cult film freak: hangout

Showing posts with label hangout. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 2/24/2026 / No comments / belinda balaski , bill mckinney , david carradine , exploitation , garrit graham , hangout , mary woronov , paul bartel , race car , robert carradine , seventies , sylvester stallone , veronica hamel

DAVID CARRADINE AND ROBERT CARRADINE DRIVING 'CANNONBALL'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRAQfpmHFQHLEu0SXorm69coBMJj0UVjOwyRW6BP1F-iDa6VQJOxhx8tdP9ugKTitmQLQg1r8X5y1rSSjOYTKi3wuLEGksc6pQmGsRYYns3pN_uNgq1ztV0qRGOoLZg-Mjm8G-qM7xTZiU6xyql8k1aWVW72HOcJLQjC2-fPMmegnXb2aiEPn1Oe1ShdoC/s2474/Screen%20Shot%202026-02-24%20at%206.29.04%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1528" data-original-width="2474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRAQfpmHFQHLEu0SXorm69coBMJj0UVjOwyRW6BP1F-iDa6VQJOxhx8tdP9ugKTitmQLQg1r8X5y1rSSjOYTKi3wuLEGksc6pQmGsRYYns3pN_uNgq1ztV0qRGOoLZg-Mjm8G-qM7xTZiU6xyql8k1aWVW72HOcJLQjC2-fPMmegnXb2aiEPn1Oe1ShdoC/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202026-02-24%20at%206.29.04%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: CANNONBALL Year: 1976 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It would be as surprising if roughshod stuntman director Hal Needham made a sophisticated Shakespeare adaptation as classy/gentlemen Paul Bartel being one of the best high-octane car-race/chase auteurs in the grungy 1970's and, following the popular dystopian-future dark-comedy <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/08/DR2000.html">DEATH RACE 2000</a>, he made the first and least known action-flick based on the genuinely real and extremely illegal no-rules cross-country <i>Cannonball</i>...<br><br>Created and manned by Brock Peters, who only appeared in the famous 1981 Needham ensemble with superstar Burt Reynolds, making <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/09/burt-reynolds-in-hal-needhams.html">THE CANNONBALL RUN</a> the only legitimate showcase... </p><span></span>

belinda balaski, bill mckinney, david carradine, exploitation, garrit graham, hangout, mary woronov, paul bartel, race car, robert carradine, seventies, sylvester stallone, veronica hamel

DAVID CARRADINE AND ROBERT CARRADINE DRIVING 'CANNONBALL'

Title: CANNONBALL Year: 1976 Rating: **** It would be as surprising if roughshod stuntman director Hal Needham made a sophisticated Shakespe...

BILL ADLER AND CYNTHIA WOOD CRUISE CROWN'S 'VAN NUYS BLVD.'

bill adler, crown international, cynthia wood, david hayward, dennis bowen, drive-in, exploitation, hangout, jim kester, melissa prophet, seventies, susanne severeid, tara strohmeier

BILL ADLER AND CYNTHIA WOOD CRUISE CROWN'S 'VAN NUYS BLVD.'

Title: VAN NUYS BLVD. Year: 1979 Rating: *** The first five-minutes of Crown International Pictures' cruising movie VAN NUYS BLVD sums u...

JENNIFER ASHLEY, CHERYL SMITH & LISA REEVES 'THE POM POM GIRLS'

bill adler, bill gammon, cheryl smith, crown international, diane lee hart, hangout, high school, jennifer ashley, jim kester, lisa reeves, michael mullins, robert carradine, seventies, sport, susan player

JENNIFER ASHLEY, CHERYL SMITH & LISA REEVES 'THE POM POM GIRLS'

Jennifer Ashley in THE POM POM GIRLS Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2 Maybe that she's the only brunette surrounded by California blondes in Cr...

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, KAREN BLACK & GENE HACKMAN 'CISCO PIKE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjca0OogyxbVy1JWT23-OVMOfUA_T3HQaPFiFbhaiwh0w8f2L2SVRJdO13X81KK0QkGSgj2w3Wr4SnZ2zfBrdji8NrZNrC7OTkpNAbbuNtHWUaVXEawbEjhF7HpDHyp2wpPC094BJ4wN6YMGEX3a-0bIYpai80ZPFIasNOxRYuNzURI2n6TGQ-W0QZBSiCu/s1749/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-04%20at%2012.10.35%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1749" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjca0OogyxbVy1JWT23-OVMOfUA_T3HQaPFiFbhaiwh0w8f2L2SVRJdO13X81KK0QkGSgj2w3Wr4SnZ2zfBrdji8NrZNrC7OTkpNAbbuNtHWUaVXEawbEjhF7HpDHyp2wpPC094BJ4wN6YMGEX3a-0bIYpai80ZPFIasNOxRYuNzURI2n6TGQ-W0QZBSiCu/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-04%20at%2012.10.35%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kris Kristofferson in CISCO PIKE Year: 1971 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Since EASY RIDER ignited movies by stoners for 
stoners, CISCO PIKE takes it a step further: while Dennis Hopper
 and Peter Fonda safely sold cocaine in Mexico before riding off into 
America, CISCO has a different approach...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>By having the title character... a musician fresh outta jail played by acting-newcomer Kris Kristofferson... blackmailed to sell pot by crooked cop Gene Hackman, the crime-thriller genre's mixed into an otherwise spontaneously free-form counter-culture expose...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

cop, counter-culture, exploitation, gene hackman, hangout, harry dean stanton, joy bang, karen black, kris kristofferson, music, seventies, viva

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, KAREN BLACK & GENE HACKMAN 'CISCO PIKE'

Kris Kristofferson in CISCO PIKE Year: 1971 Rating: **** Since EASY RIDER ignited movies by stoners for stoners, CISCO PIKE takes it a step...

GARY LOCKWOOD DRIVES THROUGH JACQUES DEMY'S 'MODEL SHOP'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4T6PgXcVdZ-7PzGC5w-HQcjfiWt6BgkL7vdMDyVpV8libx-dgGNIlStVNpNwhah3uokf52OhsWKvZ2gYqEydgwjM06nZiwFxqYOxZFBkiGJvppcl_r42sBnNcqzty9E6ZSZHW3eMvzASgRmJ9vDGZhh0bTAURfcw6ubQq4nf7lYRIze3KbmHkzJSGzAGP/s2708/Screen%20Shot%202025-09-29%20at%208.21.33%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1404" data-original-width="2708" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4T6PgXcVdZ-7PzGC5w-HQcjfiWt6BgkL7vdMDyVpV8libx-dgGNIlStVNpNwhah3uokf52OhsWKvZ2gYqEydgwjM06nZiwFxqYOxZFBkiGJvppcl_r42sBnNcqzty9E6ZSZHW3eMvzASgRmJ9vDGZhh0bTAURfcw6ubQq4nf7lYRIze3KbmHkzJSGzAGP/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-09-29%20at%208.21.33%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gary Lockwood and Anne Randall in MODEL SHOP Year: 1969 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Leading up to French New Wave director Jacques Demy's car-cruising hangout ode to 1969 Los Angeles, actor Gary Lockwood had a decade of interesting characters, like an idealistic young lieutenant on Gene Roddenberry's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/11/lieutenant-uhura-in-gene-roddenberrys.html">THE LIEUTENANT</a>; Captain Kirk's lethal foil on an episode of Roddenberry's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/04/star-trek-where-no-man-has-gone-before_27.html">STAR TREK</a>; a crude gunslinger in the Western <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/02/firecreek.html">FIRECREEK</a>; and most famously an astronaut in Stanley Kubrick's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/04/2001space.html">2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY</a>...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And here he's dropped any pretense of his usual intensity in MODEL SHOP where he drives a classic jalopy around town, smitten with French starlet Anouk Aimée, who's only first-billed since she'd worked with the director previously (being a loose sequel to LOLA)... when she was younger, much prettier... and it's not like she's unattractive...</p><p><span></span></p>

alexandra hay, anne randall, anouk aimée, counter-culture, drama, fred willard, gary lockwood, hangout, hilarie thompson, jacques demy, severn darden, sixties

GARY LOCKWOOD DRIVES THROUGH JACQUES DEMY'S 'MODEL SHOP'

Gary Lockwood and Anne Randall in MODEL SHOP Year: 1969 Rating: ***1/2 Leading up to French New Wave director Jacques Demy's car-cruisin...

BEFORE 'EASY RIDER' WAS ROGER CORMAN'S 'THE WILD ANGELS'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOIPPjT5bA4XIzjPkGrrYjbWRbA8pWVIeuukvG4xQdzGP6dIeoYjNk69Bve9R_4Qm5RnpTPa-wda6AXNFIbq9Vh0Z5Rt5U2JsLwAzld3RN7nNMHLpPKSIR0iJOu_w7iZYPCng14Bh75U5j6OT0Mkf6mjEgfgvAFc6nahHi5SZS0ufHmIZWyEhmRtlPMGNr/s2018/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-12%20at%207.52.07%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1046" data-original-width="2018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOIPPjT5bA4XIzjPkGrrYjbWRbA8pWVIeuukvG4xQdzGP6dIeoYjNk69Bve9R_4Qm5RnpTPa-wda6AXNFIbq9Vh0Z5Rt5U2JsLwAzld3RN7nNMHLpPKSIR0iJOu_w7iZYPCng14Bh75U5j6OT0Mkf6mjEgfgvAFc6nahHi5SZS0ufHmIZWyEhmRtlPMGNr/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-12%20at%207.52.07%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra in THE WILD ANGELS Year: 1966 Rating: **** </u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Roger Corman's THE WILD ANGELS was the most significant precursor and overall impetus for EASY RIDER even beyond starring this film's star Peter Fonda... herein with born-to-lose <i>Loser</i> Bruce Dern foreshadowing Dennis Hopper as the faithful shaggy sidekick, and — like the 1969 cult classic that changed how studios backed avante-garde, independent directors — supped-up motorcycles were in the forefront... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p>As WILD begins with Fonda, his bike parked, aimed at the open road that, soon enough during the opening credits, he's smoothy cruising down, even before his gang — also including Michael J. Pollard, Fonda's love-interest Nancy Sinatra and Dern's scene-stealing fictional and non-fictional wife Diane Ladd — join in on the ride... but only <i>after </i>picking Dern up from a rugged rigging job that coincidentally resembles the EASY RIDER followup FIVE EASY PIECES (with Corman stock-favorite Dick Miller as a bickering boss)... </p><span></span>

action, adventure, biker, bruce dern, counter-culture, diane ladd, dick miller, drama, frank maxwell, hangout, michael j. pollard, nancy sinatra, peter fonda, sixties

BEFORE 'EASY RIDER' WAS ROGER CORMAN'S 'THE WILD ANGELS'

Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra in THE WILD ANGELS Year: 1966 Rating: **** Roger Corman's THE WILD ANGELS was the most significant precurs...

REVIEW CRUISING THROUGH 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEierViQkA7CjN-ie-R-rUPHjZaU9AYiDXojRL_rxStIspYAGyzZoAtP309hQ0GIiAIZz4qn1g0NtdZIhfTn5FDxxnJNhyPr9doMjUDondR5hmsIF2tdlliDDekfLv_KdRq6krqMynuUzShQ2qIMbciZSoxncwwR2QTzw_ruDy_iBGBqkguUx-m9fMsccqz9/s2048/brighter.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1033" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEierViQkA7CjN-ie-R-rUPHjZaU9AYiDXojRL_rxStIspYAGyzZoAtP309hQ0GIiAIZz4qn1g0NtdZIhfTn5FDxxnJNhyPr9doMjUDondR5hmsIF2tdlliDDekfLv_KdRq6krqMynuUzShQ2qIMbciZSoxncwwR2QTzw_ruDy_iBGBqkguUx-m9fMsccqz9/s16000/brighter.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Make an important note while <i>experiencing</i> Quentin Tarantino's entirely different kind of revisionist-history revenge picture: It not only centers around real life counter-culture figures Sharon Tate; Charles Manson and Family (including main slayer Tex Watson and skanky moll Squeaky Fromme); a love-lorn Steve McQueen; a rich, contented Roman Polanski; and pixie hairstylist Jay Sebring... <br>
<br>
There's also the last of the victims, Donald "Shorty" Shea, a would-be stuntman who thought the hippie horde was taking advantage of his friend/employer George Spahn at the formerly-active Spahn Movie Ranch: the infamous location where Manson and his followers made their very own drug-fueled, Beatles-blaring, conspiracy-plotting, paranoiac playground, ultimately setting stage for the "Helter Skelter Murders" that infamously included an eight-month pregnant Tate...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

2019, al pacino, brad pitt, bruce dern, counter-culture, dark comedy, exploitation, hangout, hollywood satire, leonardo dicaprio, madisen beaty, margot robie, new, quentin tarantino, thriller

REVIEW CRUISING THROUGH 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD'

Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD Rating: **** Make an important note while experiencing Quentin Tarantino...

DIRECTOR HOWARD HAWKS RACE CAR MELODRAMA 'RED LINE 7000'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq9V5GMj1RxNxuAEtrhtaEPtQtPZzpmjRRPqfuoMDuWg0wT-Oc5dyeC_M7MD21iNop97kbBHRME2504k3aKm4fmh9cJXiocQYoCX4sUv7r8kmSMPRc4BmS0GkmuM0c3cqKFkIXdnf3C4aUNJvpOSnFyF6BEEVwpoHl-KEFrdUs0O4p8i9jo5UG2fp_9VDv/s1656/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-24%20at%209.42.16%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="1656" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq9V5GMj1RxNxuAEtrhtaEPtQtPZzpmjRRPqfuoMDuWg0wT-Oc5dyeC_M7MD21iNop97kbBHRME2504k3aKm4fmh9cJXiocQYoCX4sUv7r8kmSMPRc4BmS0GkmuM0c3cqKFkIXdnf3C4aUNJvpOSnFyF6BEEVwpoHl-KEFrdUs0O4p8i9jo5UG2fp_9VDv/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-24%20at%209.42.16%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: RED LINE 7000 Stars: James Caan Director: Howard Hawks Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the strangest race car movies of all time is also the most grounded, deliberately mundane, and, directed by an old Howard Hawks starring a young James Caan (right before shooting EL DORADO), it's well worth both watching and re-watching since there's so much going on... yet hardly on the actual racetrack...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>In which Caan's one of several racers though mostly holed-up at a Holiday Inn and partaking in various affairs while driving for Norman Aldan, whose pretty tomboy sister Laura Devon winds up quickly bedded with the film's buried lead in muscular drone John Robert Crawford, whose rushed backstory of a farm boy wanting to be the fastest takes away from an against-the-odds story that should have been Caan's instead... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

charlene holt, cult, ensemble, gail hire, george takei, hangout, howard hawks, james caan, laura devon, marianna hill, norman aldan, race car, sixties, skip ward, sport, teri garr

DIRECTOR HOWARD HAWKS RACE CAR MELODRAMA 'RED LINE 7000'

Title: RED LINE 7000 Stars: James Caan Director: Howard Hawks Rating: ***1/2 One of the strangest race car movies of all time is also the mo...

CANVASING THE UNIQUE CAPER OF 'THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT'

<p>
</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6GkisxXEHkX9avasJnODPr7TRSNMl3end-uZs6IKG7kalnMWJMcVojIUTvsmN_OkRU3sawuaf3bB439Xl3VI0Sl6-_CXNBvjrTDjxMtw4jPDBZLVL7B2_iqAUlGn2Lb--uqWZtyqIVMiIv9w9rYravZfYpv4GWf-ddu6TLCptpraYfuem1v4s43ERA/s1122/36.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="1122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6GkisxXEHkX9avasJnODPr7TRSNMl3end-uZs6IKG7kalnMWJMcVojIUTvsmN_OkRU3sawuaf3bB439Xl3VI0Sl6-_CXNBvjrTDjxMtw4jPDBZLVL7B2_iqAUlGn2Lb--uqWZtyqIVMiIv9w9rYravZfYpv4GWf-ddu6TLCptpraYfuem1v4s43ERA/s16000/36.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THUNDERBOLT & LIGHTFOOT Director: Michael Cimino Stars: Clint Eastwood Year: 1974 Score: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's a quote in the 1974 cult action flick THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT about an experienced ex-bank robber played by Clint Eastwood teamed with a young freewheeling Jeff Bridges... <br>
<br> Ironically "Stick with me, kid, you're gonna live forever" is young Jeff's line as Lightfoot to Clint's Thunderbolt since the<i> </i>enigmatic, offbeat youngster  speaks in almost all hackneyed adages...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

action, bill mckinney, catherine bach, chase, clint eastwood, geoffrey lewis, george kennedy, hangout, heist, jack dodson, jeff bridges, june fairchild, michael cimino, roy jenson

CANVASING THE UNIQUE CAPER OF 'THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT'

Title: THUNDERBOLT & LIGHTFOOT Director: Michael Cimino Stars: Clint Eastwood Year: 1974 Score: **** There's a quote in the 1974 cu...

RACING THROUGH EARLY JACK NICHOLSON FOR 'THE WILD RIDE'

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</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGF2UBvTkZGCIz5DpOSf-0Wa0-pIenIB_4CXBH0oomsBHZbyUaFwK_MfL4zNoILF_DfRYIbBzJU3WtLTSXGtMYIe0l4aq7xZHPS4FtwS4tPVzPl_CXi6yZ6IUBRQleNYwPAbM-W_F_lThqzGZIE6a-45qZaT4MXBS7hRmhUDhhDx3ZiuuvJsQ-h00hw/s1548/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-18%20at%2011.30.14%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="1548" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGF2UBvTkZGCIz5DpOSf-0Wa0-pIenIB_4CXBH0oomsBHZbyUaFwK_MfL4zNoILF_DfRYIbBzJU3WtLTSXGtMYIe0l4aq7xZHPS4FtwS4tPVzPl_CXi6yZ6IUBRQleNYwPAbM-W_F_lThqzGZIE6a-45qZaT4MXBS7hRmhUDhhDx3ZiuuvJsQ-h00hw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-18%20at%2011.30.14%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>A young Jack Nicholson in THE WILD RIDE Year: 1960 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before the term Speed Kills referred to drugs it was for souped-up fast cars... There weren't any protests under the influence of psychedelia just yet; the 1950's and early 1960's were about hot rods and youth and the latter's misuse was the subject of many films, mostly cautionary tales but this one's a bit more ambiguous and peripheral...<br>
<br>
THE WILD RIDE stars a young Jack Nicholson as Johnny Varron. He's mostly alone and, with a jovially jazzy soundtrack, every now and then grooving smoothly into a vibe-laden skeletal strut, he's cool to watch driving along a rural road, somewhere in California...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, drama, exploitation, hangout, jack nicholson, jazz score, melodrama, race car, roger corman, romance, sixties, teen

RACING THROUGH EARLY JACK NICHOLSON FOR 'THE WILD RIDE'

A young Jack Nicholson in THE WILD RIDE Year: 1960 Rating: **1/2 Before the term Speed Kills referred to drugs it was for souped-up fast ca...

CAMERON CROWE FOLLOWS FAST TIMES WITH 'THE WILD LIFE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFixvoTRCxMWF0KjLcP_ESdlxEYn5hrQzgaz1SW210rBdwgfzPgNdwkhZvGr6Bz-HBEeUludy4g26lfRET7aZNZ6z8Cw7X0s9DmVOSbbHLHR2WGx35K31bkaFP5a4DM2EyrMbYJQ0seCNZShAhrtPVA6kmdaPWw_YLE0EvAB6vZNlM55wcwB6n3sSZA/s1519/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-01%20at%204.00.03%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="1519" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFixvoTRCxMWF0KjLcP_ESdlxEYn5hrQzgaz1SW210rBdwgfzPgNdwkhZvGr6Bz-HBEeUludy4g26lfRET7aZNZ6z8Cw7X0s9DmVOSbbHLHR2WGx35K31bkaFP5a4DM2EyrMbYJQ0seCNZShAhrtPVA6kmdaPWw_YLE0EvAB6vZNlM55wcwB6n3sSZA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-01%20at%204.00.03%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE WILD LIFE Year: 1984 Writer: Cameron Crowe Stars: Chris Penn, Eric Stoltz Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>THE WILD LIFE, an underrated, extremely unappreciated and relatively obscure and unknown teenage summertime sex comedy directed by Art Linson and written by <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/11/fast-times.html">FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH</a> creator 
Cameron Crowe has a somewhat deliberately facetious, misleading title...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Although
 two of the main characters — Chris Penn as Tom Drake, channeling brother Sean’s Jeff Spicoli in jock form, and  Ilan Mitchell-Smith as stoner kid Jim 
Conrad — are rebellious enough, the buried lead goes to Jim’s big brother Bill, who, played by Eric Stoltz, moves into an apartment complex for his twenty-something independence...</p><span></span>

chris penn, comedy, edward van halen, eighties, eric stoltz, hangout, hart bochner, ilan mitchell-smith, jenny wright, lea thompson, rick moranis, ron wood, teen

CAMERON CROWE FOLLOWS FAST TIMES WITH 'THE WILD LIFE'

Title: THE WILD LIFE Year: 1984 Writer: Cameron Crowe Stars: Chris Penn, Eric Stoltz Rating: **** THE WILD LIFE, an underrated, extremely u...

PAUL LEMAT CRUISES DIANNE HULL IN 'ALOHA BOBBY AND ROSE'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid6VDJrCxIDQxX0185DeP-7QJTOGO3T-SFbKuQFbVQvFcR-y67LQBAhI-4HCW66cKH2hz_A__eUPCGP9GboC-AOUjw8WSzsejrBs4hiYEXrrWxCR2cmKc0jg4Jf56D5Y7QttO0_6Whv3CW/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-11-10+at+6.09.53+PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="898" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid6VDJrCxIDQxX0185DeP-7QJTOGO3T-SFbKuQFbVQvFcR-y67LQBAhI-4HCW66cKH2hz_A__eUPCGP9GboC-AOUjw8WSzsejrBs4hiYEXrrWxCR2cmKc0jg4Jf56D5Y7QttO0_6Whv3CW/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-11-10+at+6.09.53+PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Aloha Bobby and Rose vehicle cruising Graffiti style in 1974</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When
 we learn at the close of AMERICAN GRAFFITI that a 
drunk driver would kill John Milner, the cocky motorhead played by Paul LeMat, a deep pang of depression occurs…<br>
<br>
After 
all, Milner’s the type of guy you’d want cruising the boulevard forever,
 and this was his chance to return, in some form...<br>
<br>
And might be back in the <i>specific</i> form of Bobby, a freespirited
 mechanic who drives a ’68 Camaro, drag racing the L.A. streets and even
 crashes a bonafide drag race, wherein the first fifteen minutes of 
ALOHA BOBBY AND ROSE are fully-loaded with rip-roaring potential: Bobby 
hangs with his pal Moxey (Robert Carradine) and the night is their own 
frolicking playground...<br>

all night, dianne hull, drama, drug culture, edward james olmos, hangout, melodrama, paul lemat, robert carradine, rolling stones, romance, seventies, tim mcintire

PAUL LEMAT CRUISES DIANNE HULL IN 'ALOHA BOBBY AND ROSE'

The Aloha Bobby and Rose vehicle cruising Graffiti style in 1974 When we learn at the close of AMERICAN GRAFFITI that a drunk driver w...

VANESSA FERLITO ENHANCES QT'S EXPLOITATION 'DEATH PROOF'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMXHXcfU5uKD0YaydRAz7aoyqt69WU4zNmEDur4X0Ze-wf9ma8MXeSQKphXTcjc7xnyFguSgEpK7KZplfY-ma3hQt-lgRLdWA2-KMP_ZcC670CgQPuJmzRpnbTtAIOs5ED2Yw76_SGizhV/s1600/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2018-11-28%25252Bat%25252B6.42.21%25252BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMXHXcfU5uKD0YaydRAz7aoyqt69WU4zNmEDur4X0Ze-wf9ma8MXeSQKphXTcjc7xnyFguSgEpK7KZplfY-ma3hQt-lgRLdWA2-KMP_ZcC670CgQPuJmzRpnbTtAIOs5ED2Yw76_SGizhV/s1600/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2018-11-28%25252Bat%25252B6.42.21%25252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Foreboding perspective of Tarantino's DEATH PROOF Year: 2005</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like there are two movies in GRINDHOUSE, there are also two in the second feature, written, directed and photographed by Quentin Tarantino titled DEATH PROOF: story one is eerie, torturous, dark, bizarre, perverse, shoddy and dodgy-looking while the second <i>looks</i> far more professionally filmed but is overall, unbearably awful... <br>
<br>
The device of DEATH PROOF and Robert Rodriquez's co-feature, PLANET TERROR, are an abundance of deliberate aesthetic flaws: a tribute to b-movies that played so many times in low-rent "grindhouse" theaters, they wound up tarnished and with entire reels missing. In the two-parts of DEATH PROOF it's one man, Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike, who connects each...<br>

action, body count, cult, drive-in, drugs, exploitation, hangout, killer car, marley shelton, quentin tarantino, rosario dawson, rose mcgowen, sydney poitier, thriller, vanessa ferlito, zeroes, zoë bell

VANESSA FERLITO ENHANCES QT'S EXPLOITATION 'DEATH PROOF'

Foreboding perspective of Tarantino's DEATH PROOF Year: 2005 Like there are two movies in GRINDHOUSE, there are also two in the seco...

EASTWOOD & BRIDGES ARE 'THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2-0c7HYDPkaSEgsem74qOiGlQHwMSVTlLd14a5GbQ0ShaZjSbz0oX9_FiIr9nAmzPzqR_fToqsHaWvUpj8krIJRkCLVsPt1oj1DkmrXWc1BnJCISPHhaTEftWGDwDCLo9KX3r-Xi4d9A/s1600/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2-0c7HYDPkaSEgsem74qOiGlQHwMSVTlLd14a5GbQ0ShaZjSbz0oX9_FiIr9nAmzPzqR_fToqsHaWvUpj8krIJRkCLVsPt1oj1DkmrXWc1BnJCISPHhaTEftWGDwDCLo9KX3r-Xi4d9A/s400/0.jpg" width="260"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1974</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By the end, it's pretty obvious Jeff Bridges' Best Supporting Actor nomination for THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT was a result of what occurs during the last twenty minutes, but this relatively underrated movie, directed by MAGNUM FORCE (the second and best DIRTY HARRY flick) co-scriptwriter and future DEER HUNTER visionary turned HEAVEN'S GATE studio-breaking Michael Cimino, isn't altogether normal...<br>
<br>
In fact, Jeff plays one of the most bizarre and unique and, at the same time, utterly simplistic, naive and innocent characters in the gritty 1970's (in this case, 1974) Action/Adventure genre...<br>
<br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHM71-YlqTOEfXF7HqWsFVPhlvUP4PlMWICujWF1M1FKSOI4s0FU6ERkqeUq8pNdKjdmGvH0zB2Hzr7fgeSOgDSu9zpAg6YWUCApRjeox5NBOJWDqb9Tw4gToXDesNCLMD9R4aumPyHnA-/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-08-06+at+1.23.32+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1042" data-original-width="522" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHM71-YlqTOEfXF7HqWsFVPhlvUP4PlMWICujWF1M1FKSOI4s0FU6ERkqeUq8pNdKjdmGvH0zB2Hzr7fgeSOgDSu9zpAg6YWUCApRjeox5NBOJWDqb9Tw4gToXDesNCLMD9R4aumPyHnA-/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-08-06+at+1.23.32+PM.jpg" width="160"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Clint Eastwood</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Although Caper/Heist should be thrown into the multi-genre mix since what everything boils down to are four guys trying an "impossible" theft that actually was accomplished years earlier... that we learn through dialogue and never witness. Things went extremely awry and now the strongest, most intimidating of the bunch, George Kennedy's Red, in his most formidable, intimidating roles, has, in the edgy present, one goal in mind...<br>
<br>
To kill bank-robbing genius Clint Eastwood who, as road-wise THUNDERBOLT to Jeff's more local-leaning LIGHTFOOT, turns in one of the most natural, loose performances of his career, beginning as a "preacher" that gets (sought out and) hunted by Red's partner, played by tough-guy staple Roy Jenson, and is then saved by the aforementioned young fellow who, having just stolen a car right off the lot, and seeming already on the run, perpetually quoting cliche one-liners and with no actual destination or substantial backstory for his own existence, becomes a partner with an initially annoyed THUNDERBOLT, and then two even more reluctant veterans are driven nuts by the ever-jokey "kid" who still knows a thing or two, and always takes chances...<br>

action, caper, clint eastwood, geoffrey lewis, george kennedy bill mckinney, hangout, heist, michael cimino, road movie, seventies, suspense, team-up

EASTWOOD & BRIDGES ARE 'THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT'

Year: 1974 By the end, it's pretty obvious Jeff Bridges' Best Supporting Actor nomination for THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT was a re...

CRUISING THE PSYCHEDELIC SEQUEL 'MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3QiI1SJGS3a7b3ge9cGekXJdWbNoXvswmtgQk49pBKspptNBjEHGy0PnPlsvgWev1PJHHWGlr_89jjMPYWT7ySbhSqA80PflOj6x4T7BqRoCLCz4ddCt0NqvmuPb6A4WAVS4hVniGRr4/s1600/moreamericangraffitimain-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3QiI1SJGS3a7b3ge9cGekXJdWbNoXvswmtgQk49pBKspptNBjEHGy0PnPlsvgWev1PJHHWGlr_89jjMPYWT7ySbhSqA80PflOj6x4T7BqRoCLCz4ddCt0NqvmuPb6A4WAVS4hVniGRr4/s1600/moreamericangraffitimain-1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1979 cast: Paul LeMat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Cindy Williams, Bo Hopkins rating: ***</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The George Lucas retro classic AMERICAN GRAFFITI showed seven kids cruising a busy Central California boulevard the night of the last day of high school, 1962, and the sequel spends an entire day and night during New Year’s Eve two years later.  <br />
<br />
Since it’s reported at the end of the original that Paul LeMat’s cool cat John Milner – the hot rod James Dean type with the fastest car in town – was killed by a drunk driver in 1964, the sequel’s starting point has all the main characters except Richard Dreyfuss (now a writer in Canada) meeting at a drag race course to cheer on Milner at the tail end of that fateful year.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6nOAMn6iZJUP0oyb2JOjQHbclzTePAup2w7c-zBONmV7LVPXFOAKDPqxfQdVNExQCgq5Bn9-vA9MmYZIvGBiZFoUamjrj0zOPCADWjzzu_I9FutMDNrRv8RLADdNdDL0627kO_poRk0w/s1600/more+american+graffiti+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6nOAMn6iZJUP0oyb2JOjQHbclzTePAup2w7c-zBONmV7LVPXFOAKDPqxfQdVNExQCgq5Bn9-vA9MmYZIvGBiZFoUamjrj0zOPCADWjzzu_I9FutMDNrRv8RLADdNdDL0627kO_poRk0w/s1600/more+american+graffiti+8.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gang reuniting in 1964</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thus we follow the surviving characters in other New Year Eve’s throughout the sixties: Terry Toad Philips in Vietnam, 1965; Debbie in San Francisco, 1966; and Steve and Laurie Henderson in 1967. <br />
<br />
Let's start with the most conventional characters of the original: Steve and Laurie, played by Ron Howard and Cindy Williams, who were both, at that point, known for their roles on HAPPY DAYS and the successful spin off LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, are still a bickering couple with kids and a hellish relationship going nowhere but down, down, down.<br />
<br />
The unhappily married duo have only wedding rings in common. Laurie wants to work but Steve, an insurance salesman, forces her to stay at home with their bratty kids. This was before Women’s Rights and Laurie wants her independence.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqrN0vbToNQm9v0ADyF1OwAdQJYtDuK7I_tgA9LkeR2ZLHOss5L0YhGK_5CEmVoR5HnSZiQJX88H-GJGVOTsvQA0P1n3Cj2-fXMZDXMxSXF4bH-ZviS-UihFB8ArMYddWchpWdIkYBDsk/s1600/more+american+graffiti+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqrN0vbToNQm9v0ADyF1OwAdQJYtDuK7I_tgA9LkeR2ZLHOss5L0YhGK_5CEmVoR5HnSZiQJX88H-GJGVOTsvQA0P1n3Cj2-fXMZDXMxSXF4bH-ZviS-UihFB8ArMYddWchpWdIkYBDsk/s1600/more+american+graffiti+9.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laurie (Cindy Williams) and Steve (Ron Howard) circa 1967</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Speaking of independence, her little brother is a college hippie radical. The campus is part of a violent protest and he calls Laurie to bring his driver’s license, without which he can’t leave the campus and might be shipped off to war.<br />
<br />
Laurie, like Jane Fonda in COMING HOME, is unrealistically oblivious to the counter-culture peace movement: at one point she even mentions that the kids should back the President.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJCW5iYv_MDir8fQENawWtABuc5lmqdJX122uD815EOmWIljuvNHegJ19_o3A_2K-7yIXGnHLEXf848dvWJUdS6qf2ZqEURyIdrLZD-gm6HC5NYBrXeMk8gHQl10nVubrOJn6ZMXJEWlI/s1600/more+american+graffiti+17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJCW5iYv_MDir8fQENawWtABuc5lmqdJX122uD815EOmWIljuvNHegJ19_o3A_2K-7yIXGnHLEXf848dvWJUdS6qf2ZqEURyIdrLZD-gm6HC5NYBrXeMk8gHQl10nVubrOJn6ZMXJEWlI/s1600/more+american+graffiti+17.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Suburban mom Laurie (Cindy Williams) learns about being a hippie</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's quickly obvious the entire purpose of this segment is the predictable character arc of both Laurie and Steve (who eventually has to rescue her): the cops are bad and the students are good.<br />
<br />
The only thing truly worthwhile here is the music – the rest is an overly preachy agenda, proving that hippies aren’t very interesting characters: they all look the same, have similar motivations, and don’t stand apart from each other.  <br />
<br />
Actually, <i>one </i>hippie does stand apart...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8X1VPt9f-i4SWaDs_EWAgL8PUsFSx5bMZ1iekUJr4WiukmQ7sL-evei8JTznUosIto_3QkIhrXH-a4Z4raPyyoTm-abwyvyDvmqBX1SAf7_TO_wuzCqPV8oYOsxyj1WIsF3BRx8ArYSM/s1600/more+american+graffiti+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8X1VPt9f-i4SWaDs_EWAgL8PUsFSx5bMZ1iekUJr4WiukmQ7sL-evei8JTznUosIto_3QkIhrXH-a4Z4raPyyoTm-abwyvyDvmqBX1SAf7_TO_wuzCqPV8oYOsxyj1WIsF3BRx8ArYSM/s1600/more+american+graffiti+2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Debbie (Candy Clark) and boyfriend Lance arrested by Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford) circa 1966</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Candy Clark’s 1966 "Winter of Love" segment is bit more entertaining...<br />
<br />
Her jerk musician boyfriend is cheating and the ever-smiling bleach-blonde Debbie accidentally winds up hanging out with a rock band: touring a cowboy bar and other venues throughout a comically hectic day and night.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY0qCzHYBGH96iUvAMQf5mznu8iDMM-aFtw_65aeTl6xk2il-8q8jpEFvrDk1NBtJAwhkvik8SKdkT41GhlGMqsCX1LfW1j4MCbqVcma1OMy-MViX4PsD1HDw2sAJ1uWtlpj1WQTKjV28/s1600/more+american+graffiti+15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY0qCzHYBGH96iUvAMQf5mznu8iDMM-aFtw_65aeTl6xk2il-8q8jpEFvrDk1NBtJAwhkvik8SKdkT41GhlGMqsCX1LfW1j4MCbqVcma1OMy-MViX4PsD1HDw2sAJ1uWtlpj1WQTKjV28/s1600/more+american+graffiti+15.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Split-screen showing Candy Clark and Scott Glenn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A long-haired Scott Glenn plays the lead guitarist, and Debbie only needs to realize: he’d make a much better boyfriend. There’s some decent action sequences involving the bus crashing into a building, and the music here, like Steve and Laurie's tale, is also of the psychedelic genre.<br />
<br />
Aesthetically, the use of multi-screen (popular in 1960’s films like MEDIUM COOL, THE THOMAS CROWNE AFFAIR and the WOODSTOCK documentary) attempts to dress up a non-story.  <br />
<br />
And Mackenzie Phillips' Carol is all grown up, now named Rainbow and appearing only sporadically: the epitome of a "guest starring" role. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVFSJa0DGblfC2a6BIkeMJ7kb3BHb2PLmqCHl4FMhEwCpi4UPnSktDe_d6uxL9Z4fFa_NLk8WQe_OTBzX0biIYA1Zrh02eVC6tliPomNDkYJa7Ia2iUPrEv9PcjcfhnWu8YsLNMGo3Jw/s1600/more+american+graffiti+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVFSJa0DGblfC2a6BIkeMJ7kb3BHb2PLmqCHl4FMhEwCpi4UPnSktDe_d6uxL9Z4fFa_NLk8WQe_OTBzX0biIYA1Zrh02eVC6tliPomNDkYJa7Ia2iUPrEv9PcjcfhnWu8YsLNMGo3Jw/s1600/more+american+graffiti+11.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Terry The Toad Philips in Vietnam circa 1965</td></tr>
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The best story has Terry "The Toad" Philips in Vietnam. The visual gimmick is seeing everything through what looks to be a grainy 16 millimeter film stock (liken to news reels), with only a box filling the inside of the screen with black surrounding it. <br />
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Toad and the former lead Pharaoh Little Jo, played by Bo Hopkins, hang around the muddy barracks or fly around in Hueys, dodging death at every turn (the film opens with helicopters soaring to the song HEAT WAVE).<br />
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But Toad just wants to go home through being injured and he just can’t catch a break, literally. Think of his character as Jamie Farr's Max Klinger from MASH, only instead of wearing dresses he's trying to hurt his way back home. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-LW4m6qCmJTgawSIpwm_8xuseo2uNcqYe63dSEdcYAXD8D5RJ28vuvs8djSDvAPN5HyMmLuk0YYFN673lVeAmL1Vs1xrrmhvc5vLtfnhMJi3sf5tQuxkpf-az4HuPrBMHfurIpDMV49I/s1600/more+american+graffiti+12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-LW4m6qCmJTgawSIpwm_8xuseo2uNcqYe63dSEdcYAXD8D5RJ28vuvs8djSDvAPN5HyMmLuk0YYFN673lVeAmL1Vs1xrrmhvc5vLtfnhMJi3sf5tQuxkpf-az4HuPrBMHfurIpDMV49I/s1600/more+american+graffiti+12.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bo Hopkins partners up with Toad in Vietnam</td></tr>
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The copters look cool and are reminiscent of APOCALYPSE NOW, the blockbuster that came out the same year, 1979.  <br />
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Perhaps George Lucas, who executive produced this sequel written and directed by Bill L. Norton (director of GARGOYLES), wanted a piece of what he missed out from the Francis Ford Coppola Vietnam War venture, which he was originally connected with.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz6tyTKIHqQ2got0XgMjacTFssw-sCZ759Vl-ABWF0Ge0mIEW8QVFrLuUwBScUcAwB5egK7q3LQkO6KPGv24Sgzx5m5aKZBn53Cb1n9wAgl3o-B2qFZ5_mZM4EGGjfn57MpnRyJWzkEns/s1600/more+american+graffiti+23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz6tyTKIHqQ2got0XgMjacTFssw-sCZ759Vl-ABWF0Ge0mIEW8QVFrLuUwBScUcAwB5egK7q3LQkO6KPGv24Sgzx5m5aKZBn53Cb1n9wAgl3o-B2qFZ5_mZM4EGGjfn57MpnRyJWzkEns/s1600/more+american+graffiti+23.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Huey Copters skim the river</td></tr>
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The use of Motown hits (circa 1965) works well during the Vietnam story, jovially contrasting with the bloody battles while the cinematography captures the deep dark green colors of 'Nam. The theme song of John Wayne's THE GREEN BERETS also serves as a caustic anthem for the anti-war proceedings. <br />
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This adventurous segment is all about Toad first trying to find a shortcut home and then teaming with a Gung Ho soldier (James Houghton), who eventually realizes war is a living/breathing hell: something Toad knew all along.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0tTWzNnAbnxJtuAwq5QZg3qbUUz_brN49O6FMUv3GJdqNVIY0hR2RBwDDY7ZW3VVF3PGA2q01Tbv3PaIwhTYbMiUc3pqEpwfljIexFz3U2Asg9IxeW5Td02iZmIz_FL9VxI6tzuo4nQ/s1600/more+american+graffiti+19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0tTWzNnAbnxJtuAwq5QZg3qbUUz_brN49O6FMUv3GJdqNVIY0hR2RBwDDY7ZW3VVF3PGA2q01Tbv3PaIwhTYbMiUc3pqEpwfljIexFz3U2Asg9IxeW5Td02iZmIz_FL9VxI6tzuo4nQ/s1600/more+american+graffiti+19.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Milner's yellow dragster</td></tr>
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Last but not least is the John Milner drag racing story, taking place on and off the crowded and colorful California race grounds...<br />
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Milner is a good driver but can’t get a sponsor, and has to win a few quick jaunts in order for corporate-backed teams to take interest.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpgi7xXeRQVpCL3dwgrgymrUn-pm7zN6CuJ-HpLYZZD7bhQVj5gvsuuQl2PHNleogb9gSkC199TzjUFNwNUI4Cl3QEjs0a9JrVacC3Z54tQ88CpWq-BW9CDMpYrRz24rIsEWf_K-aGuuc/s1600/anna+bjorn+29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpgi7xXeRQVpCL3dwgrgymrUn-pm7zN6CuJ-HpLYZZD7bhQVj5gvsuuQl2PHNleogb9gSkC199TzjUFNwNUI4Cl3QEjs0a9JrVacC3Z54tQ88CpWq-BW9CDMpYrRz24rIsEWf_K-aGuuc/s1600/anna+bjorn+29.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Milner with dream girl Eva (Anna Bjorn) circa 1964</td></tr>
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Here’s where the best (and really, the only) love story resides. Gorgeous blond model Ana Bjorn plays a naive foreign exchange student named Eva from Sweden… no, Iceland… that hangs around Milner like a lost puppy.<br />
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Eva doesn’t speak a lick of English but they have sparks. Ken Place (the cop in THE BIG CHILL and brother of Mary Kay Place, who has a small part) is a worthy antagonist as Milner’s drag strip rival, filling in the shoes of Harrison Ford’s Bob Falfa (turning up as a cop in the Candy Clark segment).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyyJJVr7rE-Csg3Z_7cDcxSe-PgUpCKmG0Gkd9OJukjVIAolUZYcOlO2wz2FWjzQiiHBRqA_1a3lsHKOXAvXMwLNaZx00L0t8DQD4R7ZmeEZdE-jGOCsoMh4k2yPqWwoBW3p28kqSJV4/s1600/more+american+graffiti+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyyJJVr7rE-Csg3Z_7cDcxSe-PgUpCKmG0Gkd9OJukjVIAolUZYcOlO2wz2FWjzQiiHBRqA_1a3lsHKOXAvXMwLNaZx00L0t8DQD4R7ZmeEZdE-jGOCsoMh4k2yPqWwoBW3p28kqSJV4/s1600/more+american+graffiti+13.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dragsters prepare to race</td></tr>
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The drag strip races aren’t very exciting since the sleek speedsters roll for a total of five seconds before crossing the finish line, lacking the freewheeling spontaneity of the hot rods in the original.<br />
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Plus, Milner doesn't have his entire reputation to lose this time. His character, although very likable, is somewhat pointless throughout, especially since we know his hours are numbered.    <br />
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But this is still the second best story, ending with JM's famous yellow Deuce Coupe cruising down the midnight highway towards a pair of oncoming headlights – his death immanent.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAlq-9A0vytYJXLFF0julAQLGMXHrhuQZZS5VImVRpSDZjYCxGs4Pw1yVLGSRPo5W4qw_HbP3NZEJOM6LA8qjwF9GvD4JqSAyam30ubehnJzxVFmLYOlH7t6ZZ27hpx2KdvlRTfnzBbls/s1600/more+american+graffiti+20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAlq-9A0vytYJXLFF0julAQLGMXHrhuQZZS5VImVRpSDZjYCxGs4Pw1yVLGSRPo5W4qw_HbP3NZEJOM6LA8qjwF9GvD4JqSAyam30ubehnJzxVFmLYOlH7t6ZZ27hpx2KdvlRTfnzBbls/s1600/more+american+graffiti+20.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Milner's Deuce Coupe heads for an implied disaster </td></tr>
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In many ways this is an unnecessary sequel but it’s nice to see the characters together again, even though they’re mostly apart.<br />
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The soundtrack (highlighted by Donovan's "Season of the Witch" followed by Cream, The Grateful Dead, a live appearance by Country Joe and the Fish and concluding with Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone") stands out more than the actual film, and the acting makes it a more than worthy viewing. <br />
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So while this visual experience is basically an “eight-foot ballerina,” there are times she can actually dance.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq__kpfZPswJygXfen8_2Qk-KjddRKt_-CgPYKYg1pIZStVtlUoP7UEfK5HdRcdvYeDlLqVGSeXrRrhtTw9ufTBgqRLB9wBmjdOo7Cjvvl25UE1NsoyfcScBo0qtILLEAoer8ERA85kjY/s1600/more+american+graffiti+999999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq__kpfZPswJygXfen8_2Qk-KjddRKt_-CgPYKYg1pIZStVtlUoP7UEfK5HdRcdvYeDlLqVGSeXrRrhtTw9ufTBgqRLB9wBmjdOo7Cjvvl25UE1NsoyfcScBo0qtILLEAoer8ERA85kjY/s1600/more+american+graffiti+999999.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Naomi Judd (far left) sings "Baby Love" with Cindy Williams</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9fNG7bEzHCxhcAfwRWszcFosAZlIZ-KjCvei3Sj9mjU15W1ERG9If08twjqyioAnliMg55TCMew08jgdqkoSKvgMB9xJzOy00ZGh70WTTdmtwakbMo9lxScqUgwLff8bAg79d5IC92Q/s1600/more+american+graffiti+999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9fNG7bEzHCxhcAfwRWszcFosAZlIZ-KjCvei3Sj9mjU15W1ERG9If08twjqyioAnliMg55TCMew08jgdqkoSKvgMB9xJzOy00ZGh70WTTdmtwakbMo9lxScqUgwLff8bAg79d5IC92Q/s1600/more+american+graffiti+999.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Delroy Lindo as an Army Sergeant barking orders at Toad</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjECHugqZHe0p-U2HdQfc0_ImRLbrZAJG8xd0y66qF9KNnoCtZO7hiHteCvHJtTrDr94l-WISt9tMq6FLri-7aazmjzWQPM19HdzDGj7mSQWnyVVHTwmjP1JG2gJzG7MDj6er_oBiTROK0/s1600/more+american+graffiti+99.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjECHugqZHe0p-U2HdQfc0_ImRLbrZAJG8xd0y66qF9KNnoCtZO7hiHteCvHJtTrDr94l-WISt9tMq6FLri-7aazmjzWQPM19HdzDGj7mSQWnyVVHTwmjP1JG2gJzG7MDj6er_oBiTROK0/s1600/more+american+graffiti+99.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary Kay Place as Eva's friend Teensa</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCEHbZ2K9DyF3yjaD8UwmnmrtuO4jfcpcYFANuoDLZxFPTw3EwWmlNk4Sm3KZVAQJbWbYLcEueBzYKHyvTgKbRsJ4UNqZz_hFBRZreeuCBn4I4EkziISupcUy5PAtEL8tQGdgp141bQ_M/s1600/more+american+graffiti+99999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCEHbZ2K9DyF3yjaD8UwmnmrtuO4jfcpcYFANuoDLZxFPTw3EwWmlNk4Sm3KZVAQJbWbYLcEueBzYKHyvTgKbRsJ4UNqZz_hFBRZreeuCBn4I4EkziISupcUy5PAtEL8tQGdgp141bQ_M/s1600/more+american+graffiti+99999.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eva (Anna Bjorn) covers her ears from...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQFIV3oThHm7IuDtFf-3C85PkzZZ1rNVjVj5DEPFYw1RGsmc15PNjIl2GWOsHzHbvl1F7efGC4vwu2gFj0xizOavPaMcSrb7zSysJ3Aic7eQuhC0lYGO0PS9V6SxueGkymVCujVco1X5A/s1600/more+american+graffiti+9999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQFIV3oThHm7IuDtFf-3C85PkzZZ1rNVjVj5DEPFYw1RGsmc15PNjIl2GWOsHzHbvl1F7efGC4vwu2gFj0xizOavPaMcSrb7zSysJ3Aic7eQuhC0lYGO0PS9V6SxueGkymVCujVco1X5A/s1600/more+american+graffiti+9999.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The roar of the dragsters warming up</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ4wGLrGQchZuttF6Fn1aIiPSbn-e085R95kJWYF6InsvK3RQdbg9Er36sy7n6CycXtohvyE11LZ9ljsTGyfDtHpiITxX76IvSCXvxU4jm__LxG31rDm499j6caW5DK-G71h0-PmCNRPY/s1600/more+american+graffiti+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ4wGLrGQchZuttF6Fn1aIiPSbn-e085R95kJWYF6InsvK3RQdbg9Er36sy7n6CycXtohvyE11LZ9ljsTGyfDtHpiITxX76IvSCXvxU4jm__LxG31rDm499j6caW5DK-G71h0-PmCNRPY/s1600/more+american+graffiti+4.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul LeMat as John Milner</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH5GmiXMV8m6YzTt4K7K5_iKBtXgJbNjKmBGXfc2Dw0cLasl4dYZG6mw0yVq-VPhBaC8fSDRmrbF8lzOaHjpidU8g-1rWLyrC4pJdMGqXdE0-iE3yScfLMAX3FfkfPMeMwH0ONP7EjV78/s1600/anna+bjorn+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH5GmiXMV8m6YzTt4K7K5_iKBtXgJbNjKmBGXfc2Dw0cLasl4dYZG6mw0yVq-VPhBaC8fSDRmrbF8lzOaHjpidU8g-1rWLyrC4pJdMGqXdE0-iE3yScfLMAX3FfkfPMeMwH0ONP7EjV78/s1600/anna+bjorn+6.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Antagonist driver Ken Place with Anna Bjorn</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINUsJKVbNhxpZGP65uACQOqtMmzVQhTZbvmQa1y7VMRWT4YSfNmLuf1kvUapIWXaAcBXFqzp61ynzrI6MKNFRotItGgz2HBvf6RnakLlNj06o3J7M2C8tflK6aPvXNAzRLpA0RrrhnC4/s1600/anna+bjorn+25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINUsJKVbNhxpZGP65uACQOqtMmzVQhTZbvmQa1y7VMRWT4YSfNmLuf1kvUapIWXaAcBXFqzp61ynzrI6MKNFRotItGgz2HBvf6RnakLlNj06o3J7M2C8tflK6aPvXNAzRLpA0RrrhnC4/s1600/anna+bjorn+25.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anna Bjorn's Eva watches Milner race </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4pfdz2X3v8_sudEorERighKLgISltYKTSEfVcBbeRBXBdx2CG1YD1qOdMlKg7S-lWoM4no7IfTce6dVUtoANNdb2maqBixCg7IVZhrAcYVpIyB7LB9xAjNmmN85SzhBoryTCWXhXQS-c/s1600/anna+bjorn+28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4pfdz2X3v8_sudEorERighKLgISltYKTSEfVcBbeRBXBdx2CG1YD1qOdMlKg7S-lWoM4no7IfTce6dVUtoANNdb2maqBixCg7IVZhrAcYVpIyB7LB9xAjNmmN85SzhBoryTCWXhXQS-c/s1600/anna+bjorn+28.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary Kay Place with Anna Bjorn</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhszbigUYyHzXtAWLFOHyW5BTWHJaWuhgx0fkvt4Iy2rxXH0hMLwR4jcVyZea2m-gTU1PPHuAD2kXMjFDQXJWxctkTw9v5OksocECdMlTyYMt3clRNQpPqvCbBPyA0CjrLkvKwngWGWH-g/s1600/more+american+graffiti+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhszbigUYyHzXtAWLFOHyW5BTWHJaWuhgx0fkvt4Iy2rxXH0hMLwR4jcVyZea2m-gTU1PPHuAD2kXMjFDQXJWxctkTw9v5OksocECdMlTyYMt3clRNQpPqvCbBPyA0CjrLkvKwngWGWH-g/s1600/more+american+graffiti+3.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Apocalypse Now style hueys and a great font for MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTZ3jWZbdgAvDpW16_aIIVVTvj2hw03OPwFiOoUrYdnq4YdQZ9EPdXJ-ixHPuhO1CbsLoVR9qbBJztYNnZAlJFLGXyWe6TJaTqBwn1ZxRfVdBUybumdopRG8jIhF3epqyYguK1WjqV5qe/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-20+at+2.53.50+AM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1482" data-original-width="1430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTZ3jWZbdgAvDpW16_aIIVVTvj2hw03OPwFiOoUrYdnq4YdQZ9EPdXJ-ixHPuhO1CbsLoVR9qbBJztYNnZAlJFLGXyWe6TJaTqBwn1ZxRfVdBUybumdopRG8jIhF3epqyYguK1WjqV5qe/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-20+at+2.53.50+AM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>All Region Import Blu Ray signed by Candy Clark, Bo Hopkins and Paul LeMat MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgC7THVww7_br6ul9LHBqG6Nav5mgvQ8-JMacMvyoE8zPdsmTobZfzwzw1fyeGQbJodtGWNZ9XuLsz3XT_VFDJwOKaoFZjibKXGWed5WvCWN3O7p9LoKJTL-RPLcBcc7y1M85yzbGUw5L/s1600/57465183_688141304948382_4218342807401660416_o.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="1291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgC7THVww7_br6ul9LHBqG6Nav5mgvQ8-JMacMvyoE8zPdsmTobZfzwzw1fyeGQbJodtGWNZ9XuLsz3XT_VFDJwOKaoFZjibKXGWed5WvCWN3O7p9LoKJTL-RPLcBcc7y1M85yzbGUw5L/s1600/57465183_688141304948382_4218342807401660416_o.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Monica Tenner as Moonchild in MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI (if this is her)</u></td></tr>
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all night, anna bjorn, candy clark, charles martin smith, cindy williams, delroy lindo, george lucas, hangout, harrison ford, mackenzie phillips, mary kay place, paul lemat, ron howard, sequel, seventies, war

CRUISING THE PSYCHEDELIC SEQUEL 'MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI'

year: 1979 cast: Paul LeMat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Cindy Williams, Bo Hopkins rating: *** The George Lucas retro classic AM...

Written by James M. Tate / 7/29/2013 / No comments / all night , charles martin smith , cindy williams , george lucas , hangout , harrison ford , jody carlson , mackenzie phillips , paul lemat , richard dreyfuss , ron howard , seventies

REEXPERIENCING 'AMERICAN GRAFFITI' ON THE BIG SCREEN

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQVrfkN3q5HEfwvSITH8qKJLR9xt3NA0HrbufSZA4yoRi4n6jNSnadvSQYBZ3ZAR44lABF9qRZLQ83WZz3yFruhU5q-iIH6SZQNGosqbnHNRqWFWjE6ZE4txeowkzJKQid84AL91TF4Mkj3imFo28r9HuSDNa_JsjrjfmDZ-CCbvkzAKchXt53j1YYkQ/s1146/Picture%201.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="1146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQVrfkN3q5HEfwvSITH8qKJLR9xt3NA0HrbufSZA4yoRi4n6jNSnadvSQYBZ3ZAR44lABF9qRZLQ83WZz3yFruhU5q-iIH6SZQNGosqbnHNRqWFWjE6ZE4txeowkzJKQid84AL91TF4Mkj3imFo28r9HuSDNa_JsjrjfmDZ-CCbvkzAKchXt53j1YYkQ/s16000/Picture%201.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1973 cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Paul LeMat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Ron Howard rating: *****</td></tr></tbody></table>
After growing up watching AMERICAN GRAFFITI, and seeing it fifty or more times since childhood, and always on television, there are a few noticeable particularities when viewed in an actual theater on the big screen...<br />
<br />
Producer Francis Ford Coppola’s low budget horror titled DEMENTIA 13, is on the marquee outside Jerry's Cherries Used Car Lot, where Richard Dreyfuss’s Curt Henderson, kidnapped for the night by a gang called The Pharaohs, caused havoc for a local police car by tying a cable to its underbelly: And before that when Curt and his new acquaintances are inside a pinball alley, the Laura Scudder’s brand Potato Chips are in abundance behind the Moose Lodge guys…  <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6FacuYZmqfR3pjz7BWd-Pi6K0ZbNCN50e9JskQWEUKV9dFU08tx21V5GXN8_O994NEhSYQ6XA8iGoUp4aiXPqHOUum43wrmzioYxZUbtmQXAbH1pVvRtION-GUUaN-o5ztF3yH-mwd2krlSUBrJGmkGQQPmcql9aB07kBmk7W414vdGmhuNC5rpWQcw/s1128/Picture%2012.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="1128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6FacuYZmqfR3pjz7BWd-Pi6K0ZbNCN50e9JskQWEUKV9dFU08tx21V5GXN8_O994NEhSYQ6XA8iGoUp4aiXPqHOUum43wrmzioYxZUbtmQXAbH1pVvRtION-GUUaN-o5ztF3yH-mwd2krlSUBrJGmkGQQPmcql9aB07kBmk7W414vdGmhuNC5rpWQcw/s16000/Picture%2012.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Racers Harrison Ford & Paul LeMat's first meeting from AMERICAN GRAFFITI</u><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>And various adult characters: like the poor fella who gets his front bumper bashed, the jerk cop Holstein, the liquor store clerk, the chaperone told to “Kiss A Duck,” really look straight out of the Eisenhower era – okay so JFK was president by this time, but you get the drift…<br />
<br />
The bottom line and the most important thing is that Lucas's AMERICAN GRAFFITI is meant to be viewed the way originally intended, and the bigger the screen the better...   <br />

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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQhXmC9emnLRQPTtYnssbxieMm03PeHlzJN0E8wy6kxqGx0g-iZTi3SfXxV15v9xqul-5zBP8k-feHuFI2auHb-B7S9roL7MKqo2J-Kq4HzR16MwB6CpAoMS9toUMcjdXAci1YKvNry7II-bo-dvJUg6m8sh4zdHfPQSqAGun4-ucZi3rv68SmbEdWOA/s1123/Picture%2017.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="1123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQhXmC9emnLRQPTtYnssbxieMm03PeHlzJN0E8wy6kxqGx0g-iZTi3SfXxV15v9xqul-5zBP8k-feHuFI2auHb-B7S9roL7MKqo2J-Kq4HzR16MwB6CpAoMS9toUMcjdXAci1YKvNry7II-bo-dvJUg6m8sh4zdHfPQSqAGun4-ucZi3rv68SmbEdWOA/s16000/Picture%2017.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim Bohan's Holstein refers to Paul LeMat's car as that "thing" like the Death Star guard to Chewbacca</td></tr></tbody></table>Not to toot the old horn, but yours truly notified the theater management… ten minutes before the movie played at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach, California… that the previous screening of NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE was all but ruined by a minimal amount of audio… In other words, the sound was so low it hindered the entire experience...<br />
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If GRAFFITI, with wall-to-wall music playing throughout, blaring in and out of cars while providing a subliminally expository narrative, had the same sound problem, and so, once again, a sublime movie, part of the ongoing Landmark Classic Series, would be ruined. And who wants to hear the irritating noise of popcorn bags being ransacked by hungry audience members, or banal comments spoken when you’re trying hard to listen to what’s really important?<br />

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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7m3e6fLYmr_Pv3MHejraPy3LP3m4Saya8LTuKikkA_9bxaDlomFmtUHGYTHxb7Wkd0Fui7aVKof81oZfvens29586ro_TRwYWxb9Dy7WyyhKw4VJkqV_uLY77FaOpT7KGTtnvIFXpbYW7JOu5W7A67T6VVUBYUosU8EyDQ4cQmHBv0zF0SGjvWPtNBA/s1151/Picture%2013.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="1151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7m3e6fLYmr_Pv3MHejraPy3LP3m4Saya8LTuKikkA_9bxaDlomFmtUHGYTHxb7Wkd0Fui7aVKof81oZfvens29586ro_TRwYWxb9Dy7WyyhKw4VJkqV_uLY77FaOpT7KGTtnvIFXpbYW7JOu5W7A67T6VVUBYUosU8EyDQ4cQmHBv0zF0SGjvWPtNBA/s16000/Picture%2013.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cindy Williams and the always-lovely Kathleen Quinlan </td></tr></tbody></table>But it's not all cruising around, there's a love story, kinda... Centering on Steve and his girlfriend Laurie's constant bickering on whether they should remain a couple: after all, Steve is taking off the next morning and long distant relationships rarely work.<br />
<br />
Laurie Henderson, Curt’s sister, is played by Cindy Williams – while it’s difficult <i>not </i>seeing HAPPY DAYS verses LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, the two actors are terrific and do a fantastic job despite a somewhat cliché romantic-quibbling storyline that it took co-writers Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz to help Lucas with, since he (in his own opinion) wasn’t good at writing about relationships. <br />

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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuRBkGvkxLemIpWEFG04vygbzNzRZfojeTEZROvTTSv3bt2LnJeaqbJv2bZy0qw2OGQ1czJxttbN7WbSCrAPHDR10kErxCMaH_WTIJtgcpBYHNHXSWvw_WTubHSgzKge3QfhoP2vqYufZMDGBCXefv6CPNjZV2bejbt-PCr3bkwzUvJeYEo4gszIXP4A/s1116/Picture%2016.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="1116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuRBkGvkxLemIpWEFG04vygbzNzRZfojeTEZROvTTSv3bt2LnJeaqbJv2bZy0qw2OGQ1czJxttbN7WbSCrAPHDR10kErxCMaH_WTIJtgcpBYHNHXSWvw_WTubHSgzKge3QfhoP2vqYufZMDGBCXefv6CPNjZV2bejbt-PCr3bkwzUvJeYEo4gszIXP4A/s16000/Picture%2016.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ron Howard and Cindy Williams with Kathleen Quinlan's Peg silently instigating</td></tr></tbody></table>While the main actors were kickstarting their careers, Ron Howard, billed as Ronny Howard, who was the biggest name of the lot, had the task of making people forget he was Opie on ANDY GRIFFITH for all those years. Although his story is the least interesting, he succeeded as a teenage actor.<br />
<br />
And then people would know him as Richie Cunningham (HAPPY DAYS was inspired by GRAFFITI but actually spun-off from an episode of LOVE AMERICAN STYLE) until he trailblazed as a successful director later on.<br />

all night, charles martin smith, cindy williams, george lucas, hangout, harrison ford, jody carlson, mackenzie phillips, paul lemat, richard dreyfuss, ron howard, seventies

REEXPERIENCING 'AMERICAN GRAFFITI' ON THE BIG SCREEN

year: 1973 cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Paul LeMat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Ron Howard rating: ***** After growing up watching AMERIC...

JMT

Written by James M. Tate / 2/24/2026 / No comments / belinda balaski , bill mckinney , david carradine , exploitation , garrit graham , hangout , mary woronov , paul bartel , race car , robert carradine , seventies , sylvester stallone , veronica hamel

Written by James M. Tate / 8/09/2025 / No comments / bill adler , crown international , cynthia wood , david hayward , dennis bowen , drive-in , exploitation , hangout , jim kester , melissa prophet , seventies , susanne severeid , tara strohmeier

Written by James M. Tate / 8/05/2025 / No comments / bill adler , bill gammon , cheryl smith , crown international , diane lee hart , hangout , high school , jennifer ashley , jim kester , lisa reeves , michael mullins , robert carradine , seventies , sport , susan player

Written by James M. Tate / 10/03/2024 / No comments / cop , counter-culture , exploitation , gene hackman , hangout , harry dean stanton , joy bang , karen black , kris kristofferson , music , seventies , viva

Written by James M. Tate / 4/12/2024 / No comments / alexandra hay , anne randall , anouk aimée , counter-culture , drama , fred willard , gary lockwood , hangout , hilarie thompson , jacques demy , severn darden , sixties

Written by James M. Tate / 12/12/2023 / No comments / action , adventure , biker , bruce dern , counter-culture , diane ladd , dick miller , drama , frank maxwell , hangout , michael j. pollard , nancy sinatra , peter fonda , sixties

Written by James M. Tate / 7/19/2023 / No comments / 2019 , al pacino , brad pitt , bruce dern , counter-culture , dark comedy , exploitation , hangout , hollywood satire , leonardo dicaprio , madisen beaty , margot robie , new , quentin tarantino , thriller

Written by James M. Tate / 6/25/2023 / No comments / charlene holt , cult , ensemble , gail hire , george takei , hangout , howard hawks , james caan , laura devon , marianna hill , norman aldan , race car , sixties , skip ward , sport , teri garr

Written by James M. Tate / 2/03/2023 / No comments / action , bill mckinney , catherine bach , chase , clint eastwood , geoffrey lewis , george kennedy , hangout , heist , jack dodson , jeff bridges , june fairchild , michael cimino , roy jenson

Written by James M. Tate / 8/16/2022 / No comments / action , drama , exploitation , hangout , jack nicholson , jazz score , melodrama , race car , roger corman , romance , sixties , teen

Written by James M. Tate / 7/01/2022 / No comments / chris penn , comedy , edward van halen , eighties , eric stoltz , hangout , hart bochner , ilan mitchell-smith , jenny wright , lea thompson , rick moranis , ron wood , teen

Written by James M. Tate / 11/11/2019 / No comments / all night , dianne hull , drama , drug culture , edward james olmos , hangout , melodrama , paul lemat , robert carradine , rolling stones , romance , seventies , tim mcintire

Written by James M. Tate / 11/28/2018 / No comments / action , body count , cult , drive-in , drugs , exploitation , hangout , killer car , marley shelton , quentin tarantino , rosario dawson , rose mcgowen , sydney poitier , thriller , vanessa ferlito , zeroes , zoë bell

Written by James M. Tate / 3/01/2016 / No comments / action , caper , clint eastwood , geoffrey lewis , george kennedy bill mckinney , hangout , heist , michael cimino , road movie , seventies , suspense , team-up

Written by James M. Tate / 12/31/2013 / 3 Comments / all night , anna bjorn , candy clark , charles martin smith , cindy williams , delroy lindo , george lucas , hangout , harrison ford , mackenzie phillips , mary kay place , paul lemat , ron howard , sequel , seventies , war

Written by James M. Tate / 7/29/2013 / No comments / all night , charles martin smith , cindy williams , george lucas , hangout , harrison ford , jody carlson , mackenzie phillips , paul lemat , richard dreyfuss , ron howard , seventies

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