(1973)
5
Rebecca Flint Marx
Nostalgic but unsentimental, American Graffiti is a seminal coming-of-age film that speaks to anyone who has ever been a teenager. George Lucas's second feature film, it recalled a simpler time while reminding audiences that things weren't really that simple. An elegy for childhood freedom, it captured yearning conflict without exploiting it and refused to exchange its tough-love treatment of its subjects for a more breezy, simplistic rendering. The film was a surprise success (much like Lucas' next film, Star Wars) that set the tone for subsequent youth-oriented movies. It also sparked a craze for nostalgia films set in the pre-Vietnam era, an interesting detail given that, while certainly nostalgic, American Graffiti avoided the sort of sappy, one-dimensional pitfalls encountered by its numerous imitators. A classic by any standards, its message remains unforced and universal, making the film identifiable with but not defined by one particular era.
awards for American Graffiti on AllMovie
American Graffiti (1973)
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
|
Nominated |
Best Director
|
1973 |
|
Nominated |
Best Editing
|
1973 |
|
Nominated |
Best Original Screenplay
|
1973 |
|
Nominated |
Best Picture
|
1973 |
|
Nominated |
Best Supporting Actress
|
1973 |
American Film Institute
|
Won |
100 Greatest American Movies
|
1998 |
Directors Guild of America
|
Nominated |
Best Director
|
1973 |
Hollywood Foreign Press Association
|
Nominated |
Best Director
|
1973 |
|
Nominated |
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
|
1973 |
|
Won |
Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
|
1973 |
|
Won |
New Star of the Year - Male
|
1973 |
Library of Congress
|
Won |
U.S. National Film Registry
|
1994 |
New York Film Critics Circle
