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"AMERICAN GRAFFITI"
Intro
Host segments continued from Hairspray
We're here in the home of John Waters in the film
capital of the world, Baltimore, Maryland, for Cinema Studies 101 here on
"Joe Bob's Summer School."
Okay, our next flick is an early film
of George Lucas's that takes place the same year as Hairspray, but first
I wanna let people know that next week we'll be back in the classroom for
UFO Studies 666, where we'll be showing "Mars Attacks!," featuring
guest-lecturer UFO expert Stanton T. Friedman, followed by the 1956
classic, Forbidden Planet, when we'll be joined by cult-heartthrob Anne
Francis. You ever met Anne Francis, John?
WATERS: No, but I
certainly know who she is.
Okay. Well she's very big right now in
uh sci-fi circles.
WATERS: Right.
She's done a whole
renaissance...She goes around promoting "Forbidden Planet" everywhere.
WATERS: That's good. These young kids they know everything about
weird movies. That's very healthy.
Okay, believe it or not, I HAVE
seen comparisons to you and George Lucas before.
WATERS: I
haven't.
Movieline magazine once said, "Like George Lucas, the
films of John Waters take place in a galaxy far far away."
WATERS:
Oh, that's a good review isn't it? Yeah.
However, we're gonna show
George's pre-"Star Wars" flick, American Graffiti. It's the summer of
1962, and Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams and
a bunch of other folks you'll recognize...
WATERS: . . . Suzanne
Somers.
Suzanne Somers.
WATERS: Don't forget her.
They're all cruisin' around Modesto, California, drag racin',
makin' out and listening to Wolfman Jack. And just like "Hairspray" was
based on John Waters' youth, this is based on George Lucas' younger days.
So why don't you do the drive-in totals for us, and we'll get it started,
okay?
WATERS: Okay. All right. Let's see. We have: No dead bodies.
No breasts. One fist-fight. Four make-out sessions. One fender-bender. One
motor-vehicle crash and burn, with explosion. Water-balloon to the face.
Axle-ripping. Cruising. Pantsing -- I never heard of that before.
. . . that's when you rip somebody's pants off.
WATERS:
That's called foreplay in Baltimore. Booze stealing. Booze puking and four
stars.
Okay. Not a whole lot of numbers. Probably you woulda had a
lot more numbers if you'd done this.
WATERS: My other ones -- I
coulda had, you know, you'd be off the chart on some of the old ones.
This is one of those coming-of-age flicks. Check it out. We'll be
back in the first break with film scholar John Waters. Roll film. Did you
talk about George Lucas in that filmmaking class you taught in the
prisons?
WATERS: No, because I wanted to show them films that they
would never ever see in jail.
What was the favorite film in
prison?
WATERS: I'm embarrassed to say this but "Champ," the
remake.
INTV: That sickly sentimental one?
WATERS: And the
one they hated the most was "Streetcar Named Desire" with Marlon Brando,
which really shocked me.
"AMERICAN GRAFFITI" Commercial
Break #1
See, already there are many similarities between this
movie and Hairspray. Like, they both take place in 1962, and, uh,
there's some dancing in it. Can you think of any other resemblances, John?
We're at the home of our Cinema Studies guest-lecturer, filmmaker John
Waters.
WATERS: Well, there's certainly love letters to their
extreme youth and extreme, certainly, is always what I try to honor in my
movies. This was the first time you ever saw kids just driving around in
cars. I saw men do it a lot in Baltimore, but that was for a whole
different reason.
By the way, what's your opinion of Suzanne
Somers? This was her first film.
WATERS: Well, I love Suzanne
Somers you know. She went to make all these insane television shows, you
know, that weren't really like my movies. But that's why she had such a
good sense of humor that she played herself in Serial Mom. And she was
great to have on the set. Matter of fact, she got there and she said, "Am
I playing Morgan Fairchild?" I thought was really funny. I'm a big fan of
Suzanne Somers.
My favorite Suzanne Somers vehicle is, of course,
"She's the Sheriff." Anyhow, let's get back to "American Graffiti," and
come back and chat some more.
[fading] Have you ever used the
Thighmaster, John?
WATERS: I haven't but I have a signed one she
gave me upstairs.
But you never used it.
WATERS: I never
used it 'cause I wanna keep it in the box where it's worth money.
And you're an ecomorph you don't need the Thighmaster.
WATERS: What's an ecodorph?
Maybe an endomorph. You're
either an ecomorph or an endomorph or a mesamorph.
WATERS:
Polymorph.
But you don't need the Thighmaster.
WATERS: I
have the Buttmaster too. She gave me that one. There is such a thing for
real. That was the sequel. I have 'em both upstairs.
Oh we don't
wanna go there.
"AMERICAN GRAFFITI" Commercial
Break #2
There's hardly anybody in this movie who didn't go on
to be a big star. Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Cindy Williams, Harrison
Ford. This was Paul LeMat's second movie -- he plays John Milner, the guy
with the truck. Charles Martin Smith -- that's Toad -- he's now a
director. He did "Air Bud." Did you see "Air Bud," John?
WATERS: I
didn't see it.
I didn't either. It's Cinema Studies 101 and we're
here with film professor John Waters. I, of course, refer back to your
prison class on filmmaking . . .Universal Studios almost didn't release
"American Graffiti" when it was finished cause they thought it was too
murky-looking, and then it was a smash and it inspired the show "Happy
Days..."
WATERS: . . . did he get revenge on those studio
executives?
Well sort of because it financed "Star Wars," which,
in turn, made George Lucas about 500 million dollars.
WATERS: But
Ron Howard -- he went and he produced "Crybaby." He was one of the two
producers . . .
. . . Oh really.
WATERS: Of "Crybaby" at
Imagine Films, yeah. You never know where people are gonna be intertwined.
How rich are you, John?
WATERS: Um. I'm a thousandaire.
Do you think anybody who gets to the point of being a household
name can be wealthy?
WATERS: Yeah, you can be a criminal and have
not one penny and be a household word in America. Fame has nothing to do
with money anymore in America. Notoriety and fame it's all the same thing.
Certainly you can sometimes take that fame and make some kind of brand
name as you will know... and are you rich from this?
I'm a uh . .
.
WATERS: You're a thousandaire too right?
I'm making in
the high two figures now.
[fading] Compare and contrast: George
Lucas used actors who were on their way to becoming stars, and you've
revitalized the careers of actors whose stars have faded. You guys are
like yin and yang.
WATERS: Well I had Ricki Lake too, who was on
her way up. I like them on the way up or the way down. I never can afford
'em at the top.
Kinda like minor league baseball.
WATERS:
I wouldn't know.
"AMERICAN GRAFFITI" Commercial
Break #3
Candy Clark wants some brew, and if I were Charles
Martin Smith, I'd get her some. Candy Clark, THAT sounds like a John
Waters name. Did you ever use her in any of your movies?
WATERS:
No. I wonder where she is today.
I don't know. I think we tried to
find her but we couldn't. John Waters is our cinema 101 guest-lecturer.
And even though this movie had a small budget and was shot in 28 days, it
was a studio film, produced by Francis Coppola. You've done both studio
movies and independent flicks. Which do you like better? It's money over
control, right?
WATERS: Well, I like both. That's the problem. You
know, basically, with independent films and studio films today it's all
the same. They make you test it. They go through the script. They give you
notes. It's not so much different. The only real difference is...like if a
movie costs ten million dollars, that's a huge independent movie and a
very cheap studio film. So basically, if it's a cheap studio film you get
better craft services and your salary's better.
And what are you
workin' on now?
WATERS: Well, two things. One is "Female Trouble"
is coming out again, a movie I made many years ago. It's my favorite of my
old movies.
A big screen release?
WATERS: Yeah. And we've
kinda been holding it back like Disney kept back "Fantasia," you know. So
that's coming. And then I'm. . . to do this new movie that's called
"Cecile Be Demented," which is about a lunatic film director who kidnaps a
movie star and forces her to be in his underground movie. So, it's
basically a comedy about teen terrorism against the movie business.
And that one's ready to go?
WATERS: It's close . . . So I
don't wanna -- I don't like to talk about something before you do it. It's
such bad luck.
Okay, let's get back to the flick.
[fading]
I know you like to get creative with casting, so I think you should know
this -- Joey Buttafuoco IS available for acting jobs. Let me put another
name in your noodle. Somehow I see the two of you working together: Tom
Arnold.
WATERS: No thanks. Although he's a good actor.
I
think he is a good actor.
WATERS: Yeah he can be a good actor
yeah. I like Roseanne.
You would use Roseanne?
WATERS:
Roseanne would play, certainly, if we do the remake of "Pink Flamingos,"
she has to be Edith. And when I did her show she did Edith imitations
really well and she told me all her kids love her. So I love Roseanne she
would be the one that would be in my film.
So you think she would
do it.
WATERS: Yes I do.
I do too.
"AMERICAN GRAFFITI" Commercial
Break #4
The famous liquor-store scene in "American Graffiti."
Performed by the great Charles Martin Smith as Terry the Toad -- in my
opinion his is the best performance in this entire ensemble cast. And, of
course, that was Bo Hopkins as the sinister leader of the Pharoahs. We're
studying the cinema out of the home of filmmaker John Waters. So this
movie is set the same year as your movie, Hairspray, but your film is
about the white culture becoming integrated through music, whereas this
movie doesn't have a single black person in it. What do you think of that?
WATERS: Well it's in California right?
Yeah. Modesto,
California.
WATERS: Are there any black people that live in
Modesto?
I was wondering myself.
WATERS: You know, I had
somebody recently who's a black guy ask, "Where are the black guys in the
film?" I said are you kidding? On "Hairspray" we had a SAG reduction
because we had so many local black actors in it. So certainly, at the
time, you know, it was very hard to have a white guy making a comedy about
integration. It was very politically incorrect. Nothing happened -- it
turned out fine -- but before we made the movie some people said, 'How
dare you?' and that kind of thing. So, you never could tell in those days.
Very touchy.
Well I guess maybe there weren't' a lot of black
people in Modesto, California. But you and Barry Levinson are the big
Baltimore boosters.
WATERS: Well, certainly, and I like Barry's
films very much too. He makes movies about extreme people in Baltimore
too.
Yeah. Do you hate California?
WATERS: No. Not at all.
I told you I'm thinking of moving to El Lay.
WATERS: I if
I lived there I'd never make movies 'cause they get used to seeing you
there. They'd never give me the money to make 'em. I only come in one week
a year and go to the meetings. Then they think, 'We have to decide.' But
if they saw me at a party every week, they'd never let me. I like it
there. You ever hear of that country song like, "Too Ugly for L.A., Too
Stupid for New York"?
No, but I think I'd like it.
WATERS:
I mean I like L.A. 'cause everyone looks like porno stars, so I'm for
that.
INTV: Okay. Well maybe you can come to my yard sale before I
go out there.
WATERS: All right. What do you have for sale?
Well, probably anything you would buy, right, because you seem to
be quite a collector. I mean the reason I asked you if you made a lot of
money is that you have this vintage Liberace photograph. I would think a
photograph like that would not be inexpensive.
WATERS: Yeah but
I've had it for thirty years.
Oh. You've had it since before
anybody knew who Liberace was.
WATERS: Oh everybody knew . . .
. . . I'm kidding.
WATERS: Who Liberace was in the '50's.
Are you kidding? He had a hit television show right?
Well, will
you show me that famous electric chair from "Female Trouble" before I
leave? I gotta see that.
WATERS: Yeah. It's right in the hall. I
mean, I throw my coat on it. It's like, to me, I don't even notice I have
it. I know a couple people who have electric chairs in their house. I'm
not the only one.
Really?
WATERS: I know two in LA.
I have no friends with electric chairs.
WATERS: Well you
haven't moved to LA yet. You will.
"AMERICAN GRAFFITI" Commercial
Break #5
Good scene where Paul LeMat and Mackenzie Phillips
spray the other girls' car with shaving cream. It's not close-up
zit-popping, but we'll make do. We're in Baltimore with our Cinema Studies
101 guest-lecturer, filmmaker John Waters. So, John, let's do a little
free-association. I'll say a name, and you say what pops into your head.
Is that cool?
WATERS: Okay.
Steven Spielberg.
WATERS: Um. Great auteur.
Ingmar Bergman.
WATERS:
Oh, the real puke king. He had a puke scene in every movie. That's who I
copied.
Russ Meyer.
WATERS: Certainly. He makes
industrials about breasts.
Ron Howard.
WATERS: A wonderful
producer and a very nice man.
Ted Bundy.
WATERS: Probably
the cutest serial killer American's had.
INTV: Julia Roberts.
WATERS: I like her. She just made a film in Baltimore. And I never
met her before but she has inspired a lot of bad surgery all over the
world on lips because she has the real thing.
Alfred
Hitchcock.
WATERS: Certainly the best auteur of all, you know.
Somebody that took his image, made fun of it and became a caricature of
himself in the best possible way.
Okay, excellent. You're a Type
17-B Personality. Back to the flick.
[fading] I'm a 22-G. I don't
know what it means, but it kept me out of the war.
WATERS: I know
I learned early never to say negative things about people 'cause then you
go to L.A. and sit next to 'em at a dinner party and they watched your
show.
Oh you're saying the answers would've been different if the
camera wasn't rolling.
WATERS: Not on those.
INTV:
Okay.
"AMERICAN GRAFFITI" Commercial
Break #6
Some great names in this movie. The cop is named
Holstein. The lecherous teacher is named Wolf. And what was Ron Howard
saying about Cindy Williams "watching her brother"? Hm hm HM. We're at
filmmaker John Waters' house in Baltimore for our Cinema Studies 101
lecture. I haven't asked you what some of your favorite movies are. Which
are the movies you watch over and over again?
WATERS: Certainly
"The Bad Seed" 'cause I wanted to be her as a child you know so I could
say to people "give me those shoes" and be a rotten little child. I used
to watch this movie called "Baxter," which is a French movie about a
killer dog. I liked that a lot. Certainly "The Wizard of Oz," but just the
witch parts. I hate to see Dorothy go home; it's so depressing -- black
and white and those smelly animals. What else. I don't watch that many
movies over. I like to watch new movies that I haven't seen.
Any
recent favorites?
WATERS: Recent favorites. Well, let me think.
What did I see this week? "South Park" I thought was a great a dirty kid's
movie finally. It's a whole new genre. It's the beginning of a new genre.
Every director is jumping on the horror wagon. Would you ever do a
horror flick?
WATERS: There are many critics who think all my
films are horror flicks in a way. I mean certainly . . . . eating dog
feces has horrified some people.
Well yeah. I would say many of
your films are horrific, but I would like to see a really scary movie done
by John Waters. Is that within the realm of possibility?
WATERS:
Certainly. Yeah, it's a genre I've never really parodied. So, yeah.
All right. Well let's get back to the pleasant coming-of-age flick
"American Graffiti." Do you ever hang out with George Lucas?
WATERS: Nope I've never met him.
"AMERICAN GRAFFITI" Commercial
Break #7
How much of a weenie is Ron Howard for not going home
with that cute waitress? It's Cinema Studies 101 here at "Joe Bob's Summer
School," and we're on our field trip to Baltimore visiting John Waters,
who besides making some of the craziest movies in history, also taught
film at a maximum-security prison, so he's an expert. Let's talk about
screenwriting. Where do you find inspiration?
WATERS: By
eavesdropping and spying on people everyday. You know I hear great
conversations. And you know you can get great dialogue and you just have
to watch people and read a million newspapers and magazines.
Do you like the writing part of it?
WATERS: Yes --
my favorite part. From then on it's downhill. You gotta make an idea real,
which means you have to hire people. You have to make a fantasy become
real, which we know is hard to do.
Advice to aspiring
screenwriters.
WATERS: Sure. Sex and violence. That's what people
want.
I agree. My kind of guy.
How bout aspiring
directors?
WATERS: Always cut ten more minutes outta your film
than you think you should. You know, if they stop didn't stop me, all my
movies would be ten minutes long. Because all movies are too long. And
there's no such thing as anything that's funny after 90 minutes.
Okay, it's gettin late, so let's get back to "American Graffiti."
[fading] What about advice to aspiring professional ball players?
You got any for them?
WATERS: I don't know how to play baseball.
"AMERICAN GRAFFITI" Commercial
Break #8
Ah, there was the vomit scene. And the scene George
Lucas put back in the movie after Harrison Ford got real famous, the one
where he sings "Some Enchanted Evening." I'm about to say goodnight to
John Waters. John, we give all our guest-lecturers a book as a gift for
doing the show. I got you one in honor of Cinema Studies 101. It's Roger
Ebert's Pocket Video Guide.
WATERS: . . . oh oh . . .
You
take it with you when you go to the video store and you can look up how
many stars he gives the movies. Look up one of yours. Try "Pink
Flamingos."
WATERS: Let me see what he put in here.
I
think it's in there.
WATERS: No stars. That means, I guess, not so
good. But that's pretty extreme. I'd like to find one other movie in here
that got no stars. I bet there isn't one....We have the worst film in this
entire book. That's fine with me.... He's given me good reviews before and
bad, but you can't tell with him you know. He gave me very bad ones on
Serial Mom -- two thumbs down -- and I wanted to put that in ads, and
they wouldn't let me.
We're gonna watch the end of the flick and
then I'm gonna wrap things up here. John, do you mind if I just kinda
crash here on your couch for the night. This has been a long day.
WATERS: No it's fine. I'm going out, but make yourself at home.
Okay, the conclusion to "American Graffiti." Go.
[fading]
What about the camera crew? Can they stay here too?
WATERS: The
cute ones.
"AMERICAN GRAFFITI" Outro
So Richard Dreyfuss flies off to college to become . . .
George Lucas. Okay, I wanna thank our guest-lecturer John Waters for
letting us come to his home in Baltimore to chat with him.
That's
it for me, Professor Joe Bob, reminding you that sometimes I wake up
grumpy, other times I let her sleep.
Did you guys hear the one
about the guy who meets a girl at a bar, and she invites him back to her
place for the night? When they get there, they go right into her bedroom.
The guy sees that the room is filled with stuffed animals. There are
hundreds of them all over the place. Giant stuffed animals are on top of
the wardrobe. Large stuffed animals are on the bookshelf and the
windowsill, and a lot of smaller stuffed animals are on the bottom shelf.
Later that night, after they've had sex, he turns to her and says, "So,
how was I?" And the girl says, "Well, you can take anything from the
bottom shelf."
Joe Bob Briggs, reminding you that the drive-in
will never die.
[fading] By the way, there was a great loss in the
entertainment world today. The guy who wrote the song "Hokey Pokey" died.
But what was really horrible was that they had trouble keeping his body in
the casket. They'd put his left leg in . . . well, you know the
rest.
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