I recently, within the last month, watched American Graffiti again.
It is without doubt a truly classic movie. It touches all the bases and depicts all the era cliches. It is therefore in a sense real.
I find it hard to comprehend how Steyn could grasp the movie so completely and not really be of or from the era.
Wife and I saw it in the theater in August 2022 when it got a limited re-release. Best film we saw in 2022, edging out ‘Top Gun: Maverick’. Lucas wanted to capture the car culture of the early 60s that he grew up with, and he hit a home run.