American Graffiti

UPC: 025192073700

Studio: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Sexual Situations, Suitable for Teens]

Summary: It's the last night of summer 1962, and the teenagers of Modesto, California, want to have some fun before adult responsibilities close in. Among them are Steve (Ron Howard) and Curt (Richard Dreyfuss), college-bound with mixed feelings about leaving home; nerdy Terry "The Toad" (Charles Martin Smith), who scores a dream date with blonde Debbie (Candy Clark); and John (Paul Le Mat ), a 22-year-old drag racer who wonders how much longer he can stay champion and how he got stuck with 13-year-old Carol (Mackenzie Phillips) in his deuce coupe. As D. J. Wolfman Jack spins 41 vintage tunes on the radio throughout the night, Steve ponders a future with girlfriend Laurie (Cindy Williams), Curt chases a mystery blonde, Terry tries to act cool, and Paul prepares for a race against Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford), but nothing can stop the next day from coming, and with it the vastly different future ushered in by the 1960s. Fresh off The Godfather (1972), producer Francis Ford Coppola had the clout to get his friend George Lucas's project made, but only for $750,000 on a 28-day shooting schedule. Despite technical obstacles, and having to shoot at night, cinematographer Haskell Wexler gave the film the neon-lit aura that Lucas wanted, evoking the authentic look of a suburban strip to go with the authentic sound of rock-n-roll. Universal, which wanted to call the film Another Slow Night in Modesto, thought it was unreleasable. But Lucas' period detail, co-writers Willard Huyck's and Gloria Katz's realistic dialogue, and the film's nostalgia for the pre-Vietnam years apparently appealed to a 1973 audience embroiled in cultural chaos: American Graffiti became the third most popular movie of 1973 (after The Exorcist and The Sting), establishing the reputations of Lucas (whose next film would be Star Wars) and his young cast, and furthering the onset of soundtrack-driven, youth-oriented movies. Although the film helped spark 1970s nostalgia for the 1950s, nothing else would capture the flavor of the era with the same humorous candor and latent sense of foreboding. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Category: Comedy Drama

Awards: U.S. National Film Registry – Library of Congress 100 Greatest American Movies – American Film Institute Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – null New Star of the Year - Male – null Best Director – null Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Screenplay – New York Film Critics Circle Best Screenplay – New York Film Critics Circle Best Screenplay – New York Film Critics Circle Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences New Star of the Year - Male – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Picture in picture video commentary with director George Lucas
The music of American Graffiti - Instantly indentify the songs heard while watching the film, create a custom playlist of your favorites and even them from iTunes
BD-Live
Pocket BLU app
The making of American Graffiti - An original documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
Screen Tests - Never before-seen screen tests with Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Paul Le Mat and Charles Martin Smith

American Graffiti

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 05/31/2011

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DHMA null, DDM2.0 Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Runtime: 113 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: Spanish,French

Rebecca Flint Marx

Nostalgic but unsentimental, American Graffiti is a seminal coming-of-age film that speaks to anyone who has ever been a teenager. George Lucas's second feature film, it recalled a simpler time while reminding audiences that things weren't really that simple. An elegy for childhood freedom, it captured yearning conflict without exploiting it and refused to exchange its tough-love treatment of its subjects for a more breezy, simplistic rendering. The film was a surprise success (much like Lucas' next film, Star Wars) that set the tone for subsequent youth-oriented movies. It also sparked a craze for nostalgia films set in the pre-Vietnam era, an interesting detail given that, while certainly nostalgic, American Graffiti avoided the sort of sappy, one-dimensional pitfalls encountered by its numerous imitators. A classic by any standards, its message remains unforced and universal, making the film identifiable with but not defined by one particular era. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Tim Crowley  Actor 
Terry McGovern  Actor 
Lynne Stewart  Actor 
Jana Bellan  Actor 
William M. Niven  Actor 
Wolfman Jack  Actor 
Suzanne Somers  Actor 
Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids  Actor 
Christopher Pray  Actor 
Johnny Weissmuller, Jr.  Actor 
Manuel Padilla  Actor 
John Bracci  Actor 
Scott Beach  Actor 
Beau Gentry  Actor 
Kathleen Quinlan  Actor 
Joseph Miksak  Actor 
Bo Hopkins  Actor 
Charles Dorsett  Actor 
Al Nalbandian  Actor 
Ron Vincent  Actor 
Jim Bohan  Actor 
Jan Dunn  Actor 
Del Close  Actor 
Joe Spano  Actor 
Charles A. Murphy  Actor 
Harrison Ford  Actor 
Mackenzie Phillips  Actor 
Ed Greenberg  Actor 
James Cranna  Actor 
Debbie Celiz  Actor 
John Brent  Actor 
Herby and the Heartbeats  Actor 
Debra Scott  Actor 
Susan Richardson  Actor 
George Meyer  Actor 
Jan Wilson  Actor 
Francis Ford Coppola  Producer 
Willard Huyck  Screenwriter 
Gloria Katz  Screenwriter 
George Lucas  Director 
George Lucas  Screenwriter 
Richard Dreyfuss  Actor 
Ron Howard  Actor 
Paul Le Mat  Actor 
Charles Martin Smith  Actor 
Cindy Williams  Actor 
Candy Clark  Actor 

Country: USA