More American Graffiti

Six years after American Graffiti, George Lucas answered the call for an update on his classic characters with this ambitious sequel. You definitely need to know the original to have an emotional investment in More American Graffiti, as the action is spread over four different New Year's Eves in the sixties. Milner is drag racing, the Toad is dodging bullets in Vietnam, Debbie is a San Francisco hippie, and Steve and Laurie weather a domestic crisis. The cast is back, save for the AWOL Richard Dreyfuss; even Harrison Ford pops up for an amusing cameo. The busy rock soundtrack is there too, but the old magic is dissipated in labored comedy and obvious social comment. The most interesting thing about the film is director Bill Norton's decision to shoot the segments in different styles, a bold move that pays off in the gritty, TV-news look of the Vietnam sequences. --Robert Horton