Motion Pictures How true to life is American graffiti?

I'd say that in broad strokes, AG was accurate of what went on then and for at least me, into the mid to late 1970s. There was always someone with the most powerful car around, in my time it was someone with a Hemi Barracuda or a 427 Chevelle.

We cruised, street raced, got hassled by the cops and were always on the lookout for that unicorn girl that didn't exist.

The biggest takeaway for me in AG that it boiled down to 1 magical night where anything and everything happened. I have had several of those nights within a few year's time. Like the summer of 1975 and 1976 when I was 20 and 21. The bars were hopping, the ladies were friendly, soft drugs were everywhere. We partied it up.

Then like in the movie, it was all gone one day. Our favorite hangout got raided by the cops and was closed for a couple of weeks, people moved on and it was the end of the summer. I had to get a full time job, got married. Some of us tried to get it going again, reclaim those magic nights, but it was not to be.

 

Just a quick "cruising" story. The local Hot Shoppes (Marriott owned) in Landover Hills, Maryland was a hang out for myself and many of my friends. One Friday evening I was parked (backed in of course, there was a protocol) in a space in a row just outside the covered curb service area. This row had curb service, but mostly it was used for profiling...I was in my '64 Galaxie and many of my friends were there as well. I was listening to WEAM, Alexandria, Va., a favorite AM station.

Now for those protocols. When you cruised slowly through this area you always went in one direction (there were no arrows) and you turned off your headlights so only your parking lights were lit. Everyone knew all of this, well, apparently except my Mom and Dad, who came riding through, wrong direction and with headlights blaring! Here I was trying to be cool and my parents just blew my cover!...I slipped down in my seat, but no luck, I was spotted as my Mom and Dad waved and cruised on out. My friends never let me live down the fact that not only were my parents checking on me, but they didn't even know the cruising through the Hot Shoppes protocols!.....Don.

 

I was only 11 in 1962, but by the time I got my license in 1967, it was fairly accurate. Our little town had a six block loop of one way streets that was our cruising route. One favorite bar /pizza joint that was always overflowing with kids onto the street.

There were a few cool cars in the area, but for the most part it was the kids, not the cars that made the scene. I do remember a big block Camaro, 427 Fairlane, Roadrunners, Chevelles, a 60 Falcon with a 289 Mustang /4 speed transplant, and a few Tri fives. The older cars town, like the 34 sbc Ford cabriolet, forty coupe with Desoto bumpers, etc were apparently owned by older guys that didn’t make the scene. Like the movie, there were oddball cars, like one guy’s 58(?) Opal wagon. Most ten year old cars were on their last legs, with terminal rust issues.

Mostly we drove around looking for girls. Boose and drugs came later for some in the group.

By the time I was a junior, the Vietnam war was hanging over our head. Most guys that couldn’t afford (or fit) college got drafted. Some didn’t come back.

By 73 when the movie came out, the cruising scene was on a sharp downhill slide.

 

I feel the reason why in the last 4-5 years we are staring to see vehicles/hot rods called barn finds appear haven't been seen since mid 50s and so on is because of those that did not make it back from the Korean and Vietnam war .

 

back up

 

i was 14 in 1962, the same age as makenzie phillips' character in AG, so i started cruising a year or two later. that's the way things really were back then!

 

The AG film was on the mark except where I lived in So Cal (Sunland) there was more drinking and smoking weed, house parties, and outdoor dance parties in Tujunga Canyon. Cars parked in a big circle put their radios on XERB am radio with Dr Jazzmo aka Wolfman. He'd say " I'm your Dr baby but I can't send you nothin out thru the radio, you got to go out and find it yourself". Really good times, the film caught the essence of it very well. Just a little too "Clean Cut". JW

 

In 63 I was cruising in an anemic 53 Chevy Bel Air hardtop that was lowered, nosed, decked with dual carbs and dual exhaust. Our town was small so we went to the larger neighboring towns to cruise and race. Shortly after graduation in 63 I acquired a 58 Bel Air hardtop with a loaded 348 and 4 speed. Quite a step up.

 

Cruising went from the A&W from one end of town to the other A&W.

 

All of the incidents that happened in the movie, I remember similar happening in Seattle in the late 40's and 50's except there were a lot of motorcycles involved also. We had several cars that were capable of 125 mph crossing the floating bridge. One thing we had the movie guys would have never thought of was a gas turbine powered roadster.

 

Thats sad to think about, just how many kids never got back home.

 

It was true to life where I grew up. Lot of nice, quick cars. Waited all week to get to see the current grudge race. Always a fight because the loser accused the winner of jumping or cheating somehow. I guess it really depends on the place that you grew up. I'm not dying age yet, but I sure do miss those days.

 

I was 16 in March of '62 and had a '56 Chevy that cost me $15 plus another $20 for four used tires. I had to replace the whole brake system and get it running, but it was running by June. Best summer I ever had, or so I recall. Lots like American Grafiti, but a lot lower on the drama and pretty girls. Getting a few guys together, chipping in pocket change for gas, "running Main St." and visiting the local drive-in hamburger joints were a usual Friday & Saturday night's fun.

 

Life in a shitty little upstate NY town in the late '60s was NOTHING like A.G. ...kind of an automotive vacuum with virtually no cruising cuz there was nowhere to go...the local A & W even closed at 8:00!
I had built my high school hot rod (the only one in town), and the few older guys with any kind of hot car, had all gone off to college...or Nam.

 

I wish i could have experienced the days of buying a car for the equivalent of around 100 bucks. Now anything that exists from that era nets you 1000.

 

For me it was most like the movie Dazed and Confused as far as the cars and the things that went on. I was ten years old in 1976 my older brother was watching myself and my younger brother he tossed us in the back of his bodies 59 Rambler. Him his body and us in the back seat went cruising even raced a Simca on cemetery road. Another time my sister took my brothers cherry 63 galaxie got drunk with her friends and went to the pinball joint were the teens hung out. Se wedged the car between another car and the building in the back allie instead of stopping she drove through. when she got home she asked me for help all the chrome was in the trunk and she wanted me to help her straighten it out and put back on the car needless to say it needed more then that. Good times.

 

Remember that minimum wage was $1 an hour so it wasn't quite as cheap as it sounds! I was 19 in 62 and driving a 39 Chevy with split manifold and dual carbs so it wasn't that fast but cars like the 55 and the deuce in AG would have probably run in the 13s or low 14s. I was living the cruising scene like most of the teenagers were and AG was a very realistic representation of life then.

 

I can't "like" your post, because that's the way I feel too. Not getting political, but there were too damned many that were just cannon fodder for the 'military/industrial complex' (to quote Eisenhour). Robert McNamara's solution to Viet Nam was to lower the entry standards for draftees in order to get more boots on the ground. Unfortunately, most of those guys didn't acquire the survival skills needed to make it back home. A lot of guys came back from SE Asia with mental or drug problems. That reality makes AG kind of hard for me to watch..... it reminds me of friends I lost over there...

 

.........I agree completely with both of you, but if we get too far into a discussion about it, this thread will get shut down.

 

Graffiti was accurate in some cases but not in others. Drive-in hangout was accurate. Always full. Attracted cars from distances. Sometimes we would just go there for coffee and to see if there were any unfamiliar but interesting cars. Occasional organized street races on nearby unfinished Interstate highway. Competitors and a few spectators would leave together indicating to us all that a race was planned. Stree racing from drive-ins on route 22 was commonplace and serious - sometimes closing the highway for a race, thus attracting police.. Got permanently shut down when race cars were being towed to drive-in for racing or cars in drive-in were being jacked up for installing slicks. In my area occasional traffic light bashes were spontaneous- not planned. Toad's bash was typical for us.. My channeled 34 coupe sbc was the only hot rod around so Milner as only rod was accurate. And, like Milner, I was once stuck with a friend's cousin,, a 14 year-old girl! We had no downtown cruising near us ( northern NJ) but NJ shore towns did. An hour+ away for us. Went just a few times. Was like Graffiti.
The times that I remember most were 1957 - to 1961 when I was drafted. Graffiti similarities may have continued while I was gone so 1962 may be a good date - not the beginning but maybe the peak.

 

Sure, back then it was a dollar an hour, but the cost of living was so much lower, and your money was worth quite a bit more! That would be... maybe saving up for a couple summers before.
The cars i currently drive run 18s, 14s or 15s would be fast for me.

 

Hello,

As we all know, HAMB has folks that grew up in all sorts of time periods and locations. This movie was supposed to be one night’s memories. It must have been cultivated from the team of writers all collaborating on some of each other’s story lines, rolling into the final edition of a one night activity in a small town in California. It opened a lot of memory doors and things just splashed out. That is our brains working to remember those cool night’s worth of activity we want to remember the most.

In So Cal, the activity was almost non stop from the late 50s into the late 60s. But, during the Far East conflict and protest period of the 1965-70 time periods, things got a little cloudy and depressing. Most of us were starting our lives and the conflict came a calling. These were true to life for most and consequently the 2nd gen A.G. movie suffered the consequences. Real life interfered with fantasy and we all did not like our movie characters moving on in life. (As we all did in real life.)

Jnaki

The first American Graffiti was real for most people. Those that did not have a daily/weekly access to the same shenanigans in their teenage years, during the 1957 through 1965 time period, had too many real life interruptions and latched on to some fun times from the screen. But, it was a Hollywood movie and it was funny at times due to hitting some activities that did happen.

Real life changed the way we all saw ourselves and the time period of the late 50s-early 60s played a big part of growing up. The ideas were there for most people, even in their own places and time periods. But, it was a movie and for almost two hours, we could all get lost. That is what Hollywood movies are supposed to do… bring us in and enjoy the creative storyline.

Hot rodding and cruising did not start with A.G. as some would like all of us to believe.

Teenage life for all of us was different from location to location. YRMV

 

Thatnks for keeping us between the navigational beacons!

 

The Fastest Car In Our Valley Was A Deuce Coupe...

 

In reality...

Oh... fock reality.

LOL have a good day

 

.....Here's an often missed screw-up in the movie. Mitchum goes to Memphis to confront Cogan, parks on the street in front of The Asheville Pharmacy!!

 

Regarding cruising, here in Lethbridge, Alberta, the Street Machine Weekend is happening from July 7 - 10. On the Friday evening, 3rd Avenue South is usually cordoned off to general traffic to allow for cruising all evening. Hot cars everywhere with people watching in lawn chairs on the sidewalk.

 

As many have said before me. The movie AG was a compilation of many nights action. Living in San Francisco 1956-1958 we cruised the beach highway near "Playland" amusement park, and most of our impromptu drag races were there, too. It was indeed a great time to live, but most of us didn't realize it at the time. The movie made some of us happy to have lived it because it brought back many memories, some good, some bad. I thank George Lucas for having made a movie about a time that we will always remember.

 

Maybe he just wanted to walk! He needed time to clear his head.

 

WHAT!!........you never did a "pressed Ham"?!
(Bare butt...cheeks spread....pressed up against the rolled up window!)
Maybe that was just an 'upstate SC thang!...Tell 'um HRP!!!!
6sally6