American Graffiti (United Artists)

American Graffiti, the tale of a last night on the suburb for early-60s southern California high school grads, was first released to a confusing array of critical acclaim. Nearly everyone liked it, of course, but for such varying reasons! The squares, recognizing Lucas as a technically masterful director, swallowed their pride, praised, then branded he and it as minor. Older, hipper critics (and viewers) saw it as too nostalgic, just another small town romance. And rock critic types, too often, thought Graffiti had to do with rock, not the suburbs.

I think it is time for CREEM to sieze American Graffiti as the first great concept of the 70s. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: a) the suburbs are superior; b) there ain’t no fun, we’re bored; c) whacha gonna DO about it?” American Graffiti is about a lot of things not the least of which are Lucas’ talent (both Graffiti and THX 1138 indicate he may be what we’ve been waiting for — the intellectual’s Roger Corman), and ways to escape from the suburb’s great cosmic yawn.