A Blast From the Past

Where were you in ’72? That summer a film was being made in the Petaluma area and a call went out for anyone with an old car that could be used in the movie which was set in 1962. Northern California, early ‘70’s, a film set in 1962. That film must be American Graffiti. Even now I recognize some of the cars in the film that I saw driving around town with old license plates that summer many years ago.



I think American Graffiti was the second DVD I bought and, while I watched the feature about the making of the film, I don’t think I had watched the DVD – until yesterday. There were several reasons I wanted to watch it. Perhaps I wanted to take a nostalgic tour of the town in which I lived as it existed the summer I first got my drivers license. I had also been telling a friend at school about the movie and maybe I wanted Fay to see the stomping grounds of my youth.

As a fan of NCIS with its recurring character of FBI agent Tobias Fornell, and having just received the first two seasons of Hill Street Blues with Detective Jeff Goldblume, I wanted to see actor Joe Spano in his much younger days. He is the guy trying to pick up Debbie when she is at Mel’s Drive In with Terry in the ’58 Chevy. You can tell it is Spano -- if you know it is he, but you would probably miss him if you didn’t.


(Photo from http://kipsamericangraffiti.blogspot.com/2011_12_01_archive.html)

Maybe the biggest reason I wanted to see the film was to wax nostalgic about an almost 40 year old film that was waxing nostalgic about a time that was only ten years in the past at the time. But, as the saying goes, you can’t go home again.

First of all, with the exception of Charles Martin Smith (Terry) and Candy Clark (Debbie), none of the lead actors could act their way out of a paper bag. This often is not noticeable on a big screen, but it jumps out and bites you on the small screen. The odd thing is that many of the smaller parts are well done. One of my favorite roles in the film is Wendy, played by Deby Celiz. According to the Internet Movie Database this was the only film she was ever in, but she acted circles around Richard Dreyfuss. I thought she was very believable and brought real pathos to the part.

The second weakness of the film is that, for the most part, you really don’t give a rip about the characters. I thought Steve (Ron Howard) was a dork when I saw the film in 1973 and I thought he was a dork when I saw the film in 2012. Again, with the exception of Terry and Debbie, there was no “there” there in any of the lead characters. Add to that the lack of plot, and you have a pretty boring film.

For those reasons, Fay bailed out less than half way through. Since Fay is English, the entire concept of cruising was foreign. In Petaluma, cruising the Boulevard (there were many shots of Petaluma Boulevard in the movie) did not really survive the first gas crunch in 1973. There were still a few hangers-on, but it pretty much was gone by 1975 (most of the cruisers in south Sonoma County consolidated their efforts on Fourth Street in Santa Rosa).

The big thing that bothers me about the film is the “down with authority” message. I remember that it bothered me when I first saw the film, but it is even more disturbing now. Consider the scene where the principal tells Steve and Laurie not to dance so close. Steve gives him some lip. When the principal tell him he is suspended, Steve taunts him by saying “I graduated,” and the defeated principal walks away. In reality, Steve would have been thrown out of the dance.

And watch how the film portrays Mr. Wolfe (Terry McGovern) as something of a hero for not being traditional. When the girl comes up and needs to talk to Mr. Wolfe, I knew what she needed to talk about when I first saw the film – something about a rabbit not surviving a test. That guy was not a hero; to the girls Mr. Wolfe was a sexual predator and the boys liked Mr. Wolfe because they thought he was cool -- but in reality he taught them nothing. Why was he portrayed so well while real authority figures were ridiculed?

It was fun to see some things I remembered from my teen years. The scene where Terry is caught off guard by the left-turn arrow is probably one of my favorites. Terry was facing eastbound on Washington Street at Petaluma Boulevard. I could not wait to get my driver’s license, and I had been studying driver’s handbooks for years. That was the first left-turn arrow that I, or anyone I knew, had ever seen. Everyone who knew that intersection really appreciated that scene – it confused everybody just as Terry was confused. The other thing I liked about the scene was the shot looking at the cars from across the intersection. On the right side of that shot on the building above the big storefront window, you can make out the letters “KTOB,” Petaluma’s radio station – and the station where I had my first paid job (in that very building).

I enjoyed the scene with Wolfman Jack. That was filmed at KRE in Berkeley. In the early ‘80s, I knew the chief engineer there -- so I have been in that building. They used that building because it was an old RCA building. In earlier times, companies such as RCA would supply everything to put a station to go on the air, from the microphone to the building, tower, and transmitter. However, very few stations, especially a small town station as portrayed in the film, would have had tape cartridges in 1962.


(Photo from http://afrtsarchive.blogspot.com/2010/11/wolfman-jack-1982.html)


The scene where the cherry bomb goes off in the boys’ room? That’s the A-wing boys’ bathroom at Petaluma high. I have no idea where the shot “outside” the bathroom is, though.

Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) is shown trying to open his old locker. That is C wing at Petaluma High. My locker when I was a senior is two to the left of the one Curt tried to open.


(photo from http://www.incredibletvandmovies.com/graffiti.html)

I knew one of the kids at the dance. When the kids are doing the Stroll, a boy with a white shirt and a black sweater is one of the “Strollers.” He was an upper-classman and rode my school bus. He hasn’t aged a bit.

The Climax of the movie was the race on “Paradise Drive.” In reality that was Frates Road and was only about a mile from where I lived. My brother remembers the tire marks on the pavements.

If I ever get to feeling nostalgic again, I might put the DVD in – but I would make heavy use of the fast-forward button. The film is not worth more than that anymore.