American Graffiti Page #3

John walks up quietly and casually pulls down hard on the back

pockets of Terry's low riding levis. There is general hysteria as

Terry quickly pulls up his pants.

TERRY:

Car!! All right, who's the wise-- (He turns and sees John and

changes his tune.) Oh, John--verrry funny. (He tries to laugh

with the others.)

JOHN:

Hey, did she do that to you?

STEVE:

Let's get going. It seems like we've spent most of our lives in

this parking lot.

TERRY:

Hey, Curt, let's bomb around, I wanna try out my new wheels!

CURT:

I'd like to, Toad, but I'm going with Steve and Laurie to the

hop. I'd just slow you down anyway.

TERRY:

Yeah, tonight things are going to be different.

JOHN:

Hey, wait a minute, you're goin' to the Hop? The Freshman Hop?

CURT:

Yeah.

JOHN:

Oh, come on, man. That place is for kids. You two just got your

ass out of there. Don't go back now. CURT

You ain't got no emotions?

Terry

We're gonna remember all of the good times, is what we're gonna

do.

JOHN:

Yeah, well, go.

CURT:

Why don't you come with us?

JOHN:

Bullshit, man!

CURT:

Come on. For old time's sake.

John

Yeah, yeah...Well, listen. You go. Go ahead, Curtsy, baby. You go

on over there and you remember all the good times you won't be

having. I ain't goin' off to some goddamned fancy college. I'm

stayin' right here. Havin' fun, as usual.

John walks angrily to his coupe, gets in and slams the door.

Curt looks at the others and shrugs.

TERRY:

Jesus, Milner, you're in a great mood tonight.

Curt goes over and stands by the window of the yellow coupe.

CURT:

What's the matter John? Did I say somethin' wrong? I'm sorry.

JOHN:

Ah, man, it's nothin'.

CURT:

Well, we'll see you later, okay?

JOHN:

Right.

CURT:

We'll all do somethin' together. You know, before Steve leaves.

John looks at him suspiciously. JOHN:Okay, wait a minute. Now,

you're not going?

CURT:

I don't know.

John shakes his head. On the radio, Wolfman is taking a call from

a listener--

MAN (voice over)

Wolfman?

WOLFMAN (voice over)

Who is this?

MAN:

This is Joe...in Little Rock, way down in the Valley.

WOLFMAN:

You callin' from Little Rock, California?

MAN:

Long distance.

WOLFMAN:

My, my, my...listen, man, what kind of entertainment you got in

that town?

MAN:

All we got is you. John roars his engine and pulls the yellow

deuce coupe into a screeching take-off out of the drive-in. Terry

and Curt watch him go off. MAIN STREET, MODESTO-NIGHT

During the day, G street is a line of used car lots, small shops,

tacky department stores and greasy spoons. At night, it is

transformed into an endless parade of kids in flamed, lowered and

customed machines who rumble down the one way street, through the

seemingly adultless, heat-drugged little town.

Police cars glide ominously with the flow of traffic. In parked

cars, couples neck between flashing headlights. Guys looking cool

in a '56 Chevy sit in the slouched position of the true Low

Rider--and over it all the music and the Wolfman can be heard.

Just now, it's "Runaway" by Del Shannon.

John travels with the flow of traffic, watching some dopey guys

shooting squirt guns from a moving car. John drives the deuce

coupe effortlessly. He looks over at a car pacing alongside of

his own.

JOHN:

Hey, Zudo.

A sweaty looking guy turns and nods from the window.

PAZUDO:

Hey, Milner.

JOHN:

Hey, man, what happened to your flathead?

PAZUDO:

Huh?

JOHN:

What happened to your flathead?

PAZUDO:

Ah, your mother!

JOHN:

What?

PAZUDO:

Your mother. Hey, we been talkin' about you.

JOHN:

Yeah?

PAZUDO:

Yeah. There's a very wicked '55 Chevy lookin' for you.

JOHN:

Yeah, I know.

PAZUDO:

Watch out for the cop that's in Jerry's Cherry.

JOHN:

Yeah. All right, thanks.

John nods and the two cars pull apart down the street.

TRAVELING G STREET-STEVE'S WHITE '58 CHEVY

The Rock and Roll blares as Terry the Toad cruises along the main

drag, singing along with the music. Sitting low in his seat, he

looks around, his face aglow, experiencing a new world from the

inside of a really fine car. This is the greatest thing that has

happened to Terry in seventeen long years of being a short loser.

Terry turns a corner and another car pulls alongside. A guy looks

out the window.

GUY:

Hey, Toad.

Terry looks over and smiles coolly, proud of his new wheels.

GUY (leaning out the window)

Is that you in that beautiful car? (Terry nods modestly) Geez,

what a waste of machinery.

Terry's smile changes to a scowl as the car pulls away from him..

Terry accounts the slight to jealousy. Then he forgets it and

enjoys driving the beautiful Chevy again. Another car pulls

alongside of him as he cruises along slowly.

GIRL:

Hey, kid.

Terry looks over at the car cruising next to him. In the back

seat, a guy has dropped his trousers and is pushing his bare

buttocks against the side window--a classic BA complete with

pressed ham. Terry looks away, wondering why this is still

happening to him, even in his new car.

TRAVELING G STREET-LAURIE'S '58 EDSEL

Curt is in the back seat gazing out the window at the dark main

street of the small farm community. Steve and Laurie are talking

quietly in the front seat. Laurie is sitting near the window and

it sounds like Steve is convincing her to move over. Laurie

finally does. His arm goes around her and her head rests on his

shoulder.

Curt is laughing as the Wolfman harasses someone on the radio.

The Wolfman is placing a call.

WOLFMAN (voice over)

Here we go with another call out of the station. Can you dig it?

Answer the phone, dummy.

MAN (voice over)

Pinkie's Pizza

WOLFMAN:

Ah, yeah, listen, you got any more of those secret agent spy-

scopes?

MAN:

Hit parade on the stethoscope?

WOLFMAN:

No. No, the secret agent spy-scope, man. That pulls in the moon,

the sky and the planets...and the satellites and the little bitty

space men.

MAN:

You must have the wrong number, partner.

WOLFMAN:

'Bye.

Wolfman cuts into "Why Do Fools Fall in Love." Curt is laughing

in the back of the car, as he listens to the ever-present D.J.

STeve slows the Edsel to a stop at the next light. Curt glances

over at a classic white '56 Thunderbird and sits up. In the T-

bird, a girl watches him. Blonde, beautiful, her hair, backlit by

a used car lot, seems to glow, making her look almost etereal.

Curt doesn't move, as if afraid of scaring her away. She smiles

faintly---then says something, so softly it's lost...

CURT:

What?

Curt struggles to lower his window. She repeats it, but he can't

hear. The light changes. She smiles once more and is gone.

CURT (shouting)

What? What?!!!

STEVE:

We didn't say anything.

CURT:

Quick! Hang a right!

STEVE:

What? Why?

CURT:

Cut over to G Street, I've just seen a vision! She was a goddess.

You've got to catch her!

STEVE:

I didn't see anything.

LAURIE:

We're not going to spend the night chasing girls for you.

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