Today's graduation pick is an essential for any film lover, and if yesterday's choice was one of the best teen romances ever made, than this is one of the best movies ever made about teenagers, period. It's set on the last night of summer in 1962, the night before high school grads Kurt (Richard Dreyfus) and Steve (Ron Howard) are set to go off to college in another state. But as all recent graduates do, they're now having second thoughts, conflicted about what it is they really want, and while they mull it over, we get to hang out with them and their pals as they spend one last, aimless night cruising around town to one of the best soundtracks ever put to film. Part of the fun of this movie is picking out the future star-studded cast when virtually all of them were unknowns (hey there's Harrison Ford!), and Lucas managed to capture a moment in time that felt so authentic it struck a nostalgic chord across the country and became a sensation, influencing dozens of movies in its wake (including Dazed and Confused, which tried as hard as it could to do for the 70's what this one did for the early 60's). I know what you're thinking, it's hard to believe George Lucas of all people had something like this in him once, huh? Almost makes you wonder what might have been if it hadn't been for that little space movie...
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