American Graffiti
50th Anniversary 4K review by Bobby Blakey
Before unleashed his now iconic space opera Star Wars on the masses, director George Lucas took audiences back to the 60s for his Academy Award nominated classic American Graffiti. The film stars Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Suzanne Somers, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Wolfman Jack, and Harrison Ford. Now Universal is bringing it home to 4K for the first time ever, but does it hold up or will it run off the road?
American Graffiti follows a group of teenagers in California's central valley who spend one final night after their 1962 high school graduation cruising the strip with their buddies before they pursue their varying goals.
I had only seen this classic flick once before, but had been so long it was almost like the first time. Revisiting these kinds of films are always a joy of not only the nostalgia of them, but getting to see so many young faces of iconic actors early in their careers is just cool. This is one of those films that can easily be dismissed due to its simplistic nature and lack of overly exciting elements, but that’s kind of the point.
​
The film is just a look at a single night of these kids during the time and not meant to be much else other than their own journey. It perfectly captures the time period and offers up numerous overlapping stories that never bog down each other or feel convoluted. Lucas does a good job here dealing with all these characters and making you care about what they are going through and making sure that while similar everything they are focused on is different than the last.
This isn’t the kind of movie that a lot of the current generation would likely flock to, but really should. It’s simply but perfect filmmaking about life and a time that offered up so much in a different perspective. I am so glad I got to revisit it once again after all this time and this 4K edition looks excellent and worth adding to your collection.
In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including trailer, commentary, screen test and a making of featurette.
Grab your copy of American Graffiti available now on 4K from Universal Home Entertainment.