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Coppola really shined in the battle to get AG released. I would love to have been in the screening room when he exploded at the way the execs were treating the movie and then offered to buy the negative back...
Originally Posted by TheHutt
The intro sequence on the BluRay is digitally altered on BR, isn't it? (like, a warm sunset added in the background, which was done for the DVD release)
Originally Posted by Josh Steinberg
It's funny how ten years can be both a very short period and a long period of infinite change.
Ten years ago from now, the first iPod had yet to be introduced. Now, most of us walk around with an iPod or some similar device, frequently with phone, media and internet content in our back pocket. Not everyone had a computer ten years ago and even fewer had high speed internet; now we've all got Star Trek-level digital devices that are everywhere. Might not be the same as the leap from '63 to '73, but I'm still amazed by that whenever I stop for a moment to think about it.
Originally Posted by Marty M
The movie was set in the late summer of 1963 because that really ended the feel of the 1950s. The US completely changed after the assassination of President Kennedy through Watergate and the end of the US involvement in the Viet Nam War, which coincides with that 10 year period you refer to. IIRC, American Graffiti was actually filmed in 1971, but it took two years and the backing of Francis Ford Coppalla to get the film released.
Originally Posted by Joe Karlis
I always thought the movie was set in 1962. Even the original tag for the film was "Where were you in '62?" The movie was definitely NOT filmed in 1971... it was filmed in 1972. Even the Prue-production screen tests on the DVD show the date as 1972 on the clap boards.
Originally Posted by Marty M
"The movie was set in the late summer of 1963 because that really ended the feel of the 1950s. The US completely changed after the assassination of President Kennedy through Watergate and the end of the US involvement in the Viet Nam War...".
Marty is absolutely right, and the effect of the Kennedy assassination on the nation's psyche can not be overemphasized. Our entire culture changed, and changed in a hurry.
The cynicism, and collective loss of confidence about our way of life only deepened with the Viet Nam fiasco and Watergate. American Graffiti captures a slice of 1962 with wonderful perception.
I can't wait for my disc to arrive, as it's one of my all time favorite movies.
/forum/thread/311953/a-few-words-about-american-graffiti-in-blu-ray#post_3820713Originally Posted by Joe Karlosi
Looking at Wikipedia, the only song that is an anachronism is All Summer Long from The Beach Boys (which was released on July 13, 1964). Surfin' Safari was released on June 4, 1962 so that works with the date of a 1962 high school graduation. Here's the Wikipedia page for the soundtrack which lists the year for when each song was released: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/41_Original_Hits_from_the_Soundtrack_of_American_GraffitiJoe Karlosi said:Also, in the film, the Beach Boys are presented as if they're just up and coming with SURFIN' SAFARI. And the song SURFIN' SAFARI was released in the Summer of 1962.
Can someone correct me? Were there any songs in the film released in 1963?
It's been a couple of years since I've seen AG so I forgot that that's the song that plays over the credits. That explanation makes total sense though.Kevin EK said:I believe All Summer Long was an intentional anachronism. Before the song plays, we see the display of what happened to the primary characters over the shot of the plane in flight with the only sound being the plane's engines.
Originally Posted by Gary Miller
American Graffiti is not a documentary, but it's authentic in so many ways, that the liberties it takes with historical references do not diminish its impact. (Wolfman Jack was not on XERB until the mid 60's, although he did work at a Tex-Mex flamethower in 1962 with similar call letters, XERF, which according to radio lore, blasted 250,000 watts across the border. No doubt, at 1570 on the AM radio dial, the voice of the Wolfman could be heard across the entire western United States). Technically, the movie takes license with the Wolfmans impact on California crusin' culture, but it captures the gist of the era so well, it doesn't matter much.
Originally Posted by Dave H
I still have never seen this movie (I'm 39). I'll have to check it out.