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The characters seem locked in—to careers, to whole lives. The only one who will break out is Dreyfuss, smarter and more sensitive than the others but careful not to show it. His high school teacher tells him of the time he left town to go to college but came back after only a semester ("I wasn't the competitive type"); the scene captures the slightly anxious self-deceptions that Dreyfuss's contemporaries will soon be using. Dreyfuss climbs aboard his plane for college still carrying a radio tuned to the favorite local station. The radio plays until he is in the air and finally out of range, and the crackle of static is his first intimation—though he does not know it—of freedom.
Lucas is a young film maker whose only other feature was THX-1138, a cool, cautionary science-fiction tale released in 1970. It established him as a director of great technical range and resource. Graffiti reveals a new and welcome depth of feeling. Few films have shown quite so well the eagerness, the sadness, the ambitions and small defeats of a generation of young Americans. Bitchin', as they said back then. Superfine. ∎Jay Cocks