“Source” music in a movie can be dicey.  This is music that plays within the movie in such a way that we understand the characters in the scene can hear it, rather than music that plays over the film solely for our benefit.  American Graffiti wasn’t the first movie to use source music effectively by any means, but perhaps no film before or since has used it as well.  If for some reason you’re part of the 67% of Flickcharters who shamefully have not seen the movie, the premise is simple enough: four teenage friends spend the last night of Summer, 1962 together.  The whole film spans that one night, from sundown to sunup.  The various characters split off and reunite throughout the film, their individual and collective stories told across Modesto, California.  Read the rest of this entry »