How American Graffiti paved the way for the galaxy far far away

Well, its Star Wars day in'it? The day we celebrate everything Star Wars, the iconic film franchised that been in pop culture for over close to 45 years now. But as you can probably tell from this title, We're not talking specifically about Star Wars. 

You may be aware earlier today we went over our rough cuts for Moving Image Fundamentals and my film choice, of course as you're aware, is American Graffiti. A film that while may not be familiar to most of you, the people behind it certainly are. let's get the intro back in here and take a closer look:

 LucasFilm Ltd you say? That means...

Yes Indeed! 

That's right, this film was directed by none other than Star Wars director, George Lucas!

George Lucas during the filming of American Graffiti (1972)

In fact, this was actually his second theatrical film, and it partially came about after the failure of his first theatrical film.

To tell this tale we need to rewind to 1971, when Lucas released his first theatrical film, THX 1138.

The poster for THX 1138 

(and in case you're wondering, Yes, this is partially where the THX sound system got its name from. but that's another story.)

The plot goes that in the distant future, love and free will are outlawed by means of mandatory medication that controls human emotion. The film follows THX 1138 (Played by Robert Duvall) and LUH 3417 (Played by Maggie McOmie) who stop taking their medication and discover the bleak reality of their own existence and fall in love with each other in the process, leading them to become outlaws on the run from the army of android police. 

The film was based on Lucas's student film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, which he made back in 1967 while attending the USC. The film was released in theaters on March 11, 1971, but while it did impress some critics, it ultimately bombed at the box office, only earning $945,000 in rentals.

However all hope was not lost. While THX 1138 was in production, producer Francis Ford Coppola challenged Lucas to write a script that would appeal to mainstream audiences. In a tale somewhat similar to that of the creation of Atari's pong, Lucas realized that the reason why THX probably failed was because it was a little too depressing for the average movie gower of the era. So, his idea was to make a more realistic, uplifting film. Inspired by his experiences as a teenager cruising in Modesto, California in the early 1960s, he ultimately came up with the plot of 3 friends trying to make the most of their last summer night together by meeting girls, cruising in cars, and just having a good time before ultimately leaving for college.

After another year of filming, American Graffiti was released in theaters August 11, 1973, and was an immediate smash hit critically and commercially. The financial success of American Graffiti gave Lucas the cash and opportunities to establish more elaborate development for Lucasfilm, Skywalker Sound, and Industrial Light & Magic, and another film that Lucas was writing around the same time as Graffiti. It was an unnamed space opera that was inspired by the classic Flash Gordon serials, which would eventually become Star Wars.

In fact, there are a lot of similarities to both films. Both are both are coming of age films and involve leaving home, both have there own mysterious woman in white, (In American Graffiti, its an unnamed woman in a Ford Thunderbird and in Star Wars of course it's Princess Leia.) both films are known for their soundtracks, both have vehicles involved with key scenes, and probably one of the most notable similarities is the acting choice of Harrison Ford. This film was Ford's breakthrough role before he got to play as Han Solo in Star Wars. Not only that but one of the casting choices happened to be future Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill.

So as you can see, a lot of the basic elements of Star Wars can be traced right back to American Graffiti and it makes you wonder how things would have turned out if things in this film had changed because without them, perhaps Star Wars might have turned out very differently.

Tune in tomorrow and i'll discuss the intro to American Graffiti, and some interesting facts i found out about it.