American Graffiti [DVD] [1973]

*** THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 2011 "BLU RAY" REISSUE ***

George Lucas' "American Graffiti" is remembered (and quite rightly so) with great affection - a five-star masterpiece that's almost unique in its vision of growing up in 1962 America listening to music on the radio in your car, getting up to no good and generally enjoying the sheer blast of 'boss' Saturday night on the town. It also has one of the most atmospheric and brilliantly woven-in soundtracks 'ever' - an MCA 2LP set released with the movie in August 1973 that the public adored and kept on buying for decades after (it peaked at Number 10). It's also forgotten now, but "American Graffiti" virtually kick-started the massive Rock'n'Roll revival of the early Seventies that saw every major label reissue R'n'B, Doo Wop and R'n'R LPs to beat the band - much to the delight of music fans. And who among us wouldn't have wanted to spend the night in the company of the awesome Wolfman Jack (dialogue above).

I say all of this as a preamble, because I have no beef with the movie or what surrounds it. BUT - I have very real misgivings about the quality of the print on this 2011 BLU RAY reissue (hence the 2-star rating). It's not great at all, and in places, it's truly awful.

The opening Universal Logo looks ancient and scratched to bits, but as the movie credits begin to roll the picture-quality looks more promising if not a little blurry. You also see that we're in the early part of an evening still bathed in fading daylight, but as the movie quickly progresses, every shot becomes a night time scene - and the blocking and terrible grain of the original print just gets worse and worse. It's infuriating, because one moment the print quality is lovely - full of colour and depth - the next it's like a bad videotape - grainy to a point where the fuzzy picture is 'all' you see. The real bad news is that as the movie progresses to the Harrison Ford/Paul Le Mat car race showdown - there are scenes where the print is appalling - as bad as "The French Connection" (and anyone who has bought that turkey of a Blu Ray will know what I mean).

This is how Lucas filmed it I know - but the point is that this BLU RAY affords you a better picture only in 'certain' places - but for the majority of the time it gives you an accentuated version of wildly haphazard cinematography - and it makes for a very disappointing watch indeed. The DVD was always 'good' rather than great, but this 2011 BLU RAY is not a 'full on' upgrade as some have suggested - nor does it have the beautifully cleaned-up and restored stills that are suddenly peppering the net at the time of release. Anybody claiming this is a GLORIOUS transfer is talking absolute knob.

Fans may be unable to resist replacing their beloved DVD with this - fair enough - but anyone else considering buying it - I would advise a rental first to 'see' what I mean.

I hate doing negative reviews, but sometimes you need to. I wish someone had told me how bad this looked 'before' I wasted my money on it and had to sit through one of my favourite Seventies movies looking worse rather than better.

BLU RAY Credits:
VIDEO: 1080p High Definition Widescreen, 2.35:1 Aspect
AUDIO: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, French, Italian, German, Spanish DTS 2.0 Mono, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese DTS 2.0 Stereo
SUBTITLES: English SDH, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Icelandic, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish and Traditional Mandarin

BONUS Material:
PIP Commentary with Director George Lucas
U-Control: The Music Of American Graffiti
Screen Tests
The Making Of American Graffiti
Theatrical Trailer

Im just about 20 now so by no means a contemporary :) I first remember seeing a glimpse of this film on TV when I was about 6. All I remembered was the yellow car and something about a gear knob being given to a girl. Then I saw the very end again on TV the other week! Right! Straight onto teletext to get the name, then straight onto Amazon to order.
This film is brilliant. It would be so good to live the old Americana way and this film encapsulates the whole feeling (well, what I reckon would be the feeling). There is something for everyone, everyone can relate to something. For me, a modified Nova GTE owner I love watching Milner drive around in the '32 Deuce Coupe, having the odd race, the odd smoke and listening to the tunes. The music is just fantastic. I have never bought any non-contemporary music before and probably never will but this is just something else. It all envelops the characters and the film to an incredible level. Brilliant. Interviews with the cast and how they are now is a top feature but also scary as in 30 or 40 years I'm going to be in that position looking back at old pictures of the Nova!

As the guy said above the ending is both liberating and sombre, finding out what happens later to all the people in a film is something youre often left wondering, with this being a true-to-life film true-to-life fates do lay in store :(

Don't consider it, just click the order button right now

Steve

Released for the first time in widescreen, which greatly enhances the viewing of the film, this DVD also includes the original trailer and a superb 75 minute documentary with director George Lucas, producer Francis Ford Coppola and the main cast. Proving there was a time when Lucas could direct actors and not just manipulate blue screen, American Graffiti is a striking period piece which tells the intertwining tales of a group of teenagers in Smalltown USA. Packed with an incessant soundtrack of 1950's and 1960's hits, American Graffiti takes on a semi-documentary style. This free-flowing narrative is enhanced by the director's particular choices as to which takes made the finished film (but you'll have to watch the documentary to see what I mean). The film is packed with a veritable who's who of character actors and soon-to-be-stars, including director-in-waiting Ron Howard, the ever watchable Richard Dreyfuss and some ex-carpenter called Harrison Ford who nobody's heard of since. The film also features appearances from Kathleen Quinlan (who went on to appear in The Doors, Breakdown and Apollo 13, the latter directed by Ron Howard himself), and Charles Martin Smith, who later appeared in The Buddy Holly Story, John Carpenter's Starman and The Untouchables, as well as directing the pilot episode for Buffy The Vampire Slayer (eat your heart out, George). Full credit to Universal for this DVD release, which is an essential purchase for any fan of the film who has already worn their videotape thin.