American Graffitti is an interesting film to say the least. A starting point in movies for Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Ronnie Howard and George Lucas. What makes this DVD worth the buy is the absolutely brilliant documentary on the movie. Just like THX, Star Wars, Indian Jones, the documentary makes you appreciate the movie on a whole new level. You learn that this movie cam from nothing, had no money behind it, unknown actors, a bizarre style of story telling and movie making, yet went on to capture the attention and love of a nation. the things George Lucas and Francis Ford-Coppola pioneered at the time was amazing. At a time when the old men of Hollywood were starting to give way to the young, this shows a film made by people with a view of something new.
The four main stories are well entwined, and seem the norm now, but in 1973, having more than one story in this fashion was unheard of. All the actors come off as natural and realistic, based on the idea on cruisin, where high school kids would cruise up and down the main street in their town is the basis for one night before some leave for college. I cannot recommend this enough and if you are interested I would recommend THX 1138 to be watched before hand along with the doco on that DVD and find out the origins of American Zoetrope and then watching this movie to appreciate the talent behind it. This is amazing value.