American Graffiti

Ever wondered what happened to Terry The Toad in American Graffiti? Not the full movie but here are all his scenes from the follow-up movie, More American Graffiti (1979). More American Graffiti (1979) American Graffiti (1973) More American Graffiti is a 1979 comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill L. Norton. It is a sequel to George Lucas's 1973 film American Graffiti. Whereas the first film followed a group of friends during the summer evening before they set off for college, this film shows us where the characters from the first film end up a few years later. Most of the main cast members from the first film returned for the sequel, including Candy Clark, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Charles Martin Smith, and Harrison Ford in a cameo appearance. Richard Dreyfuss was the only principal cast member from the original film not to appear in the sequel. The film, set over the course of four consecutive New Year's Eves from 1964 to 1967, depicts scenes from each of these years, intertwined with one another as though events happen simultaneously. The audience is protected from confusion by the use of a distinct cinematic style for each section. For example, the 1966 sequences echo the movie of Woodstock using split screens and multiple angles of the same event simultaneously on screen, the 1965 sequences (set in Vietnam) shot hand-held on grainy super 16 mm film designed to resemble war reporters' footage. The film attempts to memorialize the 1960s with sequences that recreate the sense and style of those days with references to Haight-Ashbury, the campus peace movement, the beginnings of the modern woman's liberation movement and the accompanying social revolt. One character burned his draft card, showing a younger audience what so many Americans had done on the television news ten years before the movie's release. Other characters are shown frantically disposing of their marijuana before a traffic stop as a police officer pulls them over, and another scene shows the police brutality with billy clubs during an anti-Vietnam protest. The listed fates of the main characters at the ending sequence of American Graffiti were updated again at the end of this sequel. In More American Graffiti, John Milner was revealed to have been killed by a drunk driver in December 1964 (reminiscent of the death of James Dean in 1955, though the accident involving Dean did not involve a drunk driver), with the ending scene of the movie driving his trademark yellow Deuce at night along a lonely highway toward another vehicle's headlights, and is never seen going further, hinting that the crash was in that vicinity. Set on New Year's Eve 1964, it is never actually shown that his tragic end comes after his racing win on the last day of the year, very probably instead into the first few moments of 1965, given that the 1967 segment was just barely into 1968. The anniversary of John's death is mentioned in both the 1965 and 1966 sequences. Terry "The Toad" Fields' classification as "missing in action" is not explored in greater detail since the movie shows that he faked his own death. The ending sequence would have read "killed in action" had the story ended there. Terry is believed to be dead by his superiors in 1965 and by his friends – Debbie in 1966 and Steve and Laurie in 1967. Joe Young (the leader of "The Pharaohs"), Toad's war partner, vividly meets his death with a sniper's bullet to the chest in one scene after having promised to make Terry a Pharaoh once they get back from Vietnam. The relationship of Steve and Laurie is strained by Laurie's insistence that she start her own career, though Steve forbids it saying he wants her to be a mom to their young twins. Free-spirited Debbie "Deb" Dunham has turned from Old Harper to marijuana and has given up her platinum blonde persona for a hippie/groupie one in a long, strange trip that ends with her performing with a country-and-western music group. Wolfman Jack briefly reprised his role, but in voice only. The drag racing scenes for More American Graffiti were filmed at the Fremont Raceway, later Baylands Raceway Park (now the site of automobile dealerships), in Fremont, California. Cast Paul Le Mat as John Milner Cindy Williams as Laurie Henderson Bolander Candy Clark as Debbie Dunham Ron Howard as Steve Bolander Mackenzie Phillips as Carol "Rainbow" Morrison Charles Martin Smith as Terry "The Toad" Fields Scott Glenn as Newt Mary Kay Place as Teensa Anna Bjorn as Eva Wolfman Jack as Himself Rosanna Arquette as Girl in Commune Jonathan Gries as Ron Naomi Judd as Girl on Bus Bo Hopkins as Little Joe Harrison Ford as Officer Bob Falfa Delroy Lindo as Army SSgt. John Lansing as Lance Harris Will Seltzer as Andy Henderson Monica Tenner as Moonflower Carol-Ann Williams as Vikki Townsend Tom Baker as a police officer

• published: 27 Dec 2014
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