American Graffiti [Blu-ray]

Featuring a great cast of mostly unknown yet soon to be famous actors and starting a whole movement of nostalgia for the world of the 50's sock hops, cool cars and music, a young George Lucas films a semi-biographical remembrance documentary of sorts of his young teenager years in Modesto California in the late 50's and early 60's. Shot in a single nighttime span of various vignettes featuring the above-mentioned cast as well as many other characters we either knew in school or had heard stories about, American Graffiti became a very successful coming of age time capsule for that era. Even if you didn't do any cruising down the main street in your small town, you'll appreciate all the fantastic vintage cars and be reminded of all the various typical high school hijinks of these young people. And most of us can relate to at least one of not several of these young kids' situations on the precipice of adulthood facing a very uncertain future. Lucas manages to capture this feeling quite well. More than likely the nostalgia of our memories is much more pleasant than the reality! Lots of humor and great classic rock n roll keeps the film rolling along. And we see in the space of one night some who do step forward into adulthood and some who postpone it. The Blu-ray does a reasonable job putting up a remastered picture supervised by George Lucas himself. This movie has always been a difficult transfer to home video as it was filmed somewhat on the cheap and of course essentially shot completely at night. Some scenes have great fine grain, natural detail, good color pop and nice contrast. The gleaming, smooth paint jobs and chrome on the vintage cars shine just right. But there are some instances of black crush, disappearing grain into a sort of a digitally processed picture with some edge enhancements. None of this is fatal and for the most part you'll be pleased watching this disc. The 2.0 DTS-HD Master audio sound has very good fidelity. Dialog is sometimes drowned out a little by the music but there's no distortion or tinniness to the overall sound environment. Extras include a great "The Making of American Graffiti" documentary and some fantastic sometimes hilarious screen tests of the young cast. If you are of a certain age, you'll need this in your video collection to remember what it was like at a moment in America for high school kids before the rest of the 1960's and its terrible events began to crush all the innocence out of society for good. So, where were you in '62?

It's a classic,because it there was HAPPY DAYS

A perfect movie, the second film ever directed by George Lucas, featuring a great oldies soundtrack and an all star cast.

Damn good movie.

This review will prob be lost among the other thousands, but here goes. As a lifelong gearhead, of course I've seen this several times, and owned the DVD. I remember seeing it when it first came out and it just blew away this teenager, who came of age just as cruising was starting its decline in the mid-70's. my focus in the past was always on the cars, which of course are central to the movie. now that I'm (much) older, I am more interested in the characters, and how they interact. Just watched this again a couple nights ago...I have to say that I despise the Steve character...selfish and domineering, but probably typical...I sure knew many like him...however, Ron Howard did not have the gravitas to play such a dominant role...way too stiff and lightweight...Steve should move with the swagger and confidence that the character demanded. totally miscast the central role. Although the focus is on the boys, the girls have better and more complex roles...I love the Laurie character...so tormented by maybe losing the love of her life (until a few years later when she realizes what a jerk he is!)...wonderfully played by Cindy Williams in a much more nuanced characterization than the later sitcom. and the Debbie character by Candi Clark was great too...you just wonder what went on in her life that brought her to that point, a party girl but in command of her own life and able to shoo away annoying/threatening boys. And I really warmed up to Toad...perfectly played by Charles Martin Smith...always hopeful, always trying to please, always failing...such a sad sack. Richard Dreyfuss is too self confident for a role consumed by indecision, and Paul LeMat I'm 50/50 on. And, the '55 is freakin' awesome, and still exists (sort of) - there were 3 built for Two Lane Blacktop (one of my all time favs), and then painted for use in AG. 2 still live I believe, and 1 was destroyed for AG, although the one burning in end was not one of the 3.

still a great movie

Excelente película. Todo Ok.

Llega en un case de calidad adecuada. La imagen luce bien, siendo una mejora correcta. La imagen se ve nítida la mayoría del tiempo. El audio en inglés Dolby Digital 5.1 es bueno y correcto. También trae español latino Dolby Digital Mono y subtítulos en ambos idiomas. El código digital es válido para USA.

I had three products. Two arrived around the date line. The third is late by two weeks.

If you haven't seen this, it's a fun film from George Lucas's early days as a director (it's his second movie, after THX 1138, and introduced audiences to Harrison Ford before Lucas's next film, some obscure space fantasy...) The disc itself is decent. There are a few soft-focus long shots, but that's likely more to do with how it was shot. For the most part it's nice and crisp, looking how a film on the format should. There aren't many extras, but it does include the feature-length making of doc, which is very nice indeed, even if it is in 4:3 SD resolution.