This 1973 movie about a handful of high school seniors on the verge of adulthood firmly established GEORGE LUCAS (in only his second feature film) as a director with considerable commercial savvy. That the movie was made at all, however, is due to the fact that Lucas's close friend, FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, director of the smash hit The Godfather in 1972, agreed to act as producer. American Graffiti is notable for several reasons. The script (based on Lucas's concept) was written by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz. It was this very successful screenwriting team's first film. The movie also made a star of RICHARD DREYFUSS, and it either introduced or featured a host of actors who went on to achieve greater success, including RON HOWARD, Charles Martin Smith, Paul Le Mat, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, HARRISON FORD, Mackenzie Phillips, Bo Hopkins, Kathy Quinlan, and Suzanne Somers. In addition, the film's success ultimately led to one of television's most popular shows of the mid- to late 1970s, Happy Days, which in turn spun off Laverne & Shirley.
In yet another way, this small, seemingly unambitious, film had a significant effect on movies that came later; it created a whole new genre of film: music-driven dramas whose rock 'n' roll sound-track albums were potentially worth more than actual ticket sales.
A nostalgic movie, it was advertised with the slogan “Where were you in '62?” American Graffiti had a musical sound track like no other previous film. Forty-one rock 'n' roll hits of the past were crammed into it, evoking a veritable flood of memories. The songs were such an integral part of the script that Lucas spent $80,000 (more than 10 percent of his total budget) to acquire the music rights.
On the basis of its $750,000 production cost, American Graffiti became the best movie investment of its decade, grossing roughly $50,000,000. Thanks to that huge commercial success, Lucas was given an $11 million budget to make a science fiction film at a time when the genre was considered box-office poison. That movie was STAR WARS.
While the big movie studios worried in the 1950s about the effect of TV on their traditional audience, they ignored the powerful and energetic creativity of a whole new generation of actors and filmmakers who came of age working at American International Pictures.
A.I.P. was founded in 1955 by Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson. Their intention, which was fully realized, was to make low-budget movies for the drive-in movie circuits and to cater specifically to teenagers. With unashamedly trashy films like Reform School Girls (1957), which featured 16-year-old Sally Kellerman, and Naked Paradise (1957), directed by the soon-to-become-legendary ROGER CORMAN, the studio became increasingly successful. During A.I.P.'s existence, future stars such as CHARLES BRONSON, Peter Fonda, and BRUCE DERN, and writerdirector PETER BOGDANOVICH all received early training and experience.
It was Corman, however, who was the creative force at A.I.P., directing a highly regarded hit film series based on Edgar Allan Poe's short stories (starring VINCENT PRICE), and the original The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) featuring JACK NICHOLSON, a film shot in two days!
Apart from Corman, A.I.P. may be best remembered for Beach Party (1963), starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. This film launched a series of BEACH PARTY MOVIES that were remarkable for both their absurdity and their goodnatured innocence. In 1979 American International merged with Filmways, later bought out by Orion Pictures.
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