A funny-serious movie with gorgeous cars and colours and an amazing feel for the artefacts of an instantly vanished era.
Comment
05/06/08
American Graffiti (1973)
97
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:32
Fresh:31
Rotten:1
Average Rating:8.3/10
Consensus: One of the most influential of all teen films, American Graffiti is a funny, nostalgic, and bittersweet look at a group of recent high school grads' last days of innocence.
Synopsis: Set in 1962; Produced and released in 1973. AMERICAN GRAFFITI presents a powerful collage of youth on the brink of maturity just before the assassination of J.F.K.. Based on George Lucas's own... [More]
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, MacKenzie Phillips
Director: George Lucas
Reviews for American Graffiti
Top CriticLucas' direction is skilful and assured -- he follows several stories with wit and sensitivity -- and he's matched by his cast, the whole film perfectly evoking the end of an era.
05/06/08
Top CriticNo review available.
10/21/07
There is brilliant interplaying and underplaying, of script, performers and direction which will raise howls of laughter from audiences, yet never descends on the screen to overdone mugging, pratfall and other heavy-handed devices normally employed.
06/27/07
Top CriticA brilliant work of popular art, it redefined nostalgia as a marketable commodity and established a new narrative style, with locale replacing plot, that has since been imitated to the point of ineffectiveness.
06/27/07
No review available.
02/15/07
No review available.
01/15/07
The film that launched a thousand careers.
06/24/06
No review available.
03/09/06
If Last picture Show presents gloomy portrait of small-town life prior to the advent of TV, Lucas moves the setting forward by a decade, in 1962, when TV had already become the mainstay of pop culture, though for his youths, radio is the relevant medium.
02/13/06
...the ultimate nostalgia movie of all time ...
12/06/05
Lucas' sleeper hit...casts a rose-colored eye back to a placid pre-Vietnam America, a time when rock 'n' roll was young and hot rods were cool.
06/03/05
No review available.
06/01/05
A successful tribute to an era of optimism and competitiveness which was bitchin’ -- and now seems very far in the past.
05/04/05
American Graffiti acts almost as a milestone to show us how far (and in many cases how tragically) we have come.
10/23/04
Top CriticTrend setter, nostalgic, feel good hit
10/23/04
No review available.
03/06/04
A hallmark film of the 1970s.
07/30/03
Top CriticIt is a very good movie, funny, tough, unsentimental.
05/21/03
Top CriticLatest News for American Graffiti
December 12, 2007:
Walter Murch on Youth Without Youth: The RT Interview (With Exclusive Photos and Clips!)
This week, Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth hits theaters in limited release. The tale of a writer who becomes young again after being struck by lightning is a... More...
June 22, 2007:
AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
Dressing Wonderland 
Tim Burton's costume designer talks to Movieline about her long collaboration with the filmmaker and Johnny Depp.
Wes Anderson on Fox
The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Win Glee DVDs
We've got 20 copies of the hit TV series' Pilot Episode to giveaway.
Win tickets to Cold Souls
Double passes up for grabs to the new comedy starring Paul Giamatti.
Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Twitter
Get all the latest movie updates, reviews, interviews and features here.
Competitions
Win Star Wars prizes
Enough Prequel, Original Trilogy and Family Guy DVDs to fill a space cruiser
Win the entire 007 collection
Everything from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace could be yours.
Win Fight Club Special Editions and more
We're giving away the 10th Anniversary Blu-ray, plus Braveheart and the Rocky collection
IGN RSS Feeds