50 free American Graffiti trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This American Graffiti trivia quiz covers George Lucas's 1973 film from the first pitch to the last title card. It asks about the one night in September 1962, the characters Lucas based on his own Modesto youth, the town that threw the production out after two days, and the cast of unknowns who went on to Jaws, Happy Days and Star Wars. There are questions on the blonde in the white Thunderbird, Wolfman Jack, the Pharaohs, the drag race on Paradise Road and the epilogue Pauline Kael hated. It also covers the business side: the studios that passed, why Coppola's name was on the poster, the $777,000 budget that returned more than $200 million, the missing Elvis on the soundtrack and the five Oscar nominations. About a third of the questions are easy for anyone who has seen the film, a third are medium, and the rest are for people who know which airline's DC-7 appears in the final scene. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and the production histories it cites, and each question carries the sentence that establishes it. If you think one is wrong, use the report button and we will look again.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed American Graffiti?
George Lucas
It was Lucas's second feature after THX 1138 and the first film produced under the Lucasfilm banner.
Q 02The film is set over one night in which California city?
Modesto
It was Lucas's home town, but he thought it had changed too much in ten years and shot elsewhere.
Q 03In what year is American Graffiti set?
1962
The night is Sunday, September 2, the last day of summer vacation, two months before the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Q 04Which burger joint is the friends' meeting place at the start of the film?
Mel's Drive-In
The scenes were shot at the real Mel's in San Francisco, which was demolished soon after filming.
Q 05Who plays Curt Henderson, the graduate having second thoughts about leaving for college?
Richard Dreyfuss
More than 100 unknowns auditioned; Lucas was so taken with Dreyfuss's reading of the part that he offered him his pick of Curt or Toad.
Q 06Ron Howard plays which character?
Steve Bolander
Howard took the part to escape his child-actor image, then played the almost identical Richie Cunningham on Happy Days.
Q 07What is the nickname of Terry Fields, played by Charles Martin Smith?
The Toad
He tells Debbie he is known as 'Terry the Tiger'; Bob Balaban had turned the part down for fear of typecasting.
Q 08The blonde who mouths 'I love you' to Curt is driving what car?
A white Ford Thunderbird
A cut opening scene had her drive through an empty drive-in cinema, transparent, revealing she does not exist.
Q 09What is the greaser gang called that makes Curt hook a chain to a police car?
The Pharaohs
Their leader tells Curt the blonde is a prostitute, which he refuses to believe.
Q 10Which vehicle does Terry actually own, as he finally admits to Debbie?
A Vespa scooter
She decides it is 'almost a motorcycle' and agrees to see him again; the shot of him arriving on it was an on-set goof Lucas kept.
Q 11How old is Carol, the girl who talks her way into John Milner's car for the night?
12
Mackenzie Phillips was the same age, so producer Gary Kurtz had to become her legal guardian for the shoot under California law.
Q 12What did Harrison Ford insist on before taking the part of Bob Falfa?
Not cutting his hair
The script called for a flattop; the compromise was a Stetson. Ford was concentrating on carpentry at the time.
Q 13Where does the climactic drag race between Milner and Falfa take place?
Paradise Road
Falfa's tyre blows and his car rolls and burns; the scene was actually shot on Frates Road outside Petaluma, where two camera operators were nearly killed.
Q 21Which studio gave Lucas $10,000 to develop the treatment into a screenplay, then rejected the script?
United Artists
The same studio passed on Lucas's untitled space opera; both projects then landed at Universal, which took a first-look deal on Star Wars.
Q 22Universal's original budget was $600,000. Roughly how much did it add once Coppola signed on as producer?
$175,000
The final cost was about $777,000, which the film returned many hundreds of times over.
Q 23Filming began in San Rafael, but the city withdrew permission after how many days?
Two
The production moved 20 miles north to Petaluma without losing a single shooting day.
Q 14Where does Curt go to ask that a message for the blonde be read on the air?
The radio station
The man who tells him the Wolfman 'is everywhere' and the shows are taped turns out to be the Wolfman himself.
Q 15According to the epilogue, what became of Curt Henderson?
A writer living in Canada
Curt was modelled on Lucas's own personality in his USC years; the other three fates go to Steve, Toad and Milner respectively.
Q 16The epilogue says Terry 'The Toad' Fields was reported missing in action in 1965 near which place?
An Loc, South Vietnam
Pauline Kael criticised the epilogue for giving the fates of the four boys and none of the girls; Lucas said another title card would drag the ending out.
Q 17Which producer challenged Lucas to write a mainstream coming-of-age film during the making of THX 1138?
Francis Ford Coppola
Coppola's name went on the film after The Godfather so Universal could sell it as 'from the man who gave you The Godfather'.
Q 18Which Fellini film did Lucas cite as an inspiration for the story?
I Vitelloni
Fellini's 1953 film follows a group of young men drifting through life in a provincial town, much as Lucas's friends drifted through Modesto.
Q 19What was the working title of the project before it became American Graffiti?
Another Quiet Night in Modesto
Universal later pushed more than 60 alternatives, including Coppola's Rock Around the Block, because executives did not know what 'graffiti' meant.
Q 20Which husband-and-wife writing team co-wrote the treatment and later drafts with Lucas?
Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz
They left mid-project to make their own film, Messiah of Evil, and returned to help fix the Steve and Laurie storyline.
Q 24Most of the film was shot in which small town north of San Rafael?
Petaluma
The town still holds an annual cruise night in the film's honour; the sock hop was shot at Tamalpais High in Mill Valley.
Q 25Which cast member ended up in hospital after an allergic reaction to walnuts?
Paul Le Mat
Le Mat also threw Dreyfuss into a pool, gashing his forehead the day before his close-ups.
Q 26Le Mat, Ford and Bo Hopkins were said to hold nightly climbing competitions up which structure?
The Holiday Inn sign
Ford was thrown out of his room at the same motel, and one actor set fire to Lucas's.
Q 27Lucas shot the film in which inexpensive widescreen format that uses only half of each 35mm frame?
Techniscope
The format gave the documentary look he wanted but caused lighting problems, so Haskell Wexler was brought in as 'visual consultant'.
Q 28Which editor, fresh from The Sugarland Express, did Universal insist on hiring for the first rough cut?
Verna Fields
Lucas had wanted his wife Marcia; Fields left to work on What's Up, Doc? and later cut Jaws.
Q 29How long was the first cut of the film?
Three and a half hours
Cutting it to 112 minutes broke Lucas's strict 'ABCD' rotation of the four storylines.
Q 30Which sound designer suggested making Wolfman Jack's radio show the 'backbone' of the film?
Walter Murch
The phone calls heard on the broadcasts were real calls from Wolfman Jack's own tapes.