before all of the present day knucklehead mash of mindless teenage movie and this intelligent and oscar nominate ( for best picture ) film show the last night of summer retreat for a group of young people in a small northern california town and one of whom be about to head back east to attend college . richard dreyfus provide the intelligence and ron howard the aloof personality and paul lemat the muscle and and charles martin smith the comic relief a the four main player in director george lucas first major breakthrough in movie before his adventure with the star war film begin in 1977. american graffiti and star war be the only truly great film that lucas have be involve with and american graffiti be shoot like a documentary and edit with care and write with charm and perform with excellence by a cast that will always be remember for this film that help them launch career that would take them to the top of their profession .