Ah, I see someone else finally mentioned the American Graffiti connection to the year...good catch.
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Hey, thanks.
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Yes, 1962 is a key year in American history, many (myself included) consider it to be the actual conclusion to the decade of the 1950s, considered an age of conformity and traditional values that were quickly about to be blown out of the water by the tumultuous occurrences about to begin in the next year and thereafter.
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The 1963 "end of the fifties" seems to be an accepted idea that is more weakly echoed in other decades as well. For instance, the "end of the sixties" seems to have come in about 1974 with President Nixon's resignation; he had ended the Draft in 1973 (hastening the end of the Vietnam War) and the War would end in 1975. Slowly, the residual hippies of the early 70's gave way to disco, a new way of dress, shorter hair and -- in 1978 -- a rather "retro" light comedy of Animal House. (The rougher, bloodier, "hippie" Animal House had come in 1970 -- MASH, starring Donald Sutherland, who was in both films.)
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And it does make sense that Animal House came after American Graffiti because chronologically it made sense since if AG is a basically a "high school" take on the early 60s, AH is the "college" view of those times.
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Great point! I'll bet that came up in discussions at Universal(home studio of both movies.) "Don't worry, this isn't a copy of American Graffiti -- its college!"
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There's also an East coast/West coast and a blue-collar/white-collar dichotomy to the two films, also.
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Some irony, here. Though Animal House is clearly set on the East Coast, it was filmed at a college and environs in Oregon, on the West Coast a few hundred miles north of American Graffiti locales in Northern California, and I usually have to work to forget that.
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ecarle (14979)
6 years ago
I pretty much think as touchstones for the filmic representation of the "youth culture" of 1962 America, both films can be considered two diametric sides of the same coin.
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It took a few years after Animal House and some "space" to see the connection between the two films...but I totally agree. The films use the same year for the same reasons, but approach its "innocence" in distinctly different ways. Recall, too, that these films were based on the personal memories of the young men AND women(well, woman) who made them -- George Lucas and co-writers Willard and Gloria Katz on Graffiti; the Lampoon guys (principally Chris Miller and Doug Kenney) on Animal House.
For the record, I maintain a personal list of my personal favorite films of each year, going back decades, and: American Graffiti is my favorite film of 1973 and Animal House is my favorite film of 1978.
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Sandoz (2021)
6 years ago
"For the record, I maintain a personal list of my personal favorite films of each year, going back decades, and: American Graffiti is my favorite film of 1973 and Animal House is my favorite film of 1978."
Oh god, there were SO many GREAT films made in the 70s that I think I'd literally go bonkers if I had to pick a favorite film from each year. Let me just say that I'd consider putting both these films on lists for top ten films from 73 and 78.
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ecarle (14979)
6 years ago
Oh god, there were SO many GREAT films made in the 70s that I think I'd literally go bonkers if I had to pick a favorite film from each year. Let me just say that I'd consider putting both these films on lists for top ten films from 73 and 78.
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Yes, I sometimes joke with myself about the craziness of picking "just one." American Graffiti hit home for a variety of personal reasons that year and was my emotional favorite of 1973, but boy was that a great year for entertainment and nostalgia. I can't really do Top Ten lists, but I know I loved these movies in '73:
American Graffiti
The Sting
The Way We Were
Charley Varrick
The Paper Chase
The Long Goodbye
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Westworld
Day for Night
High Plains Drifter
Magnum Force
The Last Detail
....and while I don't love The Exorcist, it was clearly a huge movie that year(and into 1974), and I dutifully stood in a very, very, very long line to see it.
I don't think 1978 was quite as top-heavy with great entertainments; the movies were already changing after Star Wars and the end of the Vietnam War, and so we had Grease and Superman and Animal House at the top rather than The Sting and The Exorcist. (We also had, tellingly, The Deer Hunter and Coming Home to make some final statements ABOUT the Vietnam War.)
But still, every year has a LOT of memorable films.
Or did.
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Sandoz (2021)
6 years ago
Well, because it's Friday and I don't feel like working, I took your bait and saw what I could come up with for "best" films of the two years in question...
Of your '73 selections, I've seen all you listed except one (Paper Chase), and liked most and would have jotted them down for consideration. Adding to your list, I'd include these, too:
Serpico
Mean Streets
Don't Look Now
Badlands
The Wicker Man
The Final Programme
Soylent Green
State Of Siege
The Three Musketeers
And once I perused titles released in '78, I'd have to agree that the pickings were getting slimmer as to quality...many I saw but few seemed to rise above the rank of average. These are the cream I could skim for at least a respectable list:
Animal House
Coming Home
Dawn Of The Dead
Days Of Heaven
The Deer Hunter
Halloween
Heaven Can Wait
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
The Last Waltz
Superman
Straight Time
Who'll Stop The Rain
Writing lists like these always makes me wish I had more time to do it for all years...alas, have to get back to work now. Nice chatting with ya!
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ecarle (14979)
6 years ago
And ditto.
Making these lists can become its own "black hole" of speculation, but I find them helpful because -- if you've lived long enough and seen enough movies(as a movie fan), you suddenly see all of these great experiences as part OF your life, and you see how the movies imperceptibly changed over time, even if you didn't notice it AT the time.
Still, I have found that if I "go to my quickest gut reaction" I can locate the personal favorite of any year I was watching movies. Sometimes it spreads out to two or three "in a tie," but usually there is just one.
Thanks for taking the work break....
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