George Lucas directed and co-wrote this movie about the variou misadventures of four high school friends one Saturday night in the Modesto, California of 1962. This movie has an interesting relationship to the television series 'Happy Days', which started out as a segment on 'Love American Style'. Plans to adapt the segment had been losing steam but the unexpected success of 'American Griffiti' revived them. Ron Howard of course was a lead in both the movie and the series.
This is the generational high school film for that silent generation, the one before the baby boomers. I've found more to relate to in Gen X high school films like 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' or even Gen Z ones like 'Book Smart'. 'American Griffiti' is more of an artifact, and it was intended to be one. 1962 was chosen because it was before the Kennedy assination and the British invasion, the mores, music, dance and behavior in the freshman dance sequence have more in common with 1952 and 1942 then 1972.
One thing I did like about the film is that the kids, while really good kids, were still swearing it up and horny, and various mostly petty crimes are committed. This movie isn't 'Happy Days', it's a little rawer and more cynical. It's also strucured losley, it's kids driving around in their cars on a Saturday night looking for chicks and listing to the radio, so I was unexpectedly reminded of 'Once Upon A Time in Hollywood'. The performaces pretty much across the board are good. This is even a subtilty significant film in a number of ways, though I don't think I could call it a great one. ***
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