On This Day, August 11th

1. 1973: American Graffiti released in U.S. theaters

Photo: avclub

Photo: avclub

Photo: source

Photo: source

It was was on this date in 1973 that the coming of age movie known as American Graffiti opens in theaters all over the united States. The film was directed and co-written by none other than George Lucas and it won all kinds of awards. Interestingly it was the success of this movie that allowed Lucas to do his next big movie, Star Wars. It also helped launch the acting careers of Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard. To make the film they only had a budget of just under $800,000, but they made a killing in the box office bringing in more than $140 million.