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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Xan Brooks

Hazy sunshine, factor-50 smiles and Cliff Richard at the wheel: the 20 best summer holiday movies – ranked!

Paul Mescal carries a laughing Frankie Corio on his shoulders through ocean waves, in Aftersun
Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio in Aftersun. Photograph: TCD/Prod.DB/Alamy

20. American Graffiti (1973)

Let’s begin at the end. 2 September 1962: the final night of the summer vacation; one last big blowout before adult life intervenes. George Lucas’s rambunctious salute to footloose youth paints vivid vignettes of Modesto, California, rocking around the clock with its loose-knit gaggle of characters. But this has one eye on the meter and knows that time is running short.

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