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| American Graffiti (1973) | |
| Plot Synopsis (continued)
At a stoplight, Carol prompts John to race and beat Falfa. When the light changes to green, they take off down the block with engines roaring and tires screaming. At the next intersection, Falfa floors his car and runs the red light, but John pulls to a stop.
["Party Doll," by Buddy Knox.] While still with the Pharaohs as they cruise 10th Street in their '51 Mercury, Curt asks about his mysterious, blonde dream girl in the white T-bird. Joe advises against the high-priced prostitute: "She's outta your price range, man...That's right. She's a Thirty Dollar Sheri." Their conversation is interrupted as they pass the "fuzz ahead," a patrol car hiding in the middle of parked cars at Jerry's Cherries - a used car lot. When they make it back to town from the canal, Terry and Debbie bow out from joining Steve on his way to Burger City. Miserable about the loss of Steve's car, Terry feels he must report the missing car instead. In an alley behind Jerry's Cherries used car lot, although Curt scratched Gil's car, Joe offers his likeable friend Curt the chance to "be a Pharaoh." With a long length of metal cable in his hands, Joe crouches and motions everyone to get down as he approaches the back of the lot where the patrol car with officer Holstein is positioned. Curt is given three choices to become one of the gang:
["Come Go With Me," by The Del-Vikings.] Under cover, Curt dodges between cars and sneaks up on the cop's squad car. When he stumbles, trips, and falls, Holstein exits his car and investigates the noise. After pacing around the lot and finding nothing suspicious, the officer returns to his car. Curt surreptitiously attaches one end of the cable to a post and the other end to the rear axle of the police car. A slow-moving freight train covers up the sounds he makes while crawling under the car. To lure the cops to follow them, the Pharaohs fly down the main drag toward the used car lot, as Curt leans out the car window with one arm in the air, shouting: "Stand by for Justice!" When Holstein notices their car speeding by, he flashes his red lights and sounds his siren. He pulls forward to pursue them, but suddenly, the rear of the car hurtles upwards into the air as the axle and two rear wheels are yanked out. The front of the car noses into the pavement as sparks fly, and the car crashes to the ground, permanently immobile. (The car comes to rest near a movie theatre, with a marquee displaying DEMENTIA 13, Francis Ford Coppola's first feature film. The movie actually opened in 1963 - a year after the events of this film.) On the radio, Wolfman Jack provides a fitting voice-over: "Oh I can't believe it. Feels so good 'cause you're sixteen." [Note: This police car destruction scene is the in-flight movie playing in the film Airport 75 (1974).] ["You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful (And You're Mine)," by Johnny Burnette.] John drives his deuce coupe down a dark road off the main drag and parks in a quiet residential area. He turns out the lights and then edges slowly over to Carol's side of the front seat, telling her: "I-I don't think that I can control myself any longer tonight...All night you've been sitting there and you've been so sexy and it's been so hot out here - and I can't wait any longer." His aggressiveness scares her and persuasively convinces her to divulge her address: "231 Ramona." In an empty booth inside Mel's Drive-In, Steve sits contemplatively alone. For company, he is joined by roller-skating carhop Budda, who is surprised when he speaks of his break-up with Laurie: "We broke up. It's no big deal." In a provocative manner, she invites him to come over to her place after getting off in an hour: "This time, it'd just be for fun." Laurie walks up to the drive-in window, watches them for a moment, and then turns away. Steve accepts Budda's offer, but on second thought, changes his mind: "I gotta get up early in the morning, and I just don't think it would work out." ["Love Potion No. 9," by The Clovers.] The maroon Mercury pulls into the drive-in's parking lot, where the Pharaohs playfully congratulate Curt for his bravado and his informal acceptance into their gang: "That thing jumped about five feet in the air!" Curt returns to his own car, a Citroen, and listens to the radio. He catches another glimpse of the white T-bird in the distance, but is unable to start his car to catch it. ["Since I Don't Have You," by The Skyliners.] Driving alone down the main drag in her Edsel, Laurie wipes away her tears. Falfa - now without a chick by his side, paces next to her car. She turns and motions that she is pulling over to the curb. He idles next to her as she leaves her car and enters his car, cautioning him: "Don't say anything and we'll get along just fine." Having learned her address, John pulls his Deuce Coupe up along the side of Carol's home. She is solemn and quiet at the end of a fun evening and he notices her mood: "This is the first time you've been quiet all night." After a silent pause, she asks with uncertainty: "Do you like me?" To have something to remember him by, she is given the gearshift knob and a kiss - she is ecstatic: "It's just like a ring or something. It's like we were going steady." She waves back to him from the sidewalk before entering the side door of her house. With Steve standing next to him, Curt pulls up the front hood of his Citroen to fiddle with the engine. They discuss leaving (or not leaving) home:
As he drives, Falfa serenades Laurie with "Some Enchanted Evening." Terry is puking his guts out, barfing loudly in an alley behind a bar and drawing the attention of spectators. Gum-chewing Debbie non-chalantly watches him on his hands and knees "sicker than a dog." When Terry pulls himself up onto a car hood, he notices Steve's Chevy nearby. After staggering over to it, he suggests stealing the car back: "Now you get some wire. We need about a foot - we can hot-wire it. OK?" At a gas station in town, the attendant notices John's roaring engine and notes: "Took the header plugs off, eh? Expectin' some action?...You've been number one as long as I can remember." While Terry fiddles around under the dashboard to hot-wire the car, a large, black T-shirted Badass (Johnny Weissmuller, Jr.) grabs him by his shirt and tosses him to his badass pal. As they are throwing him back and forth, Debbie ineffectually pummels the assailants with her white purse. John passes by in his Deuce Coupe, notices Terry in a helpless situation, pulls over, jumps out, and runs over to punch away at both punks until they depart. Terry - now sickened, bloody, and also drunk, moans: "I'll die soon and it'll all be over." Debbie is enamoured of John: "Wow, you're just like the Lone Ranger." At a booth in Mel's Drive-In, Steve is joined by two fresh-faced girls Karen and Judy (Susan Richardson), who tell him that Laurie is "with a really cute guy in a really boss car...His name's Bob Falfa." Steve doesn't register a reaction. Terry and Debbie pull into the drive-in and park at one of the intercoms to place an order: "Bring two cherry cokes with lots of ice. No, never mind, forget, just bring the ice." Steve bursts into view and orders Terry and Debbie to get out of his car - she can't believe what's happening:
["Crying in the Chapel," by Sonny Till and the Orioles.] Debbie wanders back and sits on the curb next to a disgraced and embarrassed Terry, to unexpectedly thank him for the "good time":
She kisses his swollen, painful lip when leaving. Curt pulls his Citroen into a parking spot next to a building with a tall radio antenna. He inches into the front door of the radio station and walks around until the back-lit, silhouetted radio DJ (Wolfman Jack) asks through a control booth window: "Hey! What do you want?" Curt is instructed to "push the red switch down" to speak through the intercom system - he asks: "I'm looking for this girl." He wanders through a maze of electronic equipment to the back, where the bearded DJ sucking on a popsicle and wearing a Hawaiian shirt sits at a console:
Wolfman, passing himself off as the radio station manager, places a tape into one of the machines and plays the Wolfman's voice: "He's on tape. The man is on tape." Curt is curious about the originating location of the famed Wolfman:
Now that he may be leaving town the next morning to go back East to college, Curt wants to give a note to the Wolfman - a dedication (to the girl in the white T-bird) to be played on the air. Speaking for the omniscient Wolfman, the manager encourages Curt to see the world, pursue the future beyond the confines of the town, and fulfill his dreams:
As Curt winds his way back to the front door, he peers through an open door, and sees the manager speaking into the microphone in the raucous voice of the Wolfman, betraying the DJ's real identity. ["Heart and Soul," by The Cleftones.] Back at Mel's Drive-In, Falfa (with Laurie in the front seat) pulls up alongside John's Deuce Coupe and revs his Chevy's engine, challenging him to a drag race. On their way to the meeting point, Paradise Road (decided by John), the cocky Falfa brags: "You ain't said one word all night long. What a weird broad. But you'll appreciate me soon. You're gonna be hangin' on for mercy when I get this sucker rollin'." Also cruisin' along in another part of town, Steve is told by an unidentified friend (Dale (Bob Pasaak) in the credits) driving a 2-door hardtop, dusk-plum colored 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air, about Falfa's race against Milner. Steve roars off in his car to find Laurie. Curt pulls his Citroen into Mel's Drive-In - he sits pensively with his hand on his chin when he hears his dedication read on the radio by the Wolfman:
["Green Onions," by Booker T. and the M.G.'s.] At dawn, a procession of cars meets on the long and straight country road to watch the drag race. John's yellow '32 Deuce Coupe and Falfa's black '55 Chevy are lined up side by side. Laurie remains in Falfa's car for the race, and Terry acts as flagman: "OK, you guys ready?" Both drivers glance over at each other and rev their engines, waiting for Terry to nervously flip the switch on a flashlight. When it lights, the two cars roar off the starting line, with Falfa's spinning tires smoking and screeching. John's car has the edge off the line but Falfa begins to take the lead. Part of the way down the road, Falfa's car swerves and blows out a tire. His out-of-control vehicle careens into an irrigation ditch, flips over, and cartwheels amidst dirt and smoke - it comes to rest upside down where it ignites a small grass fire. Panicked, John turns his car around and races back to the crash site, as onlookers run toward the burning car. Steve's and John's cars arrive at the same time - they run across the field toward the flaming wreckage, where Laurie is wrestling with Falfa. Steve pulls them apart - Laurie is dazed and distressed, but miraculously unhurt: "I don't know. Please, don't come near me. No, please. I think I'm gonna be sick." After everyone has vacated the area, Falfa's car explodes in a fireball. The rift between Steve and Laurie appears over and they are reunited after her close brush with death. She throws her arms around him as he succumbs to her wishes that he remain in town:
To a jubilant Terry, John downplays his victory over Falfa - knowing that he might have lost the race: "I was losin', man...He had me, man. He was pullin' away from me just before he crashed...You saw it...The man had me. He was beatin' me." Terry won't acknowledge his idol's weakness: "You got the bitchinest car in the Valley. You'll always be number one, John. You're the greatest." The two of them drive off as the sun slowly rises over the plowed country fields. ["Only You (And You Alone)," by The Platters.] Steve and Laurie walk toward his car in each other's arms. A phone rings in the phone booth of Mel's Drive-In, where Curt sleeps in the front seat of his Citroen that is parked in the empty lot. He wakes with a start, jumps up and picks up the phone. A sexy, female voice at the other end asks for him by name:
["Goodnight Sweetheart, Well It's Time to Go," by The Spaniels.] At the airport, a Douglas DC-7 Magic Carpet Airlines airplane is ready to take Curt to college. [Note: The name of the airplane pre-figured the famous 60's rock song by Steppenwolf, "Magic Carpet Ride."] He is seen off by his parents, Terry, John, and by Laurie and Steve - his classmate who has decided to postpone his own departure. Curt asks Steve: "Am I gonna see you there next year?" John gives Curt a little slap on the cheek as he departs: "You probably think you're a big shot, goin' off like this - but you're still a punk." Curt climbs the ramp and boards the Radar-Equipped plane's door behind the wing, and shortly after, the plane takes off. As it slowly climbs in altitude, the radio (playing "Goodnight Sweetheart") grows fainter. He looks down from the window and watches a tiny speck of a vehicle pacing the airplane on the highway - it's the white T-bird. He looks up and the screen dissolves into the blue sky. The film's postcript of closing credits informs the audience of the fates of the film's four main characters:
["All Summer Long," by The Beach Boys.] |
["Do You Wanna Dance?" by Bobby Freeman.] Back on the main drag in John's '32 Yellow Deuce Coupe, Carol admires
the car's gear-shift knob that she has removed off the shift arm,
but he reprimands her like her bossy father: "You're an ogre.
Just like my father. He won't let me stay out late or play records,
or anything." She is hopeful that the night isn't over yet: "The
night is young and I'm not hittin' the rack 'til I get a little action." Behind
them, as Falfa noisily revs his black Chevy, John deliberately hits
his brakes - this causes Falfa to swerve abruptly to avoid crashing
into them. They trade insults back and forth: