Motion Pictures How true to life is American graffiti?

I grew up in Trenton, the park was Elizabeth Park, a Wayne County park. In the 70's, the loop road was closed so you couldn't continually loop and had to exit the park. Trenton is home to the Trenton Engine Plant, where hemis were built and a lot of guys or their dads worked there. Always a lot of high performance Mopars in the park. Fords and Chevys were also well represented as they also had plants nearby. Outside of the park was the A&W, Courtesy Drive-in and Bardon's Drive-in they were also hang outs.

 

American Graffiti.....was true to life.
You had to have lived it to understand it and if you have to ask ....you never lived.
My time was in the late 70's through the 80's but the story was the same.

 

I hung back to see what others had to say but yes, I saw a lot of familiarity when I saw the movie. Cruising a circuit, check. Picking up girls, check. Racing on the street, check. Ducking the cops, check. Hanging out at the Texaco (no drivin close), check. Going to the school dance to check out the talent, check. Pulling some "hijinks", check.
I loved that time of my life and all my buddies who didn't make it to the new millennia.

 

My dad had a Milner/Falfa moment back then. Only the catch was a local small town cop offered to shut down the street for the local hot shoe that wanted to race my dad. Prudence was in effect and dad figured if he won it would have been a helluva trap so he declined. No sense losing your car just to prove a point.

 

Born in 79, AG wasnt that far off my small town high school age cruising experience.

How true it is, depends how literal you want to take it. We all had fast cars, girls, cops and squares.

 

As a kid in a small-town Iowa. 1985-88. Having a cool car, I cruised every (EVERY) Friday and Saturday night from 9- midnight and often till 1 or 2 am. A G was what happened in a 4- 6 month`s timeline. Tom jumping the railroad tracks with a cool Merc Commet and latter robbing Lil Duffer and being sent to prison. Kirk rolling his 64 El Camino a week after getting his license and later started a Rock Band and now is in the Iowa Music Hall of Fame. Dale had a cool 66 Tempest and now works at his dad`s Tire shop. My brother had a Plymouth Champ that he drove like the Dukes of Hazard. Wrecked it 3 times. Ended up shoving potato`s up the exhaust pipes of the school buses with broom sticks. This was after a few beers with his buddies. You could call Mike a big bully who picked on people often. He died at the age of 22 with another kid in a car crash after a night of drinking. He did run off to Arkansas at the age of 17 with his girl friend but was sent home by the cops after a week. Or he ran out of money.

 

Every town has a Suzanne Somers!

 

Pretty accurate I'd say. I experienced cruising and all kinds of shenanigans scoopin' the loop in Des Moines in the late 90's. The only difference was our cars were boring.

 

Milner: junkyard scene
"8 kids killed... and now they show it in driver education class."

1960, 61, 62... I was a little guy.
I idolized the 3 teenaged "greaser" boys who lived with their folks in the other half of the big two-story duplex we lived in. And I was in love with their sister.
But sadly, Mr and Mrs Nedrow lost their beautiful daughter and 2 oldest sons to separate car accidents.
These were much too common occurrences back then.
No seatbelts.
Drinking and driving hadn't been made illegal yet.
Kids going nuts in faster and faster cars.
So yeah, pretty accurate.

 

Ah man no way! I grew up in a small country town and would mess around in other small towns...cops were 45 minutes away!! We'd drag race on the sidewalks down main street, stole a life sized fiberglass horse and got it up on top of the high school........got pulled over one night (in college now) racing some rice grinder going about 120mph through the middle of town, got pulled over and was told to go him because his pen ran out of ink!!! Damn it was fun

 

I grew up as a downriver rat also a bit older graduating from high school in 64. All the places you mentioned were popular in the 60’s also. Also Big Boys in Lincoln Park was another great spot for cruising. Lots of racing took place on Telegraph Road which is now Woodhaven but back then considered out in the sticks. Fun times. Moved to Gulf Coast Alabama in 82.

 

When A.G. came out a bunch of buddys and I went to see it @ a local theater... Oddly enough I was driving a white '58 Chevy! (but a Bel-Air) I'm sure those flics were as close to accurate as they needed to be. But have become icons.

 

When I was in High School, 75-78, we went to Whittier Blvd every Friday and Saturday night. Hung out at Scottys, looking for a race, made multiple laps, cruising and looking for girls. When there was a race set up, we all jumped in our cars and either went to Lambert or Santa Springs Rd and lined up for a good view. At least for me and my close friends, it was just like American Graffiti. Up until the cops started putting up traffic signs, and doing stops, to write up people. They stood in the middle of the street, and waved you into the parking lot of the Pool Hall, and there they all were writing tickets. I got one with 12 violations once!!!

 

Was it still frowned upon? I know I wouldn't want to wreck my car if i drove drunk, and also wouldn't want to kill someone if I did.

 

Van Nuys Blvd wasn't much of a deal for me and my friends, cause it was so far. I think we went 3-4 times.

 

i had a buddy who worked at yellowstone park in the summer; same situation up there. their "cruising" was referred to as "burnin' the points"!

 

A/G was pretty true to life here in Northern Nevada during the late '50s & '60s. By the mid-'70s it was made illegal and then it was resurrected with Hot August Nights where participants get to imitate the good old days for an entry fee.

 

In the early to late '60s in the suburbs of Boston, American Graffiti is an accurate flick of reality. I lived it every day for that time frame.

 

Drunk driving wasn't much of a crime back then. Usually the local cops would just take your keys away...and call your old man...or make you walk home.

 

Our town seemed to have only Miss Piggy...and all her cousins

 

Or just follow you home to make sure you went there.

 

I had a local copper follow me home, after he stopped me, and made me go wake up the ol' man at 2:00 a.m.! Boy I wished he'd arrested me instead!!

 

He was a brother in my Fraternity! Tappa-Tappa-Kegga!






Bones

 

LOL, Oh yeah, 1969, 17 years old beer drinkin' pot smokin, long hair hippy hotrodjack with a loud, obnoxious hot rod...that pretty much "checked all the boxes" for the local cops...they were on a "first name basis" with my Dad.

 

Same here. I got pulled over or written up for something sometimes on a daily basis with my hot rod, that is if they caught me! More tickets then probably any John Milner, and faster.

 

if the same number of 16 - 20 something year olds who cruised Fremont Blvd in the 70's were doing the same thing today there would be assorted violence, shootings and more wrecks as young people today are a bunch of morons. they'd be doing donuts in every intersection and drifting around every corner while texting and taking pictures. it would last about 2 weekends until someone were killed then it would be stopped.

we had cruising, now they have "street takeovers" and "side shows" (in other local cities). the cops show up and nobody even stops what they are doing. it was good being young in the old days.

 

I was more LOUD than fast (283, 3spd)...but I drove it like I had a Big Block

 

Who came up with that , in 1960 DWI & illegal possession were both illegal ! I just looked it up 1897 in London , came here shortly after .

 

The cops would confiscate your beer before sending you home, which we always figured they would then drink it themselves on their down time!

 

Hee…Hee…Hee…it’s all true. And I never got caught.