FROM DAMON’S DESK: JOHN LANDIS ON AMERICAN GRAFFITI

Great story. I'm definitely jealous of the embarrassment of riches that is the LA Rep. Theater scene.

Dang.  Now I wished I had bought tickets for that screening. 

The pre/post 9/11 analogy is probably dead-on to what happened in the 60's.  It would be like releasing a movie now that's set in the year 2000. 

Thanks for sharing the story. That's just about the best reaction you could hope for with such a pairing. Very cool. Landis always seems to be in the right spirit for these Q & As.

Argargarg... Houx made me sad.

How so?

I rented American Graffiti a few years ago and was amazed at how much I liked it vs. Star Wars. Just a great (and as Damon says Human) movie. Loved the scene with Wolfman Jack and Richard Dreyfus's reaction to it. Definetly a movie that deserves more attention and I'm envious that you got to see it on the big screen.

It's a film that works on anyone I think. I grew up in the cynical 70's and never got into car culture at all but damn if that movie didn't make me wish I'd grown up on Modesto in the 60's.

its a masterpiece. I've always thought it was better than Star Wars and Empire both film that I love.

I agree: AG is probably Lucas's best film. Whatever happened to this guy? (A rhetorical question – please don't respond.)

While I love the film-making on display during Star Wars (ep. 4) to death, AG has many of the same elements but is located in a more relatable, earth-bound scenario. And it feels very warmly human, the most of any of his efforts.

With this column, and his recent deconstruction of the rom-com genre (and the latest from Queen Amidala herself), Damon has officially become the smartest writer on CHUD.com. Guess the name-change helped…

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damon Houx 

How so?

Pay me no mind.  It's just jealous mutterings...

God dang Damon that was beautiful to read. I have always admired AG as a film that breathes in such an interesting bubble and makes you wish you could be a part of it. Nice to hear Landis being honest about how it affected him. Its one of those films that has slipped by but never should have it does its thing like no other. Again though holy shit how did George lose it?

Painful to have lived through the latter half of his work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

Pay me no mind.  It's just jealous mutterings...

Imagine then, living ten time zones away from all this cool stuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stelios 

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

Pay me no mind.  It's just jealous mutterings...

Imagine then, living ten time zones away from all this cool stuff.

I apologize for my self-centered assholery, stelios. 

Someone in the talkbacks mentioned name dropping, I know that the Walter Hill/Brie Larson stuff is frosting, as it were, but it I thought it helped paint a picture of these screenings, which are that if you don't act like a total douchebag, you can interact with the people who are there. Which I tend to find is the case with the New Beverly in general.

Nonsense.  None of that came across as name-dropping.  

That was a great read, man.  You're really bringing your A-game to the site.  There was a lot of heart and humanity in that piece - a nice contrast to all the facts and figures that also get posted on CHUD.  I honestly think CHUD has managed to achieve a perfect balance of content now, despite all the crap that its had to endure the past couple of months.

It's heartening to read Landis' take on such a good film, and it makes me want to go watch it again now.

Great stuff: Graffiti came out the summer I was getting ready to leave for college, so it had a particular resonance for me; it's only grown in my estimation since.

Curious about your (or anyone's) reaction to More American Graffiti, which I haven't seen since its release. I don't know that the stylistic experiment works all that well (though I love the wide-screen "drive-in movie" look of LeMat's segment), but it felt like a director trying for something more than a quick sequel cash-in, and I recall being struck by the effectiveness of the potrayals of disillusion throughout the segments.

Plus, The Chantays.

Hey Damon:

You going to the Thunderbolt and Lightfoot on Sunday night to wrap up The Wright Stuff II?

Hell yes.

I shall be there as well.  It's my first Wright Stuff screening for a movie I've never seen. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeb 

Curious about your (or anyone's) reaction to More American Graffiti, which I haven't seen since its release. I don't know that the stylistic experiment works all that well (though I love the wide-screen "drive-in movie" look of LeMat's segment), but it felt like a director trying for something more than a quick sequel cash-in, and I recall being struck by the effectiveness of the potrayals of disillusion throughout the segments.

I saw MAG when it was new also. I must have been in my early teens, and not having seen the original I liked it well enough. But my reactions were more like "Why are Richie Cunningham and Shirley (CIndy Williams) arguing?' and "Hey, those are hippies!" and "Being a soldier in Vietnam must suck." (I'd also recently seen Apocalypse Now so these two films were my cinematic introductions to that particular theater of war.) I was too young to fully appreciate what was being told to me; the regret, the mixed emotions about this transitional moment in time.

But many years later, after experiencing the greatness of AG, I re-watched MAG as an adult and it failed on almost every level. Except for the cool split-screen effects. And, yeah, it's tone is more of a bummer, lacking the bittersweet flavor of the original. 

Finally watched American Graffiti for the first time.  It's one of those movies I've rented and checked out and had access to for years, but I just never got to it.  I would put it on, and I didn't give it the patience it deserved.  IT WASN'T STAR WARS.  Shame on me.

Damon's piece finally got me to sit my ass down and watch.  It was a real pleasure.  A real and beautiful film.  It's really hard to believe that Lucas made the film and I'm so glad he hasn't gone back to tinker with it in any way.  The film's final moment revealing the fates of the 4 guys hit me harder than I thought it would. 

Yay!

Hollywood in a nutshell:  the three creative forces involved with this great movie recollaborated 13 years later  . . . on Howard The Duck. 

Shh shh shhhhh... let's not spoil thissss...