“American Graffiti” Opens in 1973

American GraffitiAmerican Graffiti opened in the United States on August 11, 1973.  The movie, directed and co-written by George Lucas, captured a nostalgia for a summer in 1962.  I can hardly believe that now we are more than four times as much removed in time from the movie as the movie was removed from its characters.

American Graffiti follows two recent high school grads played by Ron Howard and Richard Dreyfus.  The two are spending their last night in town  before they are scheduled to leave for college the next day.  During the evening and night, their stories intertwine with a number of other young men and women cruising in cars around town. The movie not only captures a time and a place (and hot rods!), but it also reveals some of what it is like to be in high school.

The coming-of-age movie featured a number of stars and future stars, including Paul Le Mat, Harrison Ford, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Candy Clark, and Suzanne Somers.  Also, radio DJ Wolfman Jack makes a special appearance.  The film also contained a lot of great music from the period and a wonderful soundtrack.

Reception

Critics and viewers generally loved American Graffiti. The movie was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture.  The movie failed to win any Oscars and lost the Best Picture award to The Sting. But the film set in Modesto, California became a beloved classic.  It also aided the careers of many involved in the movie.  And it helped spawn a nostalgia for the 1950s and early 1960s.

American Graffiti ends with title cards reporting what happened to all of the characters, even though Lucas’s co-writers did not like such an ending, which was largely depressing. That, however, did not prevent an interesting but mediocre sequel in 1979, More American Graffiti.

When I was in high school, a few years after the movie was released, one of my teachers showed us the movie on a TV in class.  We were studying the period around the 1950s.  Our class was in the days before DVDs and VHS, so it was a big deal to see a commercial movie in class back then.  So, I will always have a special fondness for the movie.

In the clip below, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel discuss American Graffiti for the film’s debut on television (starting at the 16:30 mark).  Check it out.

What do you think of “American Graffiti”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Movie Lovers Should Join The Important Cinema Club (Podcast Review)

    I have tried out a number of movie podcasts, and one of the best is The Important Cinema Club.  Listening to hosts Will Sloan and Justin Decloux feels like hanging out with your friends in the basement talking about movies.  But only if your friends knew a ton about movies and were able to talk about them without being smug or making you feel like an idiot.

    Movie Podcast In The Important Cinema Club, Sloan and Decloux explore great films, but they also talk about not-so-great movies.  They take a light-hearted approach, so you never feel like you are listening to movie snobs who think they know more than you.

    Although they do know more than you, Sloan and Decloux are not afraid to explain why they do not like a classic like Gone With the Wind while also heaping praise on Godzilla movies or the work of Jerry Lewis.  One of their recent episodes was devoted to Looney Tunes, and when they turned their focus on Steven Spielberg they decided to focus on his lesser-loved works.

    So, one of the great things about The Important Cinema Club is the range of topics. In one episode, they will be talking about Starship Troopers while just a few episodes earlier they devoted an episode to Vincente Minnelli. You will likely start listening by skipping around to episodes about movies you have seen.  But you also should listen to the episodes about movies, stars, and directors you have never heard of. Sloan and Decloux have a ton of knowledge, and The Important Cinema Club is one of the most educational podcasts I have found.

    But most importantly, the podcast is fun.  The best part is the interaction between Sloan and Decloux and their sense of humor. You can tell that they really like each other and that they love movies. Their self-effacing humor makes all of their knowledge both accessible and fun. These guys know their stuff, but they also know how to have a good time. In some ways, they are using their podcast to do what Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert did with television by elevating the conversation about movies while also making the conversation entertaining and fun.

    Host Justin Decloux writes about movies, while hosting another podcast called Loose Cannons with Matthew Kumar.  He is an editor at FilmTrap.com and also has written and directed films.  Will Sloan writes about movies, and has written for NPR and other places.  His blog and other writings cover other topics in addition to film.

    Most of the podcasts are free. But once you start listening to The Important Cinema Club, you might want to support the podcast through Patreon and gain access to bonus content.

    If you do not trust my recommendation, listen to my new “friends” Will and Justin tell you why you should listen to The Important Cinema Club.

    What is your favorite movie podcast? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Trailer for Roger Ebert Documentary “Life Itself”

    Life Itself Documentary

    A new trailer is out for the documentary Life Itself, which recounts the life of movie critic Roger Ebert. It seems appropriate that someone who did so much for movies now will have a movie about this life. Steve James directed the film from executive producers Martin Scorsese and Steven Zaillian. The trailer looks great and as someone who grew up watching Ebert on television and reading his reviews, I am looking forward to the movie. Check out the trailer.

    The film gets its name from Ebert’s memoir, which was named Life Itself: A Memoir.

    Will you see Life Itself? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Siskel & Ebert Go Door-to-Door

    Roger Ebert, who passed away last week, had been planning a redesigned website that has now launched. Besides looking pretty cool and being full of information, it is a nice tribute to Ebert’s work and life.

    In honor of Roger Ebert, our funny-video-of-the-week looks back to a 1996 episode of David Letterman’s Late Show where Letterman is joined by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert as they go door-to-door in New Jersey. While we especially miss the great movie knowledge and brilliance of both Siskel and Ebert, we should not forget that they were often pretty darn funny too. Check out the video.



    What is your favorite TV appearance by Roger Ebert? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Roger Ebert Keeps Us Thinking

    Roger Ebert Goodfellas Roger Ebert, the first film critic to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, has passed away. Ebert bravely battled cancer for years, continuing to use the Internet to write and discuss movies. His website and Twitter accounts were active until the very end, and he even wrote a post yesterday, explaining how his medical condition was going to require him to cut back and take a “leave of presence.” But even while explaining his medical limitations, in that post he promoted the April 9 launch of a redesigned website. So even though he has not hosted a TV show in a long time, we will miss his presence in our everyday lives.

    For many of us growing up in the 1970s, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel taught us how to think about and discuss movies on a deep level. While we may not have always agreed with Ebert and/or Siskel, who passed away in 1999, they always made us think, which is the best thing a critic can do. I loved their shows Sneak Previews and At the Movies, and in later years I loved reading Ebert’s articles online. His well-written books on The Great Movies led me to discover a number of classic films, not alone, but with the guidance of a trained master. A year ago, he provoked discussion when he wrote an article about his rankings of the top ten movies of all time, some of which I had discovered through his earlier writings.

    In the video below, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel review one of the classics, Goodfellas (1990).

    Ebert closed his final post with his sign off, “I’ll see you at the movies.” I will miss his movie reviews, but the truth is that having seen and read so many of his reviews, his intelligent voice already affects the way we watch any movie today, tomorrow, and in the future. So we will still be seeing him at the movies, where we will give him two big thumbs up.

    What is your favorite Roger Ebert review? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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