Sunday, July 26, 2015

WAY BACK: MOVIE CREWS FILM SCENES IN DOWNTOWN AREA, JUNE 29, 1972


Hey, fellow Graffiti-addicts! Today's post is a 1972 newspaper clipping from Petaluma, CA's local paper, Argus-Courier. It details the night filming that was taking place downtown for a film called American Graffiti. Includes a pic of the coupe with a camera and tow bar attached.  (Thanks to Craig Counsell and John Furrer for sharing.) 

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Sunday, July 19, 2015

WAY BACK: A NEW GENERATION LOOKS BACK IN GRAFFITI, L.A. TIMES JULY 29, 1973


Hello fellow Graffiti fans. Welcome back to your one and only Kips American Graffiti Blog. A couple of days before the premiere of American Graffiti on Aug 1, 1973 the principle film critic for the Los Angeles Times, Charles Champlin released a glowing and insightful review about the film in the newspaper. No one could have given the film higher praise and as a result, quotes from Champlin's review were constantly used in press books and ads for the film (such as the one above).  I recently unearthed a copy of Champlin's original Graffiti review. For your reading pleasure I present to you the full film critics' article as it originally appeared in the L.A. Times on July 29, 1973. To miss it is to miss something quite special!

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During his 26 years at The L.A. Times, Champlin served as the paper's principal film critic from 1967 through 1980.  Throughout his career, Graffiti remained on Champlin's Top 100 American Films list. He wrote several books on film including a coffee table book titled, George Lucas: The Creative Impulse: Lucasfilm's First Twenty Years (1992).  In honor of his film coverage and criticism, Champlin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.

Charles Champlin (March 23, 1926 – November 16, 2014)

 ~ FINI ~


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  • Charles Champlin's Top 100 American Films. Cal State LA University Library. http://web.calstatela.edu/library/mmc/100/1champlin.htm. Retrieved 7/18/2015
  • A New Generation Looks Back in "Graffiti." Los Angeles Times. San Francisco Public Library. http://sfpl.org/ Retrieved 7/16/2015

Sunday, July 12, 2015

WAY BACK: IT'S '62 AGAIN at TAM HIGH, Aug 1, 1972


 Hello fellow readers of Kip's American Graffiti Blog! As I continue on my quest to bring you rare info and artifacts, I stumbled upon this little jem of an article in the San Francsico Chronicle archives.  Although most of Graffiti was filmed in Petaluma the sock hop scenes were filmed in the boys gym at Tamalpais High School, 700 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley, CA. on August 1, 1972.  Director, George Lucas and company filmed all the sequences at the gym in one full day. However the bathroom scenes and high school exteriors were filmed at Petaluma High School. To learn more about filming keeping reading, Sam!

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Thursday, July 2, 2015

WAY BACK: S.F. CHRONICLE 1972: NOSTALGIA - - ON SOUTH VAN NESS


"Heeeeeeey," as The Fonz would say. Welcome back to Kip Pullman's American Graffiti Blog. Our latest post is an article I came across while combing the archives at The San Francisco Public Library. As it turns out, American Graffiti made the news several times a year before it was first officially released in theaters. Making a movie is always big news and so when a director named George Lucas was filming some movie with the odd working title, American Graffiti at the local Mels Drive-in at 140 South Van Ness in San Francisco you can bet the press was there. The following article was first published in the San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle (in what is known to locals as the Pink Section) on July 3, 1972. That's forty-three yrs ago. WOW that was a long time ago!
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