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American Graffiti

1973 film directed by George Lucas

American Graffiti is a 1973 film about a group of teenagers in California's central valley who spend one final night after their 1962 high school graduation cruising the strip with their buddies before they pursue their varying goals.

Directed by George Lucas. Written by George Lucas, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck.
Where were you in '62?

Curt Henderson

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  • Quick! Hang a right...Cut over to G Street. I just saw a vision! I saw a goddess. Come on, you've got to catch up to her... This was the most perfect, dazzling creature I've ever seen... She spoke to me. She spoke to me right through the window. I think she said, 'I love you.' That means nothing to you people? You have no romance, no soul? She - someone wants me. Someone roaming the streets wants me! Will you turn the corner?
  • It doesn’t make sense to leave home to look for home, to give up a life to find a new life, to say goodbye to friends you love just to make new friends.

Dialogue

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Curt: I don't think I'm gonna be going tomorrow.
Steve: You chicken fink... After all we went through to get accepted? We're finally getting out of this turkey town and now you want to crawl back into your cell - right? You wanna end up like John? You just can't stay seventeen forever.
Curt: Why is it every girl that comes around here is ugly? Or has a boyfriend? Where is the dazzling beauty I've been searching for all my life?
John: I know what you mean. The pickin's are really gettin' slim. The whole strip is shrinking. Ah, you know, I remember about five years ago, take you a couple of hours and a tank full of gas just to make one circuit. It was really somethin'.
Steve: I thought, maybe before I leave, we could agree that... that seeing other people while I'm away can't possibly hurt, you know.
Laurie: You mean dating other people?
Steve: I think it would strengthen our relationship. Then we'd know for sure that we're really in love. Not that there's any doubt.
Vic: Hey Deb, how's my soft baby?
Debbie: Come on. Beat it, Vic. I'm not your baby.
Vic: Aw come on, honey. Look, so I never called you back. I've been, you know, busy...
Debbie: Yeah, three weeks?...Besides, it only took me one night to realize if brains were dynamite, you couldn't blow your nose.
Vic: Look who's talking. Hey, who's the wimp you're hanging out with now? Einstein?
Debbie: Tiger happens to be very intelligent. Unlike you. I know everything your dirty little mind is thinking [she looks down at his crotch]...it shows.
Terry: Hey now, buddy, look. The lady obviously doesn't want to have to -
Vic: Look, creep, you want a knuckle sandwich?
Terry: Ah, no thanks, I'm waitin' for a double Chubby Chuck...
Vic: Then keep your smart ass mouth shut. Hey, I'll call ya some time, Deb, some night when I'm hard up.
Debbie: I won't be home. [He gives her the finger. She lights a match and flicks it at him as he leaves]
Terry: You seem to know a lot of weird guys.
Debbie: That creep's not a friend of mine. He's just horny. That's why I like you, you're different.
Terry: I-I am? I mean, you really think I'm intelligent?
Debbie: [She drapes her arm around his shoulder] Yeah. And I'll bet you're smart enough to get us some brew. [She kisses him] Yeah.
Terry: Brew?
Debbie: Yeah.
Terry: Liquor? Yeah. Yeah right, liquor. This place is too crowded anyway.
John: Over there, that's Freddy Benson's Vette...he had a head-on collision with a drunk. Boom! Didn't have a chance. A good driver too. Oh, it's pretty grim when a guy gets it and it's not even his own fault....See that over there, that '41? That used to be, believe it or not, the fastest car in the valley. I never got a chance to race Earl though. He got his in 1955 in about the hairiest crash we ever had here. Jesus, you should have seen it. Eight kids killed and both drivers. Board of Education was real impressed see, so they come up, filmed the whole thing. Now they show it in Drivers' Education class. You'll probably see it if you get lucky. Course, it's really tough when they take somebody with them.
Carol: You never had an accident though - you told me.
John: Hey, well I come mighty close. Almost rolled it a couple of times. But, I'm been just quick enough to stay out of this graveyard.
Carol: I bet you're the fastest.
John: I've never been beaten - a lot of guys have tried. It seems to me there's more guys lately than there's ever been.
Terry: Pardon me, sir, but I lost my I.D. in... in a flood and I'd like to get some Old Harper, hard stuff. Would you mind buying a bottle for me?
Bum at Liquor Store: Why certainly! I lost my wife, too - her name wasn't Idy, though, and it wasn't in a flood - but I know what ya...
Terry: Thanks, here's enough for a pint.
Terry: You know, I think you're really neat. [lunges at Debbie, kissing her]
Debbie: Wait a second.
Terry: I'm sorry. It's just...
[Debbie takes off her sweater, then grabs him and kisses him, pulling him onto her]
Laurie: You know, it doesn't make sense to leave home to look for home, to give up a life to find a new life, to say goodbye to friends you love just to find new friends.
Steve: Wait a minute. Could you say that again?
Laurie: It's something Curt said.
Steve: Oh, figures. You must've talked his ear off trying to get him to stay.
Laurie: Oh no, Steven. That's not true at all. I didn't say anything. Curt just said at dinner tonight that he didn't see what the big hurry was. He thought that he ought to stick around and go to J.C. for a while, and try and figure out what he wanted to do with his life.
Steve: That sounds logical.
Laurie: Do you think so?
Steve: Sure. I think Curt's probably right for Curt. Not for me, though. [She turns away] Laurie, look at me. Now you know what I want out of life. And it's just not in this town.
Laurie: I'm not going with you to the airport tomorrow.
[they kiss, Steve pressing for more, but Laurie rebuffs him]
Steve: It's our last night together for three months...I'm gonna miss you so much. I need something to remember you by. You don't want me to forget you, do ya?
Laurie: If you're not gonna remember me for anything else, why don't you just go ahead?
Steve: Oh come on, you want it and you know it. Don't be so damn self-righteous with me!
[Laurie kicks him out of her car]
Bob Falfa: Hey man, I'm sorry if I scared ya!
John: You're gonna hafta do one hell of a lot more than that to scare me!
Bob Falfa: Hey I've been lookin' all over for ya man. Didn't nobody tell ya I was lookin' for ya?...Hey, you're supposed to be the fastest thing in the Valley, man, but that can't be your car. It must be your mama's car. I'm sorta embarrassed to be this close to ya.
John: I'm not surprised, drivin' a Field Car.
Bob Falfa: Field Car? What's a Field Car?
John: A Field Car runs through the fields, drops cow shit all over the place to make the lettuce grow.
Bob Falfa: [laughing] That's pretty good. Hey, I like the color of your car there, man. What's that supposed to be? Sorta a cross between Piss Yellow and Puke Green, ain't it?
John: Well, you call that a paint job but it's pretty ugly. I'll betcha you gotta sneak up on the pumps just to get a little air in your tires.
Bob Falfa: Well, at least I don't have to pull over to the side just to let a funeral go by, man.
John: Oh, funny... You know what?
Carol: Your car's uglier than I am! [She turns back to John] That didn't come out right.
Steve: Why should I leave home to find a home? You know, why should I leave friends that I love to find new friends?
Curt: Wait a minute, wait a minute...I've heard this already. Aren't you the one that told me for eight weeks that you have to leave the nest sometime?
Steve: I realize that. I realize that.
Curt: No, no realizing. You've been telling me all summer that it's time to stick your head out of the sand and take a look at the big, beautiful world out there somewhere..I feel like a mid-wife.
Steve: I may have been wrong, Curt. I may have been wrong.
Curt: Wrong nothing. You've been telling me for eight weeks. God-damn it...Just, you're just mentally playing with yourself. Just relax and we'll talk about it at the airport.
Blonde: [on the phone] Curt?
Curt: Yes, yes, this is Curt. Who are you?
Blonde: Who are you expecting?
Curt: Do you drive a white T-bird?
Blonde: A white '56. I saw you on Third Street...
Curt: Who are you? Do you know me?
Blonde: Of course.
Curt: How do you know me?
Blonde: It's not important.
Curt: It's important. It's important to me. You're the most beautiful, exciting thing I've ever seen in my life and I don't know anything about you. Listen, listen, listen, uh, uhm, uh, could we meet someplace?
Blonde: I cruise Third Street. Maybe I'll see you tonight.
Curt: No, I don't think so.
Blonde: Curt...
Curt: Tell me your name, at least tell me your name.
Blonde: Goodbye, Curt.
Curt: Wait a minute. Wait a second. [She hangs up.]

Cast

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