American Graffiti
''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Cindy Williams and Wolfman Jack. Harrison Ford and Bo Hopkins also appear. Set in Modesto, California, in 1962, the film is a study of the cruising and early rock 'n' roll cultures popular among Lucas' age group at that time. Through a series of vignettes, it tells the story of a group of teenagers and their adventures throughout a night. While Lucas was working on his first film, '' THX 1138'', Coppola asked him to write a coming-of-age film. The genesis of ''American Graffiti'' took place in Modesto in the early 1960s, during Lucas's teenage years. He was unsuccessful in pitching the concept to financiers and distributors but found favor at Universal Pictures after every o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mort Drucker
Morris "Mort" Drucker (March 22, 1929 – April 9, 2020) was an American caricaturist and comics artist best known as a contributor for over five decades in ''Mad (magazine), Mad'', where he specialized in satires on the leading feature films and television series. Personal life Drucker was born in Brooklyn, New York City, with some sources listing his birth date as March 22, 1929, and others as March 29. He was the son of Sarah (Spielvogel), a homemaker, and Edward Drucker, a businessman. His family was Jewish. He attended Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School. There he met his future wife Barbara, whom he married shortly after her graduation. The couple moved to Long Island, living in Syosset, New York, Syosset, where they brought up two daughters, Laurie and Melanie; their family eventually expanded with three grandchildren."Man Behind the Drawing Board", ''The Adventures of Bob Hope'' 87, 1963. Career Drucker entered the comics field by assisting Bert Whitman on the Publis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marcia Lucas
Marcia Lou Lucas (née Griffin; born October 4, 1945) * * is an American film editor. She is best known for her work editing the ''Star Wars'' trilogy (1977–1983) as well as other films by her then-husband George Lucas: '' THX 1138'' (1971) and ''American Graffiti'' (1973). She also edited Martin Scorsese's '' Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'' (1974), ''Taxi Driver'' (1976), and ''New York, New York'' (1977). Lucas won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing in 1977 for ''Star Wars'' (1977). She was previously nominated for an Academy Award for her film editing on ''American Graffiti'' and for a BAFTA Award for Best Editing for her work on ''Taxi Driver''. After a career gap while raising her family, Lucas produced two films in the 1990s. Early life Marcia Lou Griffin was born in Modesto, California. Her father was an Air Force officer stationed in Stockton, California, during World War II. Her parents divorced when she was two. Her mother, Mae Griffin, relocated the f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vignette (literature)
A vignette (, also ) is a French language, French loanword expressing a short and descriptive piece of writing that captures a brief period in time. Vignettes are more focused on vivid imagery and meaning rather than plot. Vignettes can be stand-alone, but they are more commonly part of a larger narrative, such as vignettes found in novels or collections of short stories. Etymology The word ''vignette'' means "little vine" in French language, French, and was derived from Old French ''vigne'', meaning “vineyard”. In English, the word was first documented in 1751, and was given the definition “decorative design". This definition refers to decorative artwork of vine-leaves and tendrils used in books as a border around the edges of title pages and the start of chapters. In 1853, the word was used to describe a popular 19th century photographic style, where portraits had blurred edges. The definition of a vignette referring to a “Sketch story, literary sketch” was first re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rock And Roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African American music such as jazz, rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, electric blues, gospel music, gospel, and jump blues, as well as from country music. While rock and roll's formative elements can be heard in blues records from the 1920s and in country records of the 1930s,Peterson, Richard A. Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity' (1999), p. 9, . the genre did not acquire its name until 1954. According to the journalist Greg Kot, "rock and roll" refers to a style of popular music originating in the United States in the 1950s. By the mid-1960s, rock and roll had developed into "the more encompassing international style known as rock music, though the latter also continued to be known in many circles as rock and roll".Kot, Greg"Rock ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cruising (driving)
Cruising is a social activity that primarily consists of driving a car. Cruising is distinguished from regular driving by the social and recreational nature of the activity, which is characterized by an impulsively random, often aimless course. A popular route (or "Arterial road, strip") is often the focus of cruising. Cruising can be an expression of the freedom of possessing a driver's license. "Cruise nights" are evenings during which cars drive slowly. A cruise can be a meeting of car enthusiasts at a predetermined location, organized predominantly through the internet (in recent times) but also largely through mobile phone, word of mouth or simply by a cruise being established enough that it becomes a regular event. United States History There is no clear-cut date when casual driving turned into cruising along a specific route, although it generally began in the years after World War II with youths of Mexican heritage driving lowrider, lowriders in Southern California, and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Modesto, California
Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the List of cities and towns in California, 19th-most populous city in California. Modesto is located in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley List of regions of California, region, south of Sacramento, California, Sacramento and north of Fresno, California, Fresno. Distances from other places include: north of Merced, California, east of San Francisco, west of Yosemite National Park, and south of Stockton, California, Stockton. The city, in the San Joaquin Valley, is surrounded by rich farmland. Stanislaus County ranks sixth among California counties in farm production. It is home to E & J Gallo Winery, Gallo Family Winery, the largest Family business, family-owned winery in the United States. Led by milk, almonds, chickens, walnuts, and corn silage, the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bo Hopkins
William Mauldin "Bo" Hopkins (February 2, 1938 – May 28, 2022) was an American actor. He was known for playing supporting roles in several major studio films from 1969 to 1979, especially for his breakout role in the ensemble cast of ''American Graffiti''. His credits span dozens of films and TV appearances. Early life William Hopkins was born in Greenville, South Carolina on February 2, 1938. Issucover/ref> At the age of nine months, he was adopted by a couple who were unable to conceive. Growing up, he was called "Billy." His adoptive father worked in a mill in Taylors, South Carolina. When his father was 39, he died of a heart attack on the porch of the family's home. Billy and his mother witnessed his death. Unable to remain in their house, a month later the two of them moved to a new residence in nearby Ware Shoals, where his grandfather and uncles worked in another mill. His mother eventually remarried a man whose last name was Davis. Hopkins did not get along with hi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. Regarded as a cinematic cultural icon, he has starred in Harrison Ford filmography, many notable films over seven decades, and is one of List of highest-grossing actors, the highest-grossing actors in the world. Ford’s List of awards and nominations received by Harrison Ford, accolades include nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild awards, and five Golden Globe Awards, and he is the recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award, Cecil B. DeMille Award, Honorary César, Palme d'Or#Honorary Palme d'Or, Honorary Palme d'Or and was honoured as a Disney Legends, Disney Legend in 2024. After making his screen debut in 1966 and early supporting roles in the films ''American Graffiti'' (1973) and ''The Conversation'' (1974), Ford achieved global stardom for portraying Han Solo in the space opera film ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'' (1977), a role he reprised in List of Star Wars ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Comedy Drama
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, illness, betrayal, grief, etc.) are handled with realism and subtlety, while preserving a humorous tenor. The term "dramedy" began to be used in the television industry in the 1980s. Modern television comedy dramas tend to have more humour integrated into the story than the comic relief common in drama series, but usually contain a lower joke rate than sitcom, sitcoms. History In Theatre of ancient Greece, Greek theatre, plays were considered comedies or tragedies (i.e. drama): the former being light stories with a happy ending, and the latter serious stories with a sad ending. This concept even influenced Theatre of ancient Rome, Roman theatre and theatre of the Hellenistic period. Theatre of that era is thought to have long-lasting infl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Coming-of-age Story
In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, or "coming of age". Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action and are often set in the past. The subjects of coming-of-age stories are typically teenagers. The ''Bildungsroman'' is a specific subgenre of coming-of-age story. The plot points of coming-of-age stories are usually emotional changes within the character(s) in question. Literature ''Bildungsroman'' In literary criticism, coming-of-age novels and ''Bildungsroman'' are sometimes interchangeable, but the former is usually a wider genre. The ''Bildungsroman'' (from the German words ''Bildung'', "education", alternatively "forming" and ''Roman'', "novel") is further characterized by a number of formal, topical, and thematic features. It focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Numbers (website)
The Numbers is a film industry data website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way, a publication of Nash Information Services LLC. The company also conducts research services and forecasts incomes of film projects. History The site was launched in 1997 by Bruce Nash. On March 21, 2020, the Numbers released a statement that because of movie theater closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, "We don't expect much box office reporting in the short term" and did not report the usual daily box office estimates due to lack of box office data from film studios. See also * Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray ... * Lumiere References External links * ''The Numbers'' Bankability Index 1997 establishments in California Comp ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Locarno Film Festival
The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, short, avant-garde, and retrospective programs. The Piazza Grande section is held in an open-air venue that seats 8,000 spectators. The top prize of the festival is the Golden Leopard, awarded to the best film in the International Competition. Other awards include the Leopard of Honour for career achievement, and the Prix du Public, the public choice award. History The Locarno Film Festival was established by the tourist office Pro Locarno and several professionals from the movie industry. As stated by cinema historians, it emerged as a ‘grassroots celebration’ and mostly oriented on attracting tourists to Locarno, offering various entertainment events such as fashion shows and excursions. The inaugural eveni ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |