Don't get me wrong, the first Star Wars film is a masterpiece for many reasons, but none of them are the clunky dialogue in the script. George Lucas is known for, along with his special effects and Star Wars films, awful scripts. The most recent Star Wars films are so poorly written they make me cringe, and this is George Lucas's only good script to date, possibly because it wasn't entirely written by him. "American Graffiti" is a low budget classic that really makes you feel like you're in 1962, and by the end, you won't want to leave.<br /><br />Here we have four stories about teens graduating high school, each one different, each one surprisingly good. There's Curt (Richard Dreyfus) who's confused if he wants to go to college or just stay home and go to junior college. After some turn of events, he ends up with a gang of hoodlums. Steve (Ron Howard) said the wrong thing to his girlfriend and is trying to patch things up. Terry (Charles Martin Smith) is taking care of Steve's car when Steve goes away to college, and he picks up a good lookin' chick, which results in many comedic situations. John Milner (Paul Le Mat) is a drag racer trying to pick up chicks, but he gets more than he bargained for when he ends up with the 13 year old sister (played by a young Mackenzie Phillips) of a female acquaintance of his. All four of these stories take place over one night, and they all level each other out nicely.<br /><br />All the kids give good performances here. Some are stereotypes, but they are likable stereotypes that break out of the mold and become more than one dimensional characters. The sub-plots are genuinely funny, and in some ways this actually reminds me of two later movies rolled into one. This movie is like John Landis's two films "Animal House" and "The Blues Brothers" packed into one good movie. It has the rowdy teens, and fast cars, and it has the cool 50's and early 60's music. The situations these characters face are often imitated in more recent films. For example, in "Superbad", an underage character trying to but alcohol almost gets away with it, but the store is robbed. Here, the character gets away with it, and the store is robbed...it's like the same scenario.<br /><br />I know my review contained a few comparisons to other films, but with a great teen comedy like this, all you can do is compare it to imitators, and this comes out on top. Perhaps a young George Lucas was inspired to (co)write this good script, or perhaps he just happened to strike lightening, something his writing would not do again. Prove me wrong Mr. Lucas! <br /><br />My rating: *** 1/2 out of ****. 110 mins. PG for language, sexual innuendos.