More American Graffiti is the 1979 sequel film to George Lucas's hit film American Graffiti. Whereas the first film followed a group of friends during the summer evening before they set off for college, this film shows us where the characters from the first film end up a few years later.
Most cast members from the first film returned for this sequel, including Candy Clark, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Charles Martin Smith and even Harrison Ford turns up for a cameo appearance. The notable exception is Richard Dreyfuss.
Plot
The film, set over the four consecutive New Year's Eves from 1964 to 1967 depicts scenes from each of these years, intertwined with one another as though events happen simultaneously. The audience is protected from confusion by the conceit of a distinct cinematic style for each section. For example, the 1966 sequences echo the movie of Woodstock using split screens and multiple angles of the same event simultaneously on screen, the 1965 sequences (set in Vietnam) shot hand-held on grainy super 16 mm film designed to resemble war reporters' footage. The film attempts to memorialize the 1960s with sequences that recreate the sense and style of those days with references to Haight-Ashbury, the campus peace movement, the beginnings of the modern woman's liberation movement and the accompanying social revolt. One character burned his draft card showing a younger audience what so many Americans had done on the television news ten years before the movie's release. Other characters are shown frantically disposing of their marijuana before a traffic stop as a police officer pulls them over, and another scene shows the police brutality with billy clubs during an anti-Vietnam protest.
The listed fates of the main characters at the ending sequence of American Graffiti were updated again at the end of this sequel. In More American Graffiti, John Milner was revealed to have been killed by a drunk driver in December 1964 (reminiscent of the death of James Dean in 1955 though the accident involving Dean did not involve a drunk driver), with the ending scene of the movie driving his trademark yellow Deuce at night along a lonely highway toward a swerving vehicle. Set on New Year's Eve 1964, it is never actually shown that his tragic end comes after his racing win on the last day of the year. The anniversary of John's death is mentioned in both the 1965 and 1966 sequences. Terry "The Toad" Fields' classification as "missing in action" is not explored in greater detail since the movie shows that he faked his own death. The ending sequence would have read "killed in action" had the story ended there. Terry is believed to be dead by his superiors in 1965 and by his friends - Debbie in 1966 and Steve and Laurie in 1967. Joe Young (the leader of "The Pharaohs") is Toad's war partner, and vividly meets his death with a sniper's bullet to the chest in one scene after having promised once again to make Terry the Toad a Pharaoh once they get back from Vietnam.
The relationship of Steve and Laurie is strained by Laurie's insistence that she start her own career, though Steve forbids it saying he wants her to be a mom to their young twins. Free-spirited Debbie "Deb" Dunham has turned from Old Harper to marijuana and has given up her platinum blonde persona for a hippie/groupie one in a long, strange trip that ends with her performing with a country-and-western music group. Wolfman Jack briefly reprised his role, but in voice only. The drag racing scenes for More American Graffiti were filmed at the Fremont Raceway, later Baylands Raceway Park, in Fremont, California.
Cast
Production
The movie was written and directed by Bill L. Norton who was picked by Lucas as being suitable due to his California upbringing and experience with comedy. Lucas was involved in the production by acting as the executive producer, editing both Norton's screenplay and the finished motion picture, and even manning a camera for sequences set in the Vietnam War.
Soundtrack
The movie also featured a thirty-three track soundtrack entitled More American Graffiti which has only been released in double Long Play form. The soundtrack originally released in 1979 as MCA2-11006 is presently out of print, and featured music from the movie along with voice-over tracks of Wolfman Jack.
A fictional band called Electric Haze featuring Doug Sahm appears in the film, most notably performing the Muddy Waters song Mannish Boy. This version of the song is mislabeled as I'm a Man, however.
Reception
More American Graffiti opened on August 3, 1979 grossed $8,100,000 in the United States over its $3 million budget.[1] Despite its minor box office success, its gross was nowhere near as much as American Graffiti grossed.
Its critical reception was nowhere near as positive as it had been for American Graffiti. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 22% of critics gave positive reviews based on 9 reviews.[2]
Dale Pollack of Variety stated in his review that "More American Graffiti may be one of the most innovative and ambitious films of the last five years, but by no means is it one of the most successful."[3]
References
External links
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1970s
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More American Graffiti (1979)
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