Motion Pictures How true to life is American graffiti?

I think of all the things I got pulled over for and got a stern warning for would be automatic drip too the poke today.

 

The cops could treat folks differently back then...because they weren't worried about getting shot, stabbed or poked with a needle. The world has pretty much gone to shit since we were kids.

 

It hurt when the cops made you open & pour every bottle of beer out from the case that you creatively acquired. It hurt more if it was whiskey or tequila. During my adolescent years, my dad had a restaurant next door to the State Trooper station. The troopers that pulled me over would look at my driver's license & ask if I was Bill's kid. Then either they followed me home, or more than once they had me lock up my car & took me home knocked on the door, presented my dad with me & told him where my car was at if he wanted to go get it. It sucked, but it kept me outa jail. Pissed my friends off cause they would usually get hauled in to jail for their parents to come & get them.

 

Heck Jim, you couldn't have been more that a couple years old during the time period represented in American Graffiti.

But you probably had an altered wheelbase Radio Flyer.....

 

Haha... Jim's diaper was made of fire retardant material.

 

Better yet...

 

The cool thing about YouTube these days is, its truly a time machine that we all can share in.
This morning I was looking at stuff on YouTube, and I came across this very definitive look, at the making of American Graffiti.
It has all of the information about how the film was made and all of the themes that Lucas was trying to stay true to.
Sit back and enjoy the video.
Thanks from Dennis.

 

In Detroit we had many cruise areas with Woodward Ave, the most famous and even today cruisers all summer long. The dream cruise in August usually draws close to a million people along a 16 mile route watching cruisers. Also stecker street above was one you could go to race !

 

My son bought me the two disc set, with the movie and making of. I love watching the making more than the movie sometimes. I have never gone more than a month without watching it. Same with Grease....

 

Closer than you think...for real life stories of drag racing, car craziness in the Midwest in the mid '60's, pick up both of my books--"Bangin' Gears and Bustin' Heads" and "Fast Cars, four speeds and fist-fights"...available on Amzon...

R-

 

You must have lived a sheltered life, young man

 

They did in my dreams

 

We rode around with our cheeks hanging out so much they got chapped!

 

Not Mustang, OK, population less than 500, in 1962.

 

The old street racer

I had just gotten my driver’s license. I took all my Detroit News paper route money and bought a gloss black Pontiac. It had factory 4bbl, 4-speed, posi-traction & dual exhaust. The previous owner had put a set of American Racing Equipment mags on it but used the stock belted tires. My cousin, Dan, and I were on our way home from some family event. It was Saturday night about 11:30 PM. On the way home we crossed Telegraph Road (Telegraph Road was a major cruising spot for west Detroit). We decided to cruise a few loops. It was a hot summer night and a great night for a little cruising. We pulled up to the traffic light at 5 mile heading south. Next to us rolls up a 1962 Belvedere with a huge hood scoop, huge rear tires, skinny front tires and a gigantic tachometer on the dash right in front of the driver’s line of sight. It must have been 6-8’ in diameter. The driver was an old man at least 80 years old. Next to him was a woman about 25-30ish sitting right next to him with blonde hair & red lipstick. Clearly, he had a bench seat and not bucket seats because she was practically on his lap. Being cocky teenagers my cousin & I begin making jokes, Dan said “that guy escaped from a nursing home”, I said “man that guy was born in the 1800’s” which is what we used to say about old people back then, however, if you think about it and do the math, he probably was born in the 1800’s!! Dan said “yeah he used to drag race horse & buggy’s”. As if he heard us talking, suddenly he took his right hand and pushed the women all the way over to the passenger door, smiled at us and nodded, then he started revving it up. Dan shouted “get ready the lights yellow” back then the traffic lights had smaller shields and we could see the yellow reflection for the yellow light for the cross traffic. In a second our light turns green. I dump the clutch and my belted tires start spinning. The front end of the Belvedere lurched forward, and the front end pops up in the air. His car is making so much noise I cannot hear my car, I am just fishtailing across the intersection. I have no tachometer and cannot hear my car. The Belvedere is barely across the intersection when the front plunges to the ground for about a millisecond and then it pops up again, he is now in 2nd gear, he goes another 50-75 feet and the same thing, he is now in 3rd gear. Meanwhile I am still back at the intersection spinning my tires trying to grab tractions, I give up on 1st and shift to 2nd gear, for a little better traction. By now I now have a clear view of his taillights and I am having a hard time breathing because of all the smoke from the Belvedere. A short distance up the road, the next light is red so we both screech up to it but he got there about a minute before I did. The old man is grinning ear to ear, raising his fist at us as if to say, “that was fun!!” The women, however, was not having fun, she looked at me with the meanest look I have ever had from a woman. The light turned green; we both went on our way. I said to my cousin “I just got my doors blown off by a guy with who learned to drive in a Model T”. We laughed; it was fun anyways. We took a few more loops on Telegraph, parked at Korvettes for a while and headed home. On the way home we discussed how that old man had the perfect car for Telegraph Street racing. He probably had a 5.56 or even 6.13 rear end with slicks, just perfect for stop light to stop light racing. I wonder who he was? Maybe he was an engineer at Chrysler and developed the HEMI or wedge. I’ll bet he had some great stories about Detroit Drag racing.

So back to the question; How true to life is American graffiti?? For me, very true. The above cruising took place in about 1 – 1 ½ hour and was one of a hundred times cruising on Telegraph. We had a spontaneous stop light drag race (like Falfa & Milner), we were teenagers being smart asses,(several places in the movie) and a blonde women stared at me…okay ..okay.. she didn’t exactly mouth “I love you” at me, it was more like “ if you guys do that again I will kill you” but still she was a blonde woman that looked at me…..

 

Thunder Road The Movie then real life

 

I don't go back that far but growing up in the Detroit/Metro Detroit area I can tell you the car scene was always pretty insane.

 

When I watched it first time in a packed theater the, shock hitting the audience when the patrol car loses it's 3d member, scene generated a big reaction. A bit of vaudeville comedy. It worked beautifully. The result in my view of applying thinking reminiscent of what went on with some of the Ford T's in the Laurel & Hardy films.

 

My time cruising and street racing was from 59-64 in the central valley. Much of this quite like it was. Lots of street racing, looking for girls, drinking beer etc. Local cops in my town weren't too bad. They would tell you to go home and take your beer. Fresno cops and CHP were heavy handed if you were caught street racing, drinking etc. I was caught racing by the CHP after being followed and pulled over a few times prior (loud pipes, too low, open headers, etc)-5 days solitary-suspended license etc. That was October 1960. Was cautious for a while but started street racing again -never busted again BUT I could drive that car into Merced, Madera or Fresno and would get pulled over for the stuff mentioned above. Got married and sold the car! Too much hassle but then bought a 62 tripower Catalina-oh well-here we go again.

 

T

I was licensed in 64, during the next ten years, the locals brought me home 3 times 'cause they did nor want me loose on my own. 4 times however, I was cuffed 'cause the company I kept had badassed attitudes. There weren't charges just the inconvenience.