Car Movies

This movie helped George Lucas move onto bigger and better things (like the Star Wars saga) and helped make stars out of Paul LeMat, Mackensie Philips, Harrison Ford, Candy Clark, and Richard Dreyfuss (I didn’t include Ron Howard since he was already well-known from the Andy Griffith Show). In this movie, the viewer is treated to the era Lucas grew up in. It takes place in September, 1962 (all in one night) in Northern California.

Steve (Howard) and Curt (Dreyfuss) are debating whether or not to go off to college. Steve is eager, though he realizes he and his girlfriend Laurie (Williams) must split if he does. Curt is reluctant, since as he says “It doesn’t make sense to leave home to find a home and say goodbye to people I love”. Steve generously loans his wheels to the nerdy Terry the Toad (Charles Martin Smith) who picks up a flirtatious blonde (Candy Clark) and spends the entire night trying to impress her with his tall tales (until the car gets stolen). John Milner (LeMat) tries picking up women and winds up with the obnoxious 13-year-old Carol (Philips). Meanwhile, Laurie gives Steve the cold shoulder and tries to lure him back. Curt in turn goes from trying to find an attractive blonde in a T-bird (Suzanne Somers) to nearly joining the Pharoahs (a gang of hoodlums) to asking the Wolfman to play a request (all in the same night!). Milner later meets up with Bob Falfa who challenges him to a drag race.

The soundtrack features such classics as “Rock Around the Clock”, “Come Go with Me”, “Surfin’ Safari”, “Maybe Baby”, “At the Hop”, “Johny B Goode”, “Green Onions”, “Since I Don’t Have You”, “Teen Angel”, and “Only You”. This edition also features interviews with Howard, LeMat, Philips, Williams, Smith, and Lucas, explaining the making of this classic movie.