Motion Pictures American Graffiti - The Perfect Car Movie?

I read about the making of Grand Prix, the props and actors. Good read. Here in center of CT in '62 me and my friend would pedal our bicycles after supper about 4/5 miles to the McDonald's in Newington on the Berlin Turnpike to catch what ever cars would show up. Street racing was big time and state police had a crack down. Saw some pretty neat stuff, both cars and girls. Pedaling home in the dark was not fun but we survived. Now its at Dunkin across the street, mostly late model, some big money racing. My shoebox looks out of place but I don't have to peddle home in the dark.

 

No. It's about the trials and tribulations of local kids during their last summer night together before going away .
But it has cars in it.

 

I don’t think anyone thought of it as a history lesson. More of a reminder of how things used to be when we did not have a care in the world except for cars, girls and booze. My friends an my American Graffiti did not happen until 1982. But the same stuff was still happening all around us.

 

You mean it’s not?!! My exwife used to say me and my 65 were. Now I’m going to have to sell it.

 

As much as I’ve always liked AG, as a kid who grew up cruising the Ft Lauderdale beach scene +/- 1980 I related more to Hollywood Knights. Although supposedly set in 1965, I always thought it had an OT 70’s vibe.

Losing the last night angst, and adding all the goofy shit we were doing, was more us. (“. . . It does have little Wang to it”)

Besides, how can you not love a movie with Michelle Pfeiffer, Project X, and a Tony Nancy cameo?

I think HK is why I’ve always wanted a 61’ Starliner with slot mags.

 

I liked it, I lived it back in the day, 60's, cruising, street racing, what great fun times and memories for me. I like all car/race movies, all have weak story lines IMO but the cars/girls are always good, not hard to look at. Now old and a 50 year old hottie is a kid now LOL It seems to go hand in hand, fast cars and pretty women like soup and sandwich.

 

For me, American graffiti is pure magic.
We cruised back in the mid to late '70s from the time I was about 15 until the time I was about 20.
American graffiti summons up the emotions that I went through while cruising that I can no longer experience.
Things like the nervous hope and anticipation of meeting a new girl. The fantasy that I would get in a street race against somebody who was known as the best, and trounce him, and then receive all the accolades and glory that would come along with that. The fear of the cops, who were always hassling us. The struggle to get alcohol and the consequences. The conflicting feeling of comradery, yet at times feeling alone among friends. The occasional fear and threat of getting beat up. The humor, the laughs, the totally carefree fun and reckless antics. And of course being surrounded by really cool cars, cruising up and down the main drag till the wee hours of the morning, always hoping to meet that new girl.
I lived it then, they were wonderful times that I will never relive. Watching the movie takes me back through that.

 

American Grafitie was what it was back in 62 when I was in High School with a 32 5W.
Paul in CT

 

yes this a great film...young love, a hot car, what more could one ask for.....motorsports molly is on facebook a lot.

 

I donated today. The rest is up to you teabags!

 

The film Strange Adventure with the Glen Hooker Valley Custom Shop Merc was a good one too.

1. A Strange Adventure (1956) - IMDb
   www.imdb.com/title/tt0049804
   A Strange Adventure: Directed by William Witney. With Joan Evans, Ben Cooper, Marla English, Jan Merlin. A trio of thieves make their getaway by kidnapping a young hot-rodder, and take over a mountain cabin for a hideout after overpowering its occupants.

 

And Running Wild with Mamie Vandoren -

1. Running Wild (1955) - IMDb
   www.imdb.com/title/tt0048571
   Running Wild: Directed by Abner Biberman. With William Campbell, Mamie Van Doren, Keenan Wynn, Kathleen Case. A young rookie cop goes undercover to bust up an auto theft ring run by juvenile delinquents.
   

 

How he pronounced the intersection 0:31 made me laugh out loud.

Hilarious.

I agree about American Graffiti. Loved it when I saw it when it came out.

IMO, the ending scene below was one of the more riveting scenes I've ever seen in a movie.

The low frequency hum of the DC-3 really gave it dramatic impact.

 

Purely for historical accuracy, the aircraft seen in the end of AG, is a Douglas DC-7C, so that isn't a DC-3 sound that you are referring to.
The DC-3 has two Pratt & Whitney 1830 Radials, the Douglas DC-7C has four Pratt & Whitney R-3350 Duplex-Cyclones.

Just sayin!

 

I was born in 1986 so I never experienced the culture depicted in the film either. In the early 2000s Cruisin OCMD was the closest thing I found. Everyone cruised the strip, hung out in parking lots, all kinds of cars and people enjoying cars and cruising. Unfortunately that show got extremely out of hand

 

I drive past this spot about once a month, it has transformed over the years. Way back, there was actually Start/ Finish lines painted on the roadway from the locals who would race out there, even crossed flags at the finish. A subdivision sprouted behind the Start, and a golf course on the other side of the road, and for many years the crash side was still just hay fields. The golf course seems to have gone bust and reverted back to weeds, and a few years ago the crash side was planted in vineyards- but the PG&E substation is still there

 

Only you can say what's OT, but a (not really) vintage Ferarri 275 burning thru Paris in the wee hours? Yeah, moving, and it doesn't speak. IT SCREAMS.

 

Well, I'm a "Hollywood Knights" guy more than AG. I like em both but we were fkn dickheads, assholes, toruble makers, street racers. Some of us more serious than others. We didn't spike the punch, but we did enough. We were Michigan Street Unlimited, and frankly we did good charitable shit too. But HK over AG all day. 2 good reasons:

 

I was 13 when Graffiti was released and saw it several times in theaters. I got a copy of it on VHS and watched that many dozens of times. My cousin is 14 years older than I and is two years younger than Modesto native George Lucas. My cousin attended Turlock High and went up to Modesto to cruise. He said the following:

The movie was made in 1973, depicting a single night in the summer of 1962 (Lucas was 18 in '62.) I remember thinking that that movie was SO perfect, SO right on. A true snapshot in time, with absolutely no elaboration... I know because I was there. Figuratively and literally.
I was way more than disappointed when I learned that the movie wasn't filmed in Modesto. It looked so like the Modesto of my memory.
The summer of 1962 was between my Freshman and Sophomore year. I had my drivers license. My buddies and I would hop into my dad's 1953 Studebaker and head to Modesto (13 miles away) to cruise the strip. I remember that we were wide-eyed and drop-jawed at the noise, the colors, the tension, and the MOOD of "the strip" at that age. Four large high schools contributed to the mix - Modesto High, Davis High, Downey High ("Dewey" in the movie), and Turlock High.
The rock and roll radio effect was something akin to early stereo in downtown Modesto. Every car's radio was loudly tuned to K-5 (KFIV), and The Wolfman" was king. Up and down the street "The Wolfman" blasted from building to building and back into the street.
To this day I can't accurately describe, and give justice, to the "experience" of those nights back in 1958-1966 in Modesto California. "American Graffiti" comes the closest.

 

Billy Haskinson, the driver of the black '55 Chevy, is on https://streetracingchannel.com/. Billy's dad, Bill Haskinson, owns the '55 Chevy and is a racer out of Ohio. He has a utube channel, The Old Man's Garage. I watch the Old Man's Garage pretty regularly. He has mostly off topic stuff for here, but he does have some interesting stuff.

 

I've mentioned it before, that American Graffiti was my Senior Movie. I've watched it at least 3-4 times a month, since High School. Can't get enough of it. My granddaughter loves too, so she wants to watch it all the time.

 

Shhh...you seem to have found out it wasn't really a Ferrari.

 

Hey @34 5W Paul
Here is a little something from back in the day in FRESNO, that will put a smile on your face.

 

BINGO! ANY good movie is 100% about character development. Think about the classic monster movie Jaws. Don't see the shark 'til near the end and not that much even then. The majority of the show was getting you to empathize with the people. That's the problem with todays comic book movies. Spend all their money on special effects, little time on developing people you care whether they live or die. AG is loaded with people you really care about. And has cars.

 

It sure has devolved into a circus down there. But as you said, it was the closest thing our generations got around the area. But that was for 2 weekends a year. Wildwood is still pretty decent, but it feels more like a huge local cruise night than a reflection of old school hot rod culture. We do have the Kirkwood Highway "Cruising is not a Crime" deal once a year locally, but like OC, it's devolved into a major shitshow. Everything else is a park and sit, even the "kulture" events.

 

I always wondered if those Cobras were as bad as people said they were. I mean, how many people have ever street raced a legit 427 car? Lot of engine, not a lot of weight, probably not a lot of traction. I've played with a couple kit cars, but they're all over the map with engines and transmissions.

 

I saw AG at maybe age 11, and it very much influenced my life. Always liked his portrayal of Milner. Yes it did have a good plot. The cars and the music made it an audio-visual masterpiece. Definitely a great movie period.

As a kid, in AG, we saw that our parents were capable of having fun. In high school, we were into muscle cars because they were cheap, fast and available everywhere. Dazed deserves recognition as a good car movie. It was accurate for 1976 in every detail, especially the cars. I can totally relate to driving around in the GTO and Chevelle.

 

Yes, they were- but very few people could drive one at 10/10ths, no matter what their egos says. Most of the race drivers would tell you that they preferred driving the late race FIA/USRRC 289 cars with big brakes, tires and fenders and the Weberized 289, that was much easier to drive but almost as fast. That being said, I did see a fairly crazy friend with a lot of Cobra experience take a writer from CarCraft for a ride in one of those late race 289s, took him sideways in 3 gears, and just scared the dogshit out of him in 1978. When they came back, driver grinning and the CC'er was clutching the cowl and door, white as a sheet- took him a minute to get out