The primary interest of American Graffiti is its setting and the nostalgia that it conjures.

The movie has no resonance except from the jukebox sound and the eerie, nocturnal jukebox look.

A surprise blockbuster hit with an enormous and lasting cultural footprint.

And so what George Lucas ends up getting at, ultimately, is the question of not only whether America is mature enough to make choices, but also if we can get hints of an answer by looking at the kinds of choices America creates for itself.