You won't be disappointed!

Very well executed

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Since it's reported at the end of the original that Paul LeMat's cool cat John Milner – the hot rod James Dean type with the fastest car in town – was killed by a drunk driver in 1964, the sequel's starting point has all the main characters except Richard Dreyfuss (now a writer in Canada) meeting at a drag race course to cheer on Milner at the tail end of that fateful year.Thus we follow the surviving characters in other New Year Eve's throughout the sixties: Terry Toad Philips in Vietnam, 1965; Debbie in San Francisco, 1966; and Steve and Laurie Henderson in 1967.Let's start with the least interesting characters of the original – Steve and Laurie, played by Ron Howard and Cindy Williams, who were both, at that point, known for their roles on HAPPY DAYS and the successful spin off LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, are still a bickering couple with kids and a hellish relationship going nowhere but down, down, down.The unhappily married duo have only wedding rings in common. Laurie wants to work but Steve, an insurance salesman, forces her to stay at home with their bratty kids. This was before Women's Rights and Laurie wants her independence.Speaking of independence, her little brother is a college hippie radical. The campus is part of a violent protest and he calls Laurie to bring his driver's license, without which he can't leave the campus and might be shipped off to war.It's quickly obvious the entire purpose of this segment is the predictable character arc of both Laurie and Steve (who eventually has to rescue her): the cops are bad and the students are good. The only thing truly worthwhile here is the music – the rest is an overly preachy agenda, proving that hippies aren't very interesting characters: they all look the same, have similar motivations, and don't stand apart from each other.Actually, one hippie does stand apart...Candy Clark's 1966 "Winter of Love" segment is bit more entertaining. Her jerk musician boyfriend is cheating and the ever-smiling bleach-blonde Debbie accidentally winds up hanging out with a rock band: touring a cowboy bar and other venues throughout a comically hectic day and night.Aesthetically, the use of multi-screen (popular in 1960's films like MEDIUM COOL and THE THOMAS CROWNE AFFAIR) attempts to dress up a non-story.The best story has Terry "The Toad" Philips in Vietnam. The visual gimmick is seeing everything through what looks to be a grainy 16 millimeter film stock (liken to news reels), with only a box filling the inside of the screen with black surrounding it.Toad and the former lead Pharaoh Little Jo, played by Bo Hopkins, hang around the muddy barracks or fly around in Hueys, dodging death at every turn (the film opens with helicopters soaring to the song HEAT WAVE). But Toad just wants to go home through being injured and he just can't catch a break, literally.The copters look cool and are reminiscent of APOCALYPSE NOW, the blockbuster that came out the same year, 1979. Perhaps George Lucas, who executive produced this sequel written and directed by Bill L. Norton (director of GARGOYLES), wanted a piece of what he missed out from the Francis Ford Coppola Vietnam War venture, which he was originally connected with.The use of Motown hits (circa 1965) works well during the Vietnam story, jovially contrasting with the bloody battles while the cinematography captures the deep dark green colors of 'Nam. The theme song of John Wayne's THE GREEN BERETS also serves as a caustic anthem for the anti-war proceedings.Most of the storyline is more befitting M*A*S*H than APOCALYPSE NOW: it's all about Toad first trying to find a shortcut home and then teaming with a Gung Ho Lieutenant (James Houghton), who eventually realizes war is a living/breathing hell: something Toad knew all along.Last but not least is the John Milner drag racing story, taking place on and off the crowded and colorful California race grounds. Milner is a good driver but can't get a sponsor, and has to win a few quick jaunts in order for corporate-backed teams to take interest.Here's where the best (and really, the only) love story resides. Gorgeous blond model Ana Bjorn plays a naive foreign exchange student named Eva from Sweden… no, Iceland… that hangs around Milner like a lost puppy.The drag strip races aren't very exciting since the sleek speedsters for a total of five seconds before crossing the finish line, lacking the freewheeling spontaneity of the hot rods in the original. Plus, Milner doesn't have his entire reputation to lose this time. His character, although very likable, is somewhat pointless throughout, especially since we know his hours are numbered.But this is still the second best story, ending with JM's famous yellow Deuce Coupe cruising down the midnight highway towards a pair of oncoming headlights – his death immanent.In many ways this is an unnecessary sequel but it's nice to see the characters together again, even though they're mostly apart. The soundtrack (highlighted by Donovan's "Season of the Witch" followed by Cream, The Grateful Dead, a live appearance by Country Joe and the Fish and concluding with Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone") stands out more than the actual film, and the acting makes it a more than worthy viewing.So while this visual experience is basically an "eight-foot ballerina," there are times she can actually dance.

Some Spoilers After seeing Happy Days, then seeing American Graffitti, I was happy to identify characters, that carried over from the movie to the TV Show. However, you could not really identify the characters in common from More American Graffitti and Happy Days.More American Graffitti does not have the same focus as American Graffitti and the characters, are not in the same stage of their lives.More American Graffitti presents the stories of 4 characters in a more adult stage of their lives on four consecutive New Years Eves, John Milner in drag racing in 1964, Terry Fields in Viet Nam in 1965, Debbie Dunham in San Francisco in 1966, and Steve and Laurie Bolander in Modesto in 1967. Additionally, the music of the sixties is mixed into the movie. The events of that day are not extremely interesting but can keep your interest.One problem with this movie is that we know from the ending of American Graffitti that two of the characters died on the day they are focused on. We keep following those two characters throughout that day, fearing we will see them die. It is like movie about events taking place the morning of November 22, 1963 in Dallas up to 12:29 PM.

Further adventures of the characters from American Graffiti. A lot of people reacted badly to the fact that the first movie was linear, happening in chronological order over one night, while the sequel is spread over 4 years and jumps around from one year to the next, etc. Add the split screen (which is an homage to 60's visual styles) and people got confused and tired of trying to keep track of which story and what period of time was being portrayed. That said, there are some really great scenes in this movie. In particular, I loved the scenes where Laurie (Cindy Williams) goes to the campus protest, gets caught up in it when she wasn't any part of it and has to run for her life (had this happen to me once). Then when her husband Steve (Ron Howard) steals a police van to rescue her, it was a delightful turn of the tables.

I suggest if you have already seen the original American Graffiti, do not see this movie. If you haven't seen the original, I still don't recommend this, but it will be a lot less painful to watch. The characters from the first film are great, and by the end you fell a connection to them. This movie sets out to show how bad their lives have become. It's a chore to watch!Set on New year's eve in 1964, '65, '66 and '67, we have four stories about the characters from the first film. In '64, we have John Milner (Paul Le Mat) who is now a professional drag racer. He meets a foreign girl Eva, and though his plot really goes nowhere, it's the best of the four. In 1965, we have Toad (Charles Martin Smith) who is stuck in Vietnam, and more than anything, he wants out. He tries to find ways to hurt himself or do stupid things to get out. In '66, we have Debbie (Candy Clark), the girl who Toad picked up in the first movie. Now she is a pot smoking hippie, and really I'm not sure what her plot was about. It was her going to a concert...not much of anything happened. Finally, in 1967, Steve Bolander (Ron Howard) and Laurie Bolander (Cindy Williams) are having marriage problems that end in a anti-war rally and police action.None of these stories are very good. The script in some parts features very, very bad dialogue. These poor characters who I enjoyed so much in the first film, ended up where they are here...why? Why was this sequel made? I guess if a sequel was made, it had to feature the Vietnam war, and hippies and police action, but the real thing is that this movie shouldn't have been made.The direction was stylish, but it just amounts in a huge headache. Each story has a different style. Milner's is just a regular (depending on how you watch it) wide screen, and is filmed how the rest of the movie should be. Toad's plot was shot in 16mm, and what it amounts to is a poor looking picture, which is the size of a small box in the middle of the screen. Debbie's plot is shot in multi-screen. At one point there might have been one screen, but for the good majority, it's anywhere from two to twenty screens up at once. Don't bother trying to follow the screens, since there's nothing going on anyways. Steve and Laurie's plot has the weirdest filming style. It's style really doesn't mean anything, and is dumb and pointless. Instead of just a full widescreen, it's a condensed widescreen that looks like a full screen version of widescreen. Though I don't like the others, at least I understand what they were going for, this one just doesn't make sense.The music is this movie's saving grace, not that it could save this! Bob Dylan, Simon and Grafunkel, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and dozens of others have nice songs featured here. They don't save the feature, they just make it a little better than it is. It's still bad! Overall, this is a pointless sequel. Any fan of the original should avoid this lackluster sequel! My rating: * 1/2 out of ****. 110 mins. PG for language, drug use and violence