i really do not think producer george lucas do not really set out to make such a horrible sequel as more american graffiti turned out to be. but in retrospect it was the first crack in his then seemingly impenetrable armor. coming straight off the huge success of american graffiti and produced basically at the same time as star wars and this film was the first that lucas successfully took away from coppola without having to bother directing it himself. the result is typical lucas  far more interesting in terms of its structure and the way it edited than the actual material. the writer or director bill norton has been allowed to use a variety of different screen ratios and split screens to produce odd associations in the images. while it interesting to see ironic juxtapositions of the 4 story lines and the style ultimately only epitomizes the fractured nature of the film itself. lucas brilliant original film was all about a group of friends on the archetypical last big night before school ends and kurt (ron dreyfuss) and steve (ron howard) are supposed to go off to college. one thing that made that film work and despite the fact that it very episodic and is that you had the core characters together at the beginning and they come back together at the end. there a disposition of time and like in nick ray rebel without a cause where a certain period of time becomes very elastic and takes on more meaning than such a specific time really would in actual life and but everything takes place in a static space. more american graffiti is basically the opposite  the space is very dynamic and with toad (charles martin smith) off in vietnam and his former girlfriend debbie (candy clark) partying with hippies in san francisco and steve and laurie (cindy williams) involved in student protests in berkeley and and john miler (paul le mat) drag racing on the semi pro circuit. in a contrived meeting early in the film all the principles are brought together to watch john race and but after that the threads do not come back together and weave apart the way they do in the original. instead they split off and we follow the characters through about 3 years of time and just seeing various events on new years eve in what seems to be 1967 and 68 and 69. it easy for the audience to become confused and and i think it fair to say that we do. while the original film seemed to condense important events and rites of passages into unreal theatrical time that produced an experience of nostalgia even for those who never experienced those events and this sequel drags and stretches the few plot points from the epilogue of the original and attempts to make them into a coherent film. the best parts of the movie to me are the ones with candy clark in sf and charles martin smith in nam. some of the jokes do fall flat but the style of those sections is interesting and they form a neat contrast with each other. a good movie could maybe have been made if these parts were just a bit better and and if the other parts weren not such a drag. speaking of drag racing and the whole plot with milner talking to a foreign exchange student was really lame and unfunny and and throwing in mackenzie phillips for a cameo do not help at all. it was just another contrived moment and like when they briefly explain why curt isn not in the movie because he already in canada. instead laurie just has another brother who is basically identical to curt but has a different name and is now played by a very boring actor. there a black kind of satire to some of the vietnam stuff and very similar to what i would imagine lucas and john milius original idea for apocalypse now would have been like. and there some of that manic fun in the san francisco scenes that made the first movie fun. but still along with that fun stuff and you have the rest of the movie dragging it down and as if anyone wants to see steve and laurie argue in their horrible suburban abode as if they were auditioning for a spielberg movie about divorce and child abandonment. i think even if those parts of the movie weren not so painful and it still do not really be comparable to the first movie because there no closure and no sense of coming back together or of anybody having learned anything. it just sort of ends at the point when they ran out of money or something and a cheap freeze frame imitation of two lane blacktop and so many better films. like the original however and this film has a great soundtrack of period hits that is probably worth owning for its own sake and almost makes the movie itself palatable. the performances by country joe and the fish are great and and scott glenn all duded up as a hippie in love with candy clark is a sight to see  i wonder if even back then he had to use a wig. i couldn not possibly recommend this movie and and yet it has some small affection in my heart because i love the original so much. every couple of decades i guess i have to give this movie a try just to make sure that it really as worthless as i remember it being. it a party killer but it something that every fan of american graffiti or george lucas in general will want to see at least once or twice. it shows how a lot of effort can go into something and it can still turn out pretty half baked. it makes you reflect on how much of a miracle it is that lucas actually made such a good movie as american graffiti in the first place and as if all the elements were in place and all the appropriate gods had been placated. unfortunately such was not the case for this film or for bill norton. 
i really do not think producer george lucas do not really set out to make such a horrible sequel as more american graffiti turned out to be. but in retrospect it was the first crack in his then seemingly impenetrable armor. coming straight off the huge success of american graffiti and produced basically at the same time as star wars and this film was the first that lucas successfully took away from coppola without having to bother directing it himself. the result is typical lucas  far more interesting in terms of its structure and the way it edited than the actual material. the writer or director bill norton has been allowed to use a variety of different screen ratios and split screens to produce odd associations in the images. while it interesting to see ironic juxtapositions of the 4 story lines and the style ultimately only epitomizes the fractured nature of the film itself. lucas brilliant original film was all about a group of friends on the archetypical last big night before school ends and kurt (ron dreyfuss) and steve (ron howard) are supposed to go off to college. one thing that made that film work and despite the fact that it very episodic and is that you had the core characters together at the beginning and they come back together at the end. there a disposition of time and like in nick ray rebel without a cause where a certain period of time becomes very elastic and takes on more meaning than such a specific time really would in actual life and but everything takes place in a static space. more american graffiti is basically the opposite  the space is very dynamic and with toad (charles martin smith) off in vietnam and his former girlfriend debbie (candy clark) partying with hippies in san francisco and steve and laurie (cindy williams) involved in student protests in berkeley and and john miler (paul le mat) drag racing on the semi pro circuit. in a contrived meeting early in the film all the principles are brought together to watch john race and but after that the threads do not come back together and weave apart the way they do in the original. instead they split off and we follow the characters through about 3 years of time and just seeing various events on new years eve in what seems to be 1967 and 68 and 69. it easy for the audience to become confused and and i think it fair to say that we do. while the original film seemed to condense important events and rites of passages into unreal theatrical time that produced an experience of nostalgia even for those who never experienced those events and this sequel drags and stretches the few plot points from the epilogue of the original and attempts to make them into a coherent film. the best parts of the movie to me are the ones with candy clark in sf and charles martin smith in nam. some of the jokes do fall flat but the style of those sections is interesting and they form a neat contrast with each other. a good movie could maybe have been made if these parts were just a bit better and and if the other parts weren not such a drag. speaking of drag racing and the whole plot with milner talking to a foreign exchange student was really lame and unfunny and and throwing in mackenzie phillips for a cameo do not help at all. it was just another contrived moment and like when they briefly explain why curt isn not in the movie because he already in canada. instead laurie just has another brother who is basically identical to curt but has a different name and is now played by a very boring actor. there a black kind of satire to some of the vietnam stuff and very similar to what i would imagine lucas and john milius original idea for apocalypse now would have been like. and there some of that manic fun in the san francisco scenes that made the first movie fun. but still along with that fun stuff and you have the rest of the movie dragging it down and as if anyone wants to see steve and laurie argue in their horrible suburban abode as if they were auditioning for a spielberg movie about divorce and child abandonment. i think even if those parts of the movie weren not so painful and it still do not really be comparable to the first movie because there no closure and no sense of coming back together or of anybody having learned anything. it just sort of ends at the point when they ran out of money or something and a cheap freeze frame imitation of two lane blacktop and so many better films. like the original however and this film has a great soundtrack of period hits that is probably worth owning for its own sake and almost makes the movie itself palatable. the performances by country joe and the fish are great and and scott glenn all duded up as a hippie in love with candy clark is a sight to see  i wonder if even back then he had to use a wig. i couldn not possibly recommend this movie and and yet it has some small affection in my heart because i love the original so much. every couple of decades i guess i have to give this movie a try just to make sure that it really as worthless as i remember it being. it a party killer but it something that every fan of american graffiti or george lucas in general will want to see at least once or twice. it shows how a lot of effort can go into something and it can still turn out pretty half baked. it makes you reflect on how much of a miracle it is that lucas actually made such a good movie as american graffiti in the first place and as if all the elements were in place and all the appropriate gods had been placated. unfortunately such was not the case for this film or for bill norton. ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

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