To celebrate the 50th anniversary of George Lucas’ original blockbuster – first screened at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland on 2nd August 1973 and arriving in the US on 11th August – American Graffiti is released with a brand new fully remastered mix, screening on the 27th and 30th August. This was the film that not only gave George Lucas his first Oscar nomination for Best Director, but also brought together a legends list of faces including Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Gary Kurtz, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck, Marcia Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.
The huge and unexpected success of Graffiti gave Lucas the heft and breathing room to attempt to make Star Wars, and don’t forget; Graffiti made $115,000,000 on a $777,000 budget, making it one of the most profitable films ever made and by 1977 the 13th highest grossing film of all time (nowadays it would sit at 51st when you account for 2022 inflation adjustments which would today see it bring in $615,742,991 with a total of 65,714,300 tickets sold).
If you’ve not seen this all-time classic, now’s your chance. No news on whether it will come to screens outside of the US, but let’s hope modern audiences everywhere get to be asked that all-important question – where were you in ’62?
