, Steve will spend these last hours with his girlfriend, from whom he will be then detached for a few months.

From this premise, Lucas basically goes back and forth, showing us how things are going for Terry (who gets a girlfriend), Steve and Laurie (who fight and then reconciled), for Curt (which must survive a group of mischievous thieves) and John (who gets a not very pleasant traveling companion). Thus, summarizing nearly two hours of footage, in which there are no too flashy conflicts.

Something that caught my attention was reading the comments of several fans who gave the film high marks, but that you could tell they had to feel identified with the displayed events, not necessarily because the film itself could have seemed good for them. In this case, I could say that the situations addressed by Lucas are effectively credible both in the 60's and today. However, I believe that as much as one takes everyday items to build a movie can never forget that it is not enough to show us what we already know from the daily, and it is necessary to have something that adds a bonus of appealing to the stories. Because it is very well to want to show on the big screen the feelings of youth, if you want to have fun, but ... What about the conflict? Without a conflict that draws us in, what will keep us sitting in the chairs?

My rating: 3/10

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