MovieChat Forums > American Graffiti (1973) Discussion > This movie sucks!

This movie sucks!

posted 17 years ago by mladenilic
64 replies | jump to latest

Okay it may have influenced some other movies but I was just watching it now and I stopped because it's ,BORING.

The movie goes like this:

Bunch of teenagers are driving around.
Then they are dancing at the school party.
Again, they are driving around.
Again, they are dancing at the school party.
Again, they are driving around.

This is when I press the stop button.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot:
Some guy doesn't want to leave the rural town even though he got a scolarship.
Some guy is driving around in a yellow car with a girl that is like 12 years old.

I mean seriously , what's the big hype about this movie?

Dazed and confused , which I don't like very much, is great compared to this one.
I don't even have to compare Grease , which is an outstanding movie.

[–] gazzo-2 17 years ago

Well, this 'review' of yours sucks.

[–] mladenilic 17 years ago

you suck!

[–] SinemaGirl 17 years ago

"I don't even have to compare Grease , which is an outstanding movie."

LOL! Thanks for the laugh. It brightened my morning. You had me going at first...

If your post is not a joke, you probably should stick with the more cartoonish depictions of the era.

[–] ck1-5 17 years ago

According to the OP, American Graffiti sucks, but Bad Santa is a good movie. 'Nuff said.

[–] ambrosesmith 17 years ago

'Grease' was a good movie---but kind of cartoony and very musical. (And set in the FIFTIES!)

'Graffiti' is a great movie---not cartoony but very real. (Set in 1962! Not in the 50's.)

Both are fine films but 'American Graffiti' is like a fine wine. It gets better with age. The look and feel of the movie is timeless and classic.

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[–] lroy77 12 years ago

Because, that's basically what kids did at that age (unlike today).

I'm not sure if you can compare Grease with this movie. The music here is more to the times than Grease. That being said, both movies were pretty much the same time period.

Would've be interesting if the movies crossed each other's paths like what has been done on sitcoms.

And throw in some Delta House too because THAT is the same time period.

Fast approaching 50.

[–] axl9871 17 years ago

Troll.

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"This is my life and it is ending one minute at a time..."

[–] al-a-1 16 years ago

mladenic your life sucks so go jump off a cliff.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] bradshack213 16 years ago

When people create threads like this, it shows that they have very little understanding of a film's purpose and value because they probably expected something completely different than what the popularity may have suggested. This is a period piece. This is also nearly like a fantasy set in the real world in a very memorable yet vastly different time. I'm guessing the OP probably never witnessed the change between pre-Vietnam era America and post-Vietnam America and so can not understand why this perfectly captured, historical re-creation is such a gem. This film isn't likely to capture the memories and inspire the nostalgia of a generation who grew up playing video games 24-hours a day with 200 channels on TV and the internet. They also never had a war that divided their country and robbed them of innocence. Of course a film like American Graffiti bores the OP and others like them. So, just because you can't connect to something doesn't make it crap. I'd probably call your entire family photo album crap, but that's probably because i didn't experience any of what it depicts.

[–] adsdarts 16 years ago

Whoever started this thread obviously doesnt quite get the WHOLE *point* of the film

Oh Dear

Im guessing you're young or a teenager or something ?

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" No Ace. Just You "

[–] pauljcurley 16 years ago

I am embarassed to say that I agree with the OP. I was born in 1969, and I guess what I found off-putting about this film besides the slow plot and the over-use of the period music, was my sense that this was set in some glorious era ("happy days") before the awful tumult of the mid to late 60's, which ruined the happy times when people cruised up and down the streets in hulking American-made vehicles, guzzling cheap gas, bored out of their minds. I came of age in the 70's and 80's, when we were supposed to believe that this was such as special time. I think it must have been awful.

Although I was struck by the thought that the movie was made in 1973 - just 11 years after the time period it was set in, and which is so perfectly (and painfully) evoked by the non-stop soundtrack. To compare, if one made a movie set just 11 years ago today (1997), the soundtrack would not be so starkly evocative of the time period. Which illustrates that the years between 1962-1973 witnessed incalculable social changes, that we can hardly imagine today.

But what made me disgruntled with the movie was my sense (perhaps incorrect) that 1962 was some wonderful "innocent" time in America. I think it was actually stultifyingly dull, just like this movie.

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[–] cataclysm1071 15 years ago

"Although I was struck by the thought that the movie was made in 1973 - just 11 years after the time period it was set in, and which is so perfectly (and painfully) evoked by the non-stop soundtrack. To compare, if one made a movie set just 11 years ago today (1997), the soundtrack would not be so starkly evocative of the time period. Which illustrates that the years between 1962-1973 witnessed incalculable social changes, that we can hardly imagine today."

Actually quite a bit had changed between the years of 1997-2008. Technology wise, in 1997...cell phones were not as common as they are now, the internet was still fairly young (Windows 98 wasn't even out yet.)

As far as music and popular culture goes, grunge and alternative were still very popular, we didn't have the excessive amount of garbage reality shows that we do now, and celebrities were actually trained actors and singers. Not 15 minute wannabes.

And....this was the period before 9/11, everything seemed to change after that. We weren't engaged in a war with the Middle East, that has been going on for 8 years.

So I actually remember the late 90s as a very different time than now...2010.

[–] njiuma 9 years ago

If one made a movie set just 11 years ago today (1997), the soundtrack would not be so starkly evocative of the time period.

- Yes, it would. The nineties was most definitely "markable", in part, by the music of the period. Perhaps not the 2000's forward, but consider:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZeZyM_MEak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoW3bqnr7tw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxKWTzr-k6s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg

- I would argue that a film made about the nineties, utilizing the popular rock music and fashion of the period, would indeed be most nostalgic and appear significantly different than anything we have today.

"If you love Jesus Christ and are 100% proud of it copy this and make it your signature!"

[–] Owlwise 14 years ago

Perfectly said, bradshack213!

What the OP doesn't grasp is that a film like this is a window into another time, another way of living & thinking. History can give you the facts, but a beautifully realized memory piece like "American Graffiti" can make you feel what it was like to be there.

I really don't understand viewers who are afraid of anything outside their narrow little comfort zone. Films about different times & different cultures are opportunities to expand your horizons, widen your experience of the world! There's so much more to life than you imagine, if only you're willing to take a chance on something new.

[–] stevenackerman69 9 years ago

Yeah, that is the point of the film, to provoke an era that is long gone. Sometimes when you are used to films about teenagers begin them all sex starved or attacked by a mad slasher, you can't see a film that shows them like this. I thought the teens were okay and maybe the stuff they did back then was simpler to today.

[–] watching29 15 years ago

If you don't like it...don't watch it...moron

[–] jtf1986 15 years ago

How do you know if you are going to like something or not until you watch it...moron

[–] rootieboy 15 years ago

I'm 27 years old and this movie to me has always been one of the greatest movies ever made. I don't think the younger generation even understands what the late 50's/early 60's culture was like. My Dad was 18 in 1962 and he says this film is dead on. He grew up in Southern California during the transition of the rock and roll scene to the big surf scene. The whole scene with John Milner and the girl arguing over the Beach Boys and Buddy Holley goes to show the true understanding nature of the film.

People ask the question "How could teenagers afford to buy a car at wages back then?" Well my Dad cruised around in a 1939 Ford Sedan delivery. The car was 23 years old by then and he had to junk yards and learn to fix the up thing by himself. It was perfect for throwing his surfboard on top. Think about the age of John Milners car. It was a 1932 Ford Coup. his car was 30 years old by then. Now tell me what an average car from 1980 is going cost you now days. Probably about $500. Any teen can make that working at a fast food restaurant after school.

The dialog is original and natural and the humor is just dead on. This movie is a great coming of age story and it gives homage to an important turning point in Americas history. This was America right before the British Invasion and Vietnam. The ending of the film ends perfectly when we see what happens to the four guys.

[–] jejozi 14 years ago

I was composing my response while reading your post, until I read your last line. Grease? Outstanding? Either a troll or an idiot. lol Grease......

This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.

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[–] madmadrid 10 years ago

The movie portrays a piece of history and is a superb film in every way.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I agree!