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Specific Link to "American Graffiti" (1973)

posted 3 years ago by ecarle (14979)
3 replies | jump to latest

Paul Thomas Anderson cited two "teenager nostalgia films" as influential upon Licorice Pizza:
American Graffiti(1973) and Fast Times at Ridgemont High(1982.)

Interesting: American Graffiti was a nostalgia film itself IN 1973 -- it was set in 1962, which was 11 years earlier but felt like a whole other era -- the last gasp of American innocence before JFK got blown away and Vietnam locked in.

But as someone noted, "American Graffiti used to make you nostalgic for 1962...now it makes you nostalgic for 1973."

Fast Times at Ridgemont High was contemporary to its 1982 year of release -- but is nostalgic now. And whereas American Graffiti is set a couple of hundred miles north of the "Valley"(San Fernando Valley in LA) in ANOTHER Valley(the dusty and rural farmland Central Valley of California), "Fast Times" is right there in the Valley where Licorice Pizza was made "after"(2020) but set "before" (1973.) "Fast Times" shares a star with "Licorice Pizza" too: Sean Penn, a long wrinkled way from Jeff Spicoli.

All that said, Licorice Pizza isn't REALLY too much like those formative high school movies. Yes, it opens at high school(during class photo day) but the Alana Haim character is well out of high school and the Cooper Hoffman character already hangs out in the adult world of showbiz and bars (that serve him Cokes.)

All THAT said, PTA puts his most direct reference to American Graffiti right up front, and almost dares us to remember it from the original:

Gary and other teen age boys in in the "Boys Room" at high school, primping in front of mirrors, and someone yells "cherry bomb!" and one explodes in the stall.

Exact scene from American Graffiti --if you remember it.

PTA announces the roots of "LIcorice Pizza" right off the bat...and then spends the rest of his movie moving away from them.

[–] liscarkat (19383) 3 years ago

I remember the cherry bomb scene in "American Graffiti" without feeling any jeopardy at all. It doesn't really seem like a dare.

[–] Sidha108 (2727) 3 years ago

Licorice Pizza actually reminds me more of Almost Famous with the early 1970s setting, teenage main character who falls in love with girl who is older than him, both featuring one of the Hoffman’s, clever use of soundtrack from the era, and behind the scenes look at entertainment industry of the time period.

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

SPOILERS for the END of LICORICE PIZZA

Licorice Pizza actually reminds me more of Almost Famous with the early 1970s setting, teenage main character who falls in love with girl who is older than him, both featuring one of the Hoffman’s, clever use of soundtrack from the era, and behind the scenes look at entertainment industry of the time period.

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That's rather the "dead on" influence/comparison, isn't it? 1973. Younger teen boy/older woman. A Hoffman and the music...I had not thought of all the connections...

Funny, I think PTA may have elected to only reference American Graffiti and Fast Times in interviews because they were perhaps NOT that matched up to his story and year as Almost Famous was. (1973.)

Might as well throw in "Dazed and Confused" the 1993 film that gave us the last days of high school in a Texas town circa...1976.

The "skewed timeline":

1962 (American Graffiti, 1973)
1973 (Almost Famous, 2000)
1973 (Licorice Pizza, 2021)
1976 (Dazed and Confused, 1993)
197? (Fast Times at Ridgemont High -- a 1982 movie based on high school in the 70s)

With all those comparisons, certainly PTA put his own spin on 1973 with his tales of Jon Peters, "Jack" Holden, and Lucille not Ball.

And unlike with the boy and older girl in Almost Famous, Licorice Pizza maintains a very delicate balance to suggest that Gary and Alana COULD end up more than friends. People assuming that sex is on the immediate table ignore the fact that many young couples (certainly in 1973) would keep it at kissing til everybody was legal.

When Licorice Pizza ends, Gary is likely 16(he can drive.) Two years to 18. He can wait.

And the couple doesn't look THAT unbalanced. Look at shots of Gary and Alana walking or running side by side. You couldn't tell their age difference without the numbers given.

Whereas the boy reporter and his older groupie never really connect that way in all of Almost Famous.

Still...its the right connection!

PS. ...and the exploding cherry bomb in the boy's room scene IS an American Graffiti reference. And perhaps Sean Penn is a Fast Times reference?