American Graffiti

• 1. Genesis And Development History

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  George Lucas sat in a Modesto, California diner during the early 1960s and watched teenagers cruise Main Street. He later explained that cruising was gone by the time he returned to film it, so he felt compelled to document the experience his generation used to meet girls. The project began as Another Quiet Night in Modesto while Lucas worked on THX 1138. Producer Francis Ford Coppola challenged him to write a script for mainstream audiences. Lucas hired Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz to co-write a fifteen-page treatment. They added semiautobiographical material about hot rod enthusiasts from Kustom Kulture in Modesto. Lucas pitched the idea to United Artists president David Picker at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. Picker gave him ten thousand dollars to develop the screenplay further. Universal Pictures eventually agreed to finance the film after every other major studio turned him down. The budget started at six hundred thousand dollars but grew to seven hundred seventy-seven thousand dollars once Coppola signed on.

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• 2. Production Challenges And Filming

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  Principal photography commenced on the 26th of June 1972, in San Rafael, California. The production crew faced immediate resistance when the city council withdrew permission to shoot beyond a second day due to disruption of local businesses. A key member of the team had been arrested for growing marijuana, which added to the tension. Filming moved to Petaluma, California, where they shot without losing a single day of schedule. Paul Le Mat was sent to the hospital after an allergic reaction to walnuts during the process. Harrison Ford wore a Stetson hat to cover his flattop haircut because he did not want to cut his hair for potential future roles. Two camera operators nearly died while filming the climactic race scene on Frates Road outside Petaluma. Richard Dreyfuss suffered a gashed forehead when Le Mat threw him into a swimming pool just before close-up shots were scheduled. An actor set fire to Lucas's motel room one night. Principal photography concluded on the 4th of August 1972, using Techniscope cameras to achieve a documentary-like feel with half the film frame.

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• 3. Soundtrack Licensing And Music Strategy

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  Lucas originally wrote the script so that four storylines were always presented in the same sequence known as ABCD plot structure. The first rough cut ran three and a half hours long before editors began cutting scenes. Verna Fields worked on the initial edit before leaving to resume work on What's Up Doc? Walter Murch assisted Lucas in post-production for audio mixing and sound design purposes. He suggested making Wolfman Jack's radio show the backbone of the film. The final cut ran one hundred twelve minutes and was completed in December 1972. Universal executive Ned Tanen insisted on hiring Fields instead of Lucas's wife Marcia. The editing process transformed the linear script into interwoven vignettes that no longer adhered to the original presentation order. Three scenes totaling only a few minutes were removed after Coppola won an Academy Award for Best Picture in March 1973. These cuts included an encounter between Toad and

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• 4. Editing Structure And Narrative Evolution

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  a car salesman plus an argument at the sock hop.

  American Graffiti premiered on the 2nd of August 1973, at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland. It opened in the United States on the 11th of August 1973, with sleeper hit reception despite studio skepticism. Universal initially planned to release it as a television film but changed course after word-of-mouth praise grew in Los Angeles and New York. The marketing department invested an additional five hundred thousand dollars in promotion. The film cost one point two seven million dollars to produce and market yet yielded worldwide box office gross revenues exceeding fifty-five million dollars. A reissue on the 26th of May 1978, earned another sixty-three million dollars bringing total revenue to one hundred eighteen million dollars. By the 1990s, American Graffiti had earned more than two hundred million dollars in combined box-office gross and home video sales. The profit-to-cost ratio became one of the greatest ever recorded for a motion picture. Universal

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• 5. Commercial Release And Box Office Phenomenon

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  Studios first released the film on DVD in September 1998 before re-releasing it again in January 2004 as a double feature.

  Roger Ebert gave the film four stars calling it a brilliant work of historical fiction that remembered exactly how it was to be alive at that cultural instant. Gene Siskel awarded three-and-a-half stars out of four while noting an overkill of nostalgia regarding the soundtrack. Vincent Canby of The New York Times described it as funny, accurate, controlled, and efficient in its narrative. Pauline Kael of The New Yorker wrote that the film failed to be anything more than a warm draggy comedy because there was nothing to back up the style. The movie received five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for George Lucas. It won induction into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1995 for being culturally historically or aesthetically significant. Rotten Tomatoes lists an approval rating based on reviews with an average score indicating universal acclaim from critics. Metacritic assigned a weighted average

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• 6. Critical Reception And Awards Recognition

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  score of ninety-seven out of one hundred based on fifteen mainstream critic reviews.

  The financial success made George Lucas an instant millionaire with a net worth of four million dollars. He set aside three hundred thousand dollars as an independent fund for his space opera project which became Star Wars. The film helped give birth to the summer blockbuster era alongside other movies from the New Hollywood period. MaryAnn Johanson acknowledged that American Graffiti rekindled public interest in the 1950s and early 1960s influencing films like The Lords of Flatbush and Cooley High. The city of Modesto honored Lucas with a statue dedication at George Lucas Plaza in 1997. An annual classic car festival now runs in honor of its graffiti culture heritage. David Fincher credited the film as a visual influence for Fight Club while Star Wars Episode II featured references including Dex's Diner resembling Mel's Drive-In. All custom cars offered for sale in San Francisco newspaper ads after release except Ron Howard's '58 Impala

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• 7. Cultural Legacy And Industry Impact

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  sold for only a few hundred dollars.

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