“American Graffiti” a montage of music and some classic performances

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Logan5, Sep 3, 2008.

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  1. Logan5

    Logan5 New Member Thread Starter

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    This had to been one of George Lucas best films before Star Wars took cinemas by storm with the original (1977) anyway enough with Star Wars!

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    I first caught this film on TV many years ago and liked it from the moment rock around the clock started and knew deep down I was going to enjoy this film and enjoyed it I did. its got all the little qualities of growing up and being faced with moving away in Curt’s case and the one last night together with his friends.

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    Made in (1973) the DVD transfer looks fresh and gritty with the grain structure as it was filmed on 16mm to give it that documentary style of feeling, framed in scope 2.35:1 anamorphic and accompanied with Dolby stereo 4:2:4 it’s an all over good viewing with good line-up of characters and classic past time music as
    “Hotrods” cruise the streets. It’s got kissing dancing and mischief like hanging out with the

    Cast line up.
    Richard Dreyfuss ... Curt Henderson
    Richard Dreyfuss ... Curt Henderson
    Paul Le Mat ... John Milner
    Charles Martin Smith ... Terry 'The Toad' Fields (as Charlie Martin Smith)
    Cindy Williams ... Laurie Henderson
    Candy Clark ... Debbie Dunham
    Wolfman Jack ... XERB Disc Jockey
    Bo Hopkins ... Joe Young
    Manuel Padilla Jr. ... Carlos
    Beau Gentry ... Ants
    Harrison Ford ... Bob Falfa
    Jim Bohan ... Officer Holstein
    Jana Bellan ... Budda
    Deby Celiz ... Wendy

    More at imdb
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069704/fullcredits#cast


    Montage of songs

    1.Rock Around the Clock, (We're Gonna) - Bill Haley & His Comets
    2. Sixteen Candles - The Crests
    3. Runaway - Del Shannon
    4. Why Do Fools Fall in Love - Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers
    5. That'll Be the Day - Buddy Holly
    6. Fannie Mae - Buster Brown
    7. At the Hop - Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids
    8. She's So Fine - Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids
    9. Stroll, The - The Diamonds
    10. See You in September - The Tempos
    11. Surfin' Safari - The Beach Boys
    12. He's the Great Imposter - The Fleetwoods
    13. Almost Grown - Chuck Berry
    14. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - The Platters
    15. Little Darlin' - The Diamonds
    16. Peppermint Twist - Joey Dee & The Starliters
    17. Barbara Ann - The Regents
    18. Book of Love - The Monotones
    19. Maybe Baby - Buddy Holly
    20. Ya Ya - Lee Dorsey
    21. Great Pretender, The - The Platters
    22. Ain't That a Shame - Fats Domino
    23. Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
    24. I Only Have Eyes For You - The Flamingos
    25. Get a Job - The Silhouettes
    26. To the Aisle - The Five Satins
    27. Do You Wanna Dance - Bobby Freeman
    28. Party Doll - Buddy Knox
    29. Come Go With Me - The Del-Vikings
    30. You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful (And You're Mine) - Johnny Burnette
    31. Love Potion No. 9 - The Clovers
    32. Since I Don't Have You - The Skyliners
    33. Chantilly Lace - Big Bopper
    34. Teen Angel - Mark Dinning
    35. Crying in the Chapel - Sonny Til & The Orioles
    36. Thousand Miles Away, A - The Heartbeats
    37. Heart and Soul - The Cleftones
    38. Green Onions - Booker T. & The MG's
    39. Only You - The Platters
    40. Goodnight, Well It's Time to Go - The Spaniels
    41. All Summer Long - The Beach Boys​
     
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  2. Chip TRG

    Chip TRG Senior Member

    Wow...I thought you were giving us screen grabs of every frame! ;)

    That damn sunset shot. Proof positive that Lucas isn't content with screwing with only the Star Wars movies. Thankfully he didn't change anything else (unless you count the reinsertion of some key scenes way back in the 70's which were yanked originally)

    The Laserdisc is the way to go if you want the original unaltered shot in widescreen (albeit non-anamorphic)

    Oh, and it wasn't filmed on 16MM. It was filmed in 35MM, but filmed in Techniscope, which is a 2-perf widescreen process, so it comes out as a frame of film which is just about as high (and as grainy) as a 16MM frame, but is widescreen without a scope lense.
     

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  3. rpd

    rpd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville
    my favorite movie of all time...
     
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  4. JBStephens

    JBStephens I don't "like", "share", "tweet", or CARE. In Memoriam

    Location:
    South Mountain, NC
    Yes, a montage of music and some classic performances all held together by a glue called Wolfman Jack. A truly great film. I saw it in the theatre when it was new!
     
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  5. One of my all time favorits. :righton:
     
  6. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    How was it altered?
     
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  7. darkmatter

    darkmatter Gort Astronomer Staff

    A great film :cool:

    Excellent thread.

    Simon :)
     
  8. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    Lucas erased the top half of the buildings in the background and added an artificial sunset, like so:
     

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  9. Logan5

    Logan5 New Member Thread Starter

    ^^^ Oh nice try, tell you what why not stick the cloud city in background.:laugh:

    The version on DVD has been taken from the THX laserdisc signature collection. Yet there is one thing I don’t understand, why hasn’t George Lucas authorized the THX theme on region 2 DVD? Just isn’t the same without THX humming away loudly before a film starts.

    There have been two widescreen versions on laserdisc the first edition and the signature collation edition. Oh, I have never owned the laserdisc version only the DVD that I have now.

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  10. Cheepnik

    Cheepnik Overfed long-haired leaping gnome

    In tribute to The Crests, the title of this thread should be "Sixteen Screen Caps."
     
  11. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    One of my fave movies of all time--I SO identified with Dreyfuss' character at the time (I was in HS). Saw it threee times. I read somewhere that the first cut was over 3 hours long. All the cut footage has been lost except the handful of 'restored' scenes put into the second release. :cry:
     
  12. Logan5

    Logan5 New Member Thread Starter

    If it had made the 3 hour mark then I guess that would mean 20 or 30 more extra songs from the classic era.:)


    Oh, that’s funny.:biglaugh:
     
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  13. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    Funny thing is, moments later as Curt walks from his car you can see some of the upper half of one of the buildings that Lucas erased (oops); one of the erased buildings also reappears at the 3:39 mark (as "Sixteen Candles" begins). Also, in the altered version with the sunset, they accidentally erased the smaller "Mel's" sign that you can see in the original shot (that little white thing above Steve's head). [​IMG][​IMG]

    I find it funny that Lucas added some continuity errors to his film. :laugh:



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    The smaller "Mel's" sign reappears during the "Sixteen Candles" scene too, in addition to the tall building that reappears directly behind "Mel's drive-in":
     

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  14. jupiter8

    jupiter8 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ, USA
    I LOVE LOVE this movie!

    I think it's nearly as influential as "Star Wars"-really kicked off the whole idea of making a nostalgic/period piece film using old music to tie it together/comment on it, echos of which can be seen in things like ""Goodfellas" "Flamingo Kid" "The Wedding Singer" etc etc etc (of course I always think Kenneth Anger's "Scorpio Rising" was really the first film to use pop music as commentary on what was happening onscreen).

    "More American Graffiti" on the other hand...what a clunker!
     
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  15. Marty Milton

    Marty Milton Senior Member

    Location:
    Urbana, Illinois
    A truly classic movie. George Lucas really did a great job of recreating the last moments before the tumultuous period of the 60s began. In one of the extra features there are some interviews with cast members. One person thought they were just filming some "B" movie that was destined for drive-in theaters.
     
  16. Cheepnik

    Cheepnik Overfed long-haired leaping gnome

    All this tampering makes me sorta glad I've held onto my VHS copy all these years. Thanks, Mr. Lucas, but I really don't need American Graffiti to look like Gone With the Wind.
     
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  17. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    love this movie as well...not crazy about the DVD!


    not a favorite here, but I also love HOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS!
     
  18. I love this film. I think that the commentary on the DVD is really well done. Not only does it describe in great detail how certain scenes were filmed, it also describes Lucas' personality and how he works with actors. Great stuff.!!! He loved spontaneity and told the actors to finish the scene even if a mistake was made. For example, the opening scene where the moped is rammed into the newspaper vending machine was an accident. The scene was not scripted that way. However, Lucas thought that it was great and left it in the film. The actors thought that certain scenes were filmed over and over until a mistake happened.
     
  19. Logan5

    Logan5 New Member Thread Starter

    LOL oh, that was very funny, gone with the wind, bugger that!

    Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn about CGI.:biglaugh:

    What’s that the screen writers guild in shinny white armour?:D
     
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  20. Chip TRG

    Chip TRG Senior Member

    The first one is the LD that I own, so I can vouch that it is the orginal unaltered shots.

    I'm willing to bet that the second one is from the same source as the re-done DVD, as the artwork is the same.
     
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  21. minerwerks

    minerwerks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA, USA
    Yes, the "Signature Collection" line was one of the last gasps in the laserdisc market, and several early DVD special editions (like "Graffiti," "Animal House" and "Blues Brothers") were simultaneously released.
     
  22. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    It's fascinating to watch this movie and see that George Lucas was at one time capable of directing a film with good acting, believable characters and realistic dialogue.

    IMO the sunset shot looks way better in his tinkered version.
     
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  23. Logan5

    Logan5 New Member Thread Starter

    Yes you’re right because I agree about the artwork.
     
  24. rpd

    rpd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville
    Is there any version out there that has the original unaltered shots in either VHS or DVD formats? Or is that only available on LD?
     
  25. Logan5

    Logan5 New Member Thread Starter

    You could buy the laserdisc and then transfer it to DVD-RW for in home use only. This is why they should give the consumer the best of both worlds, but that only happens once in while.
     
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