More American Graffiti(1979)

NEW YEAR’S EVE 1964
John Milner (Paul LeMat) is now a drag racer. He and his fellow competitors are racing each other for the right to race against the car made by a national racing team known as “The Factory”. John beats everyone, but wrecks his car in the last race. With only a few minutes to make repairs, all of the other teams help John and his team make the repairs and get to the starting line before having to forfeit. He beats the Factory car, and is told by their owner that he has what it takes to go pro. Near midnight, John gets into his yellow deuce coupe (the car he drove in the original) to head home, but an oncoming car swerves into his lane.

NEW YEAR’S EVE 1965
Terry “the Toad” Fields (Charles Martin Smith) is with a helicopter unit in Vietnam. He is assigned latrine duty by the CO after accidentially becoming the target of friendly fire. That same day, Terry’s helicopter is shot down, and he saves the life of his co-pilot. His CO, who was flying with them, initially refused to land to rescue them. Terry, who already hated his CO and desperately wants out of the war, says that’s the last straw and goes to get a grenade. Later that night, the CO is cutting a cake made for him and his officers that was presented by Terry. Terry runs to the latrine he is assigned to clean when the cake is cut. Instead of the cake blowing up (as the viewer is led to believe would happen), the latrine blows up. Everyone thinks Terry was killed in the blast, but Terry actually faked his death. He changes out of his uniform into civilan clothes and tells his co-pilot (who was in on it) that since he can’t return to the US because he is an army deserter, he will travel to Europe.

NEW YEAR’S EVE 1966
Debbie Dunham (Candy Clark) is a hippie living in San Francisco. Her musician boyfriend is bailed out of jail for pot possession, but it uses up all of their money. Since one of them needs a job, she goes to a local band to see if they will give her boyfriend a tryout. Newt (Scott Glenn), the leader of the group, is reluctant to do so, but Debbie tags along to their next gig at a country bar in order to keep convincing him. He finally does, but he also begins falling for her. At the gig, Newt puts Debbie in the band as a tambourine player. While performing, she sees her boyfriend at the club dancing erotically with another woman. Debbie jumps off the stage and confronts him. The confrontation eventually leads to a huge bar fight. At the end of the night, Debbie has dumped her boyfriend and is asked to join the band permanently, which he does. She and Newt also begin a relationship.

NEW YEAR’S EVE 1967
Steve and Laurie Bolander (Ron Howard, Cindy Williams) are now married with two kids and living in Modesto. They have money problems, and Laurie wants to help by getting a job, which Steve is absolutely against. He says that a mother’s place is in the home and won’t talk about it anymore. An angry Laurie storms out and goes to her brother Andy’s apartment. Andy and his girlfriend are about to go to the local college and protest the war. Laurie doesn’t want to go, but eventually does when Andy calls her to bring his forgotten wallet. A few hours later, a distraught Steve goes to the apartment looking for Laurie, and his told by a neighbor that they are at the protest rally. Steve arrives at the college just as the police begin breaking up the rally. Steve, Laurie, Andy, and his girlfriend are eventually caught by the police, thinking that all of them are protesters. When the police begin to abuse Laurie, Steve loses it and begins punching out the cops. He is quickly joined by all of the other arrested protesters and the four of them escape custody. Back home, Steve tells Laurie that he has changed his mind and she can get a job.

The movie ends with nearly the same title cards that ended the original movie. John was killed by a drunk driver in December of 1964, Terry was declared missing in action in December of 1965, Steve was an insurance agent in Modesto, and Debbie went on to become a country singer.