MovieChat Forums > More American Graffiti (1979) Discussion > I don't understand those who don't like ...

I don't understand those who don't like this movie.

posted 17 years ago by DaytonaBob
3 replies | jump to latest

I really don't understand why so many people bag on this movie. It's enjoyable but rather tragic and sometimes I think the reason is that is isn't the funny nostagic flick the first one was. I watch the first one and just laugh and love looking at the Hot Rods and antics of the entire cast.

The band was great, the music was great, the cars, and the storyline.

The second one went more into the downer mode and I guess a lot of people just didn't get like that part of it all.

But it's just a movie and overall I liked it. It captured the periods very well. Having lived all of them George pretty much nailed it and I'm surprised that he dissed it so much afterwards. Listening to Country Joe And the Fish do the the Fixin' To Die Rag and thinking it fits todays war so well. Loved Debbies hat too.

George did a pretty good job of capturing the scariness of Vietnam. Still wondered how Toad got out of Vietnam.

There is a statement by Cindy Williams where she states that You don't want Toad to have died for nothing do you? And her brother says he already died for nothing. Sounds so familiar today.

But the tragedy that was Milner was the topper for both movies. He meets the girl, wins the race, she likes him, the world is in front of him, and then..that part has always gotten to me and probably always will.

Sort of off topic...

Met Candy just a few months ago doing autographs at a Rod & Custom show here along with Bo Hopkins and it was so cool.

I've seen movie sequels that were so bad they make this look like Lawrence of Arabia which is why anyone saying this is the worst is laughable although their opinion.

They who give up liberty to
obtain a temporary safety deserve
neither liberty or safety

[–] jrs-8 17 years ago

I am not a big fan of this movie although I admire it trying to be about something instead of just re-hashing the original film. It is certainly ambitious in scope. I think the problem was the script. The writer (Norton) didn't come up with particularly intresting stories for two of them. I think the story with Candy Clark is completely bland while the story with Ron Howard is basically just one long shouting match. These terrific characters from the first film were given little to do here. The Milner story was ok but the problem I had was that, as a fan of the original, I knew this was the day/night Milner was going to die and I found myself distracted everytime Paul LeMat was onscreen wondering if this was the moment it was going to happen. The story with The Toad is the best one by far.

I love the music and I liked the ideas of the revolving stories on the same day over four years but it was too much. Maybe if they had excluded one story (Candy Clark's could have vanished with nothing lost) and changed Ron Howard's story to something, anything else it could have been more interesting.

Not a bad film but one I think falls short. Just my opinion though.

[–] greenrazorfish 17 years ago

I remember disliking it, but I watched it again last night and I thought it was great. The split screen camera angles had never been done in a way like that before (and after) the film's release.

I loved the Toad/Vietnam storyline. It was funny, tragic, and very well shot.

I also liked Milner's story because Paul Le Mat does such a great job as Milner, and the story is light and fun, but absolutely heartbreaking at the same time.

The problem with the Steve and Laurie and Debbie storylines is that while both had their moments, they just weren't very interesting until the last ten minutes of each story.

"I wasn't wearing it.... I was eating it!- Zoidberg

[–] TMC-4 (20296) 3 years ago

This all but perfectly sums it up towards why people don't like More American Graffiti:

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/15953417-worst-sequels!

More American Graffiti. The original was a snapshot of one night in the lives of interesting and poignant characters, crossing paths, interacting, getting together, and leaving home. The sequel was a damn mess: stories jumped between different years, there was no explanation of how the characters evolved into what they became in the sequel, the ridiculous split screen vignettes were exhausting, and the movie was boring as hell.

by Anonymous reply 81 May 23, 2020 2:01 AM