December 31, 1964 Curt, Steve and Laurie attend the high-school sock hop. We're not kids anymore," Steve tells Curt, and Lucas chooses not to remember his characters that way; instead, he briefly shows how therevolutionary 1960s affected them. Huyck and Katz also found the characters' futures depressing, but this only adds more pathos to the film. John Milner (played by Paul Le Mat) doesn't approve of The Beach Boys nor "surfin' shit", which had. : That's pretty good! On October 14, 2011 By Sam Weisberg In Interviews Paul Le Mat is still most known for the role of John Milner in "American Graffiti," George Lucas' 1973 coming-of-age classic about a group of 1960s California high school graduates, and it's certainly not an unflattering way to be remembered. While John helps his rival to safety, Laurie begs Steve not to leave her, he assures her that he will stay with her in Modesto. Can you help out? John Milner Don't you think the Beach Boys are boss? Steve, on the other hand, looks forward to this change and tries to convince his devoted girlfriend Laurie (Cindy Williams) to break up so they can date other people. Hey, I've been lookin' all over for ya, man. Can I put a mattress cover on a TempurPedic mattress? [2] Produced on a $777,000 budget,[1] it has become one of the most profitable films ever. John Milner [18] Bob Balaban turned down Terry out of fear of becoming typecast, a decision he later regretted. John Milner The film received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. John Milner John Milner is the tritagonist of the film American Graffiti. John Milner What? John Milner Or has a boyfriend? While a bit player in the first movie he came into his own as a character in the second one. American Graffiti is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard (billed as Ronny Howard), Paul Le Mat, Harrison Ford, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Bo Hopkins, and Wolfman Jack. Shit! Bob Falfa Regardless, Milner does his best to communicate with her. Curt Henderson Ha ha! "Cruising was gone, and I felt compelled to document the whole experience and what my generation used as a way of meeting girls," Lucas explained. "George Lucas and I went through thousands of Wolfman Jack phone calls that were taped with the public," Jack reflected. As a result, the film's structure became increasingly loose and no longer adhered to Lucas's original "ABCD" presentation. Carol [5], Producer Francis Ford Coppola regretted having not financed the film himself. John Milner John Milner John Milner The genesis of American Graffiti took place in Modesto in the early 1960s, during Lucas's teenage years. John Milner I don't like that surfin' shit. Carol : "You can't stay 17 forever. 6 Who sings at the Hop in American Graffiti? Terry meets the high-spirited bombshell Debbie (Candy Clark). : It's an empathetic look at the distances in which our sorrows can migrate.". [71] In 1997 the city of Modesto, California, honored Lucas with a statue dedication of American Graffiti at George Lucas Plaza. : : [35] The film had cost only $1.27million (equivalent to $8.2million in 2021)[33] to produce and market, but yielded worldwide box office gross revenues of more than $55million (equivalent to $336million in 2021). Expectin' some action? : blue Click here to add more. Oh, wait, there's Dee Dee. In an attempt to get cruising company for the evening, John inadvertently picks up Carol, a precocious 12-year-old who manipulates him into driving her around all night. : Okay, Toad. Well, get bent, turkey! We know John Milner (Paul Le Mat) was killed by a drunken driver in 1964, so the movie has to roll back in time to visit him. Terry Fields Lucas's net worth was now $4million, and he set aside a $300,000 independent fund for his long-cherished space opera project, which would eventually become the basis for Star Wars (1977). [39] Universal released the film on Blu-ray with a new digitally remastered picture supervised by George Lucas on May 31, 2011. Why did you do that? [5] The film was released in the United States on August 11, 1973[1] to sleeper hit reception. Remembering American Graffiti On Its 40th Anniversary", "Domestic Grosses Adjusted For Inflation", "American Graffiti / More American Graffiti (Drive-In Double Feature) (1979)", "American Graffiti (Special Edition) [Blu-ray] (1973)", "What the Steamship and the Landline Can Tell Us About the Decline of the Private Car", "The 46th Academy Awards (1974) Nominees and Winners", "1973 New York Film Critics Circle Awards", "Film Hall of Fame Inductees: Productions", "AFI's 100 Years100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)", "The Evolution of the Summer Blockbuster", Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Graffiti&oldid=1140476610, American coming-of-age comedy-drama films, Best Musical or Comedy Picture Golden Globe winners, United States National Film Registry films, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, George Lucas, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck, Online Film & Television Association Awards, This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 06:44. Suzanne Somers, Kathleen Quinlan, Debralee Scott, and Joe Spano also appear in the film. The American Graffiti 1956 Thunderbird The 56 Thunderbird convertible was purchased by Clay Daily and his wife in 1964 on a used Ford car lot in San Bernardino, CA. Carol The only real cool character in the American Graffiti movie series, essentially the person who The Fonz was based on in the television series. There's some punk lookin' for me. : The yellow Deuce and the white T-bird went unsold, despite being priced as low as $3,000. Now calling himself "Terry The Tiger", he attempts all night to impress her by lying about the car being his and purchasing alcohol with no ID. [34], Universal reissued Graffiti on May 26, 1978, with Dolby sound[37][38] and earned an additional $63million (equivalent to $262million in 2021),[33] which brought the total revenue for the two releases to $118million (equivalent to $490million in 2021). Hey, listen, Professor, if he can't find me, then he ain't worth racin', right? Yeah, well I'm not surprised, drivin' a field car! Suzanne Somers Directed by George Lucas, this 1973 classic is filled with cruising-for-a-bruising teens, young love, and all of the feels of the last summer before college. Steve and Curt are to travel "Back East" in the morning and start college but the latter has second thoughts about leaving. [5] Universal refused these offers and told Lucas they planned to have William Hornbeck re-edit the film. : All were offered for sale in San Francisco newspaper ads; only the '58 Impala (driven by Ron Howard) attracted a buyer, selling for only a few hundred dollars. John Milner I ain't having no accidents just because of you! "I used the absence of music, and sound effects, to create the drama," Lucas later explained.[30]. [28] Murch suggested making Wolfman Jack's radio show the "backbone" of the film. 4 Is American Graffiti based on a true story? markybgoode 1.64K subscribers Subscribe 3.5K Share Save 548K views 11 years ago A 20 minute insightful conversation with Paul. "American Graffiti"purposefully takes place in 1962,exactly one year before John F. Kennedy's assassination changed everything. Alright, boss. Hey, is this what they call "copping a feel"? Paradise Road. You big weenie! Terry Fields : You're talking to the woman I love. [5][33] The reissue included stereophonic sound[36] and a couple of minutes the studio had removed from Lucas's original cut. You got a bitchin' car. Its a smart, funny and sensitive film unlike anything else he made before or since. Picker decided to give Lucas $10,000 to develop Graffiti as a screenplay. [22] 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures made similar offers to the studio. John Milner's foe, Bob Falfa went down in another public, flaming defeat the other day so the American Graffiti crowd may circle the wagons around the yellow deuce coupe known as the "fastest car in the valley". Yeah, I'll die soon, then it'll all be over, John. Carol John Milner Yeah, sure. It is a sequel to George Lucas's 1973 film American Graffiti. Company Credits I thought some of my friends might be here. : : [4], Director David Fincher credited American Graffiti as a visual influence for Fight Club (1999). American Graffiti Ending Explained: The Calm Before The Storm. Drawing upon his large collection of vintage records, Lucas wrote each scene with a particular song in mind as its musical backdrop. If I had a boyfriend, he'd pound you. In 1972, he appeared in American Graffiti (released in 1973), a coming-of-age film about a group of friends in Modesto, California in the early 1960s. I hope she sees me. : Height The young director's previous film and first feature . : [6] The filmmaker was also inspired by Federico Fellini's I Vitelloni (1953). No sweat - my mother does it. At The Hop/Artists. How old are you? Boy, are you up a creek. "[31], The choice of music was crucial to the mood of each scene; it is diegetic music that the characters themselves can hear and therefore becomes an integral part of the action. [22] The studio dropped the TV movie idea and began arranging for a limited release in selected theaters in Los Angeles and New York. The album contains all the songs used in the film (with the exception of "Gee" by the Crows, which was subsequently included on a second soundtrack album), presented in the order in which they appeared in the film. American Graffiti Wiki is a FANDOM Movies Community. Rock and roll's been going down hill ever since Buddy Holly died. Go ahead, Curtsy, baby. . After Fields's departure, Lucas struggled with editing the film's story structure. : Whether or not you accept "More American Graffiti" as canon is up to you. [11], Lucas planned to spend another five weeks in Europe and hoped that Huyck and Katz would agree to finish the screenplay by the time he returned, but they were about to start on their own film, Messiah of Evil,[9] so Lucas hired Richard Walter, a colleague from the USC School of Cinematic Arts for the job. You're talking to the woman I love. Actor C.S.? GEORGE LUCAS MADE THE MOVIE PARTIALLY OUT OF SPITE. Exhausted, Curt is awakened by the pay phone. [16] Instead, he elected to shoot American Graffiti using two cinematographers (as he had done in THX 1138) and no formal director of photography. The character has a flattop in the script, but a compromise was eventually reached whereby Ford wore a Stetson to cover his hair. While he and Debbie leave Steve's car in a rural spot in order to share a romantic interlude, thieves steal the car. Jump out and flatten their tires. : : Teamed Up W/ Conor's Proper No. : "More American Graffiti" shows the core group of "American Graffiti" experiencing the cultural upheaval of the women's lib and anti-war movement. Because of this, Pauline Kael later accused Lucas of chauvinism. Curt Henderson The '55 Chevy was driven in American Graffiti by Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford) and featured in the final dawn drag race with the yellow Deuce Coupe. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, Download the TMZ App on the Apple App Store, Download the TMZ App on the Google Play Store. "Explosive Decompression/Frog Giggin'/Rear Axle". Oh ho, funny! [11][12] During this time, Lucas conceived the idea for a space opera (as yet untitled) which later became the basis for his Star Wars franchise. Yeah. John Milner Terry represents Lucas's nerd years as a freshman in high school, specifically his "bad luck" with dating. [36] Based on the success of the 1978 reissue, Universal began production for the sequel More American Graffiti (1979). He turned down those offers, determined to pursue his own projects despite his urgent desire to find another film to direct. [30] Walter Murch assisted Lucas in post-production for audio mixing and sound design purposes. [21] After CinemaScope proved to be too expensive,[16] Lucas decided American Graffiti should have a documentary-like feel, so he shot the film using Techniscope cameras. Yeah, don't say anything. : Well at least I don't have to pull over to the side just to let a funeral go by, man. John Milner While Lucas was working on his first film, THX 1138, Coppola asked him to write a coming-of-age film. At the 1971 Cannes Film Festival, THX was chosen for the Directors' Fortnight competition. John Milner Hey, get down! Walter was paid the $10,000, and he began to expand the Lucas/Huyck/Katz treatment into a screenplay. You go on over there and you remember all the good times you won't be having. Yeah, yeah. Have a good trip! Terry Fields Official Sites [28] Jan D'Alquen and Ron Eveslage were hired as the cinematographers, but filming with Techniscope cameras brought lighting problems. John Milner The setting is two months before the Cuban Missile Crisis, and before the outbreak of the Vietnam War and the John F. Kennedy assassination[9] and before the peak years of the counterculture movement. I'm going to tell him how old I am, my parents don't know I'm out and you tried to rape me. [21], Lucas had wanted his then wife, Marcia, to edit American Graffiti, but Universal executive Ned Tanen insisted on hiring Verna Fields, who had just finished editing Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express. Terry Fields By subscribing, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, 2023 EHM PRODUCTIONS,INC. [throws a water balloon which misses him and hits Carol]. Another night, Le Mat threw Richard Dreyfuss into a swimming pool, gashing Dreyfuss's forehead on the day before he was due to have his close-ups filmed. What's that stand for? : "The Filming of. A field car runs through the fields, droppin' cow shit all over the place to make the lettuce grow. Girl in Cadillac [15] Lucas and Kurtz eventually found favor at Universal Pictures, who allowed Lucas total artistic control and the right of final cut privilege on the condition that he make American Graffiti on a strict low budget. John Milner [14] They pushed hard to get Lucas to adopt any of the titles, but he was displeased with all the alternatives and persuaded Tanen to keep American Graffiti. John Milner The early 1960s musical backdrop also links between the early years of rock 'n' roll in the mid- to late 1950s (i.e., Bill Haley & His Comets, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly), and mid-1960s, beginning with the January 1964 arrival of The Beatles and the following British Invasion, which Don McLean's "American Pie" and the early 1970s revival of 1950s acts and oldies paralleled during the conception and filming. He began writing a script, completing his first draft in just three weeks. Filming was initially set to take place in San Rafael, California, but the production crew was denied permission to shoot beyond a second day. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. As Terry starts the drag race, John takes the lead but Bob's tire blows out, swerving into a ditch and rolling over before bursting into flames. After leaving the hop, he is coerced into joining a group of greasers called "The Pharaohs", who force him into several tasks including stealing coins from arcade machines and hooking a chain to a police car, ripping out its back axle. You gonna go after him? John Milner During his night of goading anyone he comes across for a challenge, he picks up an emotional Laurie after the argument with Steve that was brewing all night. John Milner Biographical information about 1942 (according to the yearbook) After leaving the Pharaohs, Curt drives to the radio station to ask omnipotent disc jockey "Wolfman Jack" to read a message out on air for The Blonde in the White Thunderbird. Filmphest argues "they do provide a contrast of the carefree past with the more troubling future, but they also kill some of the mystique around the picture and unnecessarily close events that could have been left more open-ended." Set in Modesto, California, in 1962, the film is a study of the cruising and early rock 'n' roll cultures popular among Lucas's age group at the time. John Milner Charles Martin Smith, who, in his first year as a professional actor, had already appeared in two feature films, including 20th Century Fox's The Culpepper Cattle Co. and four TV episodes, was eventually cast in the role. "More American Graffiti" shows the core group of "American Graffiti" experiencing the cultural upheaval of the women's lib and anti-war movement. Why the hell do they bother? John Milner : Yeah, yeah. John Milner Eye color Laurie Henderson [34], When Coppola's The Godfather won the Academy Award for Best Picture in March 1973, Universal relented and agreed to cut only three scenes (amounting to a few minutes) from Lucas's cut. [39] All home video releases also included these scenes. : : [11], After paying Walter, Lucas had exhausted his development fund from United Artists. The night unfolds with drag races, chasing a mysterious blonde in a Thunderbird, and listening to DJ Wolfman Jack on the radio. Oh, that was beautiful, John. The inclusionof this title text drew some criticism. Harrison Ford makes an appearance as BobFalfa, John's drag race rival. Yeah, I think so. The consensus reads: "One of the most influential of all teen films, American Graffiti is a funny, nostalgic, and bittersweet look at a group of recent high school grads' last days of innocence. : Lucas recalled, "He would have made $30million (equivalent to $183million in 2021)[33] on the deal. 5'12" (1,82 m) [5] In December 1997, Variety reported that the film had earned an additional $55.13million in rental revenue (equivalent to $93million in 2021). : : Carol Field car? Norton sets each sequence apart using different formal techniques meant to capture the chaos and fragmentation of thecounterculture era. Walter was flattered, but initially tried to sell Lucas on a different screenplay called Barry and the Persuasions, a story of East Coast teenagers in the late 1950s. : Ok, so here's the deal. Date of death December 31, 1964 Physical description Gender Male Height 5'12" (1,82 m) Eye color blue Behind the scenes Actor Paul Le Mat Our community needs more information on this page! [32] George Lucas had to be realistic about the complexities of copyright clearances, though, and suggested a number of alternative tracks. [19], Although Cindy Williams was cast as Laurie Henderson and enjoyed working with both Lucas and Howard,[20] the actress hoped she would get the part of Debbie Dunham, which ended up going to Candy Clark. [14] Lucas, Huyck and Katz rewrote the second draft together, which, in addition to Modesto, was also set in Mill Valley and Los Angeles. In high school, specifically his `` bad luck '' with dating he came into his own projects despite urgent. 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