The 30 Second Ending Makes The Movie.
It’s hard to make sense of how to digest this film.
American Film Institute’s Ranking: #77/100
Awards: Nominated for five academy awards.
My Rating: 
Well, this is weird.
For two hours, I thought George Lucas’s American Graffiti was a bit flat; you have to do better than just capture an era and have a good soundtrack to be must see cinema. Set on the last day before everyone is meant to diverge, a group of teenangers spend the last night of Summer vacation in an intertwining adventure. The problem was none of it seemed important.
That is until the very closing segment, a 30 second epilogue that shows the final outcome of the main characters.
The previous night transforms from a bunch of coming of age tropes into events that dictate the rest of their lives. It’s no longer about drag races and cherry bombs but life and death. I’m not sure if it’s enough to save the movie, but it hit me hard and made me think: the “last time” is usually mundane and hard to recognize.
Continue reading “Top 100 Movie Review: #77 – American Graffiti (1973)”
