American Graffiti (1973)

George Lucas’s breakout Best Picture nominated film reanimated a time barely a decade past, 1962, before a generation of boys went to Vietnam, before rock and roll went psychedelic, and before baby boomer nostalgia was an entire industrial complex. Less melodramatic and more laid back than the teen films of his youth, American Graffiti was exactly realistic enough, misogynist warts and all, to catch fire at the box office and set the template for the teen hangout genre.

On this episode, we discuss the film’s strengths and weaknesses with the hindsight of today, the consequences of american car culture post-WWII, and the new hollywood savviness of guys like Lucas and Coppola, and what it means to consciously chase mainstream success.

Next week: The Mother and the Whore (1973) by Jean Eustache

UnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy