The Movies That Licorice Pizza Steals From 

Loved that line "... a wayward soul whose role in the relationship modulates between partner, muse, and pawn". What a fantastic commentary. Killed it again Ocean. Do you think you'll ever have a Richardson/Dallas-based meetup?

Philip Hoffman would be so damn proud of his son. Did an incredible job, everyone did. What a fun movie, and anything to enrich the cultural lore of Jon Peters is good with me!

To me this film was paradise.. Nothing happens. I mean, lots happens.. But also, nothing happens.. Which of course meant I had to watch it again.. And I enjoyed it just as much.

At 5:06, you pointed out that Licorice Pizza actually makes an appearance in Fast Times At Ridgemont High. As you probably know, Licorice Pizza was a record store in the San Fernando Valley during the '70s. Promoting the film, PTA actually reopened the record store on Ventura in its old location. My parents grew up in the valley around the same time as PTA, so they had a great time reminiscing over this film and all its easter eggs

The man lurking at the campaign headquarters I think is supposed to visually recall the assassin in Altman's Nashville (1975).

Y Tu Mama Tambien is a film that I had thought might have been an inspiration to Licorice Pizza as they both are dealing with exploring what it is to be young. That feeling of seemingly unlimited possibilities ahead of you with nothing locked down. Both films are following characters navigating these transitions between youth and adulthood.

I love when Directors like PTA,Quentin Tarantino Make Hangout Movie like these

I think a lot of the men Gary comes across are also a warning, like the John Michael Higgins character. He's an entrepreneur too, but not the kind that Gary should become.

the fact that you made actual licorice pizza is an admirable dedication to the video, keep up the good work!

Definitely felt the American Graffiti nods immediately, even prior to that first boy's room cherry bomb scene, starting with the bright green font on black screen credit cards which are a so reminiscent of the Lucasfilm Ltd. credit cards from that period. Also, then very much aware of the 1973 time setting for Licorice Pizza as being the same year as American Graffiti's release. The Techniscope and lighting/cinematography notes were really interesting. Anderson and Bauman and their team's work in this film (as well as Phantom Thread, Inherent Vice and The Master) is so effective at subtly capturing a simultaneously technical and emotional evocation of several of the seminal '60s-'70s European and New Hollywood films and filmmakers that influence the film at both a narrative and meta reference level. Really love the Fellini-Lucas-Anderson connections made here too. May need to try and make time for a I Vitelloni - American Graffiti - Licorice Pizza triple feature. Great stuff!

Licorice Pizza is my favorite movie in years. Happy to see you shine some light on it, PTA has made a career bending his favorite movies into something new(not unlike a different director named Anderson) and in my opinion Licorice Pizza is his most successful attempt at it. Very good video.

As I had not seen many of the movies this filmed called back on, I viewed it more as just a film about growing up. The film is seemingly all connected but at the same time each scene almost feels random and the narrative isn't always 100% clear. Kind of like what being a young adult is like. Neither of our main stars really know what they are doing with their life, one just wants to be successful while the other just feels lost in big world. All of the adult characters that are introduced at first seem like they have life all figured out but the more they appear on screen the more that façade falls apart. This is a movie about being young, being lost, and being in love. I think its a movie that seems very loose because PTA wants all of us to find a character to connect with. He doesn't want us to view everyone as characters, but at projections as ourselves.

I loved this film and it’s to me further proof that Paul Thomas Anderson is a secret comedian and needs to make more comedies. To me this film reminded me of Amarcord in the way it appears the director is reflecting on his childhood and the wider historical events that subtly changed the course of his life.

Minor correction: Techniscope is not an anamorphic format. It was cheaper to produce films in Techniscope not only because it exposed 35mm film at half height, but because filmmakers could use less expensive spherical lenses. Another part of the attraction of Techniscope was that dye-transfer printing mitigated the amount of grain in the frame when the film was printed anamorphically [since projectors could not run at half height] with its trademark "velvety" appearance. What’s particularly ironic is that PTA opted to film on 65mm, which is the antithesis of the Techniscope aesthetic.

“Summer of 42” also falls into that teenage boy - adult woman relationship sub-genre

Terrific as usual! Looking forward to seeing it again through this lens. One thing I noticed while watching it was that this new movie has a strong Robert Downey Sr vibe to it, more than his other movies (I know that this film is dedicated to Robert Downey Sr). The scene where everyone is hanging out in the waterbed store and Alana just starts dancing across the room reminded me of one of the commercials in Putney Swope. The whole thing had an air of “we’re going to do this now“ that was very fun and refreshing, and there is this level of looseness in some of Paul Thomas Anderson‘s other movies, but this feels entirely new. Thank you again for your insights!

Completely agree with the film's inspiration from, and evocation of American Graffiti - that was the first thing I thought after sitting through 20 minutes of the film. I also like the nice circularity that Licorice Pizza takes place in the same year ('73) that American Graffiti was actually released. It's a nostalgic 2020's film about the early 70s that draws from a nostalgic early 70's film about the early 60's.

Great video!... Anderson has also stated Manhattan being a big influence on those long, tracking conversation scenes. I hadn't thought of the Fellini influence.

I love that mention of Wages of Fear & I've been thinking alot about a certain aspect of Cinema that is very rare these days but has been achieved & displayed very well recently. The non-heady, momentary esape from plot, narrative or anything psychological or thematic and a visceral gut dive into a brutally raw physicality where you actually feel the immediacy and tension of the physical elements and gravity/threat surrounding the character(s). The midpoint truck maneuvering, the tense but exciting silence that tightens it up in Licorice Pizza. Did, at least subconsciously in the moment, bring back some sense from Friedkin's SORCERER. Also THE BATMAN is a great example of this. A movie being described as a roller coaster event is so over used and meaningless these days, just an empty gesture, lazy tagline on a marketing poster, but some of these elements and moments when they come together perfectly really give the intense physical reaction of momentum and heft. Another basic fundamental principle of why practical over dependence on CG is so important and necessary.

I definitely saw the American Graffiti parallels but wasn’t able to quite put my finger on it until I watched American Graffiti again about a month ago. I also definitely picked up on the “slice of life” nature of movies like Dazed and Confused but also saw some of the chaotic yet meandering nature of a film like Five Easy Pieces and a similar character dynamic to Lost in Translation where the relationship seemed very real and precious but with obvious expiration date which lends itself to both realism and gravity.

I love videos like this. Reminds me of similar videos on Star Wars or Wes Anderson. I wish every film I liked had a 15-minute video explaining where the director stole all his ideas from.

like Inherent Vice, a PTA retro tribute to his early 70s California. it's a pretty one-note movie between two main characters (girl-boy) without much subtext. there are a litany of 70s references of course, but the music is pretty outstanding overall. PTA even dials up the same Bowie 'Life on Mars" song Wes Anderson used to similar fantastic emotional effect in a long shot on Life Aquatic. The movie does pick up in the 2nd half, great extended scenes with Sean Penn and Tom Waits, and another classic track ("Let me Roll It" - McCartney/Wings) in love doves scene,,, although it's a bit rambling and meandering overall, like when Bradley Cooper takes over for now clear reason. the ending scene of the young, passionate, crazy lovers running to each other - cheesy and cliche', yet effective

The few years that we all struggle to hold on to our childhood while at the same time figure out what we want to do as adults hold some of the fullest memories for me

Another possible influence: Alana berates her sibling using various forms of the word "think." In "The Lion in Winter," John does the same thing with the word "stink."

"Homage" is a great descriptive. But, "pastiche" is more of what we're talking about. It's a straight across, unashamed copy of an artistic work. Unashamed because it's paying tribune and celebrating the original.

Your graphics/animation work in this are incredible! absolutely love the style

Another influence to consider would be the film Dreyfuss made after Graffiti - The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. The protagonists share many similarities - there's even a subplot with pinball machines! I came late to Kravitiz, but watching it I felt the similarities were not a coincidence.

Imma tell you the truth, I've been tired about vídeo analysis but your takes got real depth to it. I think LP and Drive My Car are both the best ones of this season exactly because of theirs complexities, but it's good to see that ppl like you are adding even more complexity to those stories through really analyzing it instead of forcing some meaning that maybe isn't there.

Does he edit all his videos himself. I’ve been a fan of The Royal Ocean Film Society for a little less than 2 years, but I assumed you worked alongside with a few other editors. Wow, the editing is always superb. I only hope to be as good as this someday!

High quality work as always. You do an especially graceful job addressing ~the discourse~ about the age gap and providing a more thoughtful analysis without being combative. It's very disarming.

Anderson is also very playful when he shows his influences. My favorite is the scene in Magnolia where Earl Partridge is an old, dying man on a bed and the scene (think Dave Bowman as an old man at the end of 2001 ASO, reaching out for the Monolith at the foot of his bed) transitions into the next scene using the same score as Kubrick's film, Also Spoke Zarathustra. However, instead of the 'Star Child', Magnolia cuts to Frank Mackey doing his 'respect the cock!' routine! In Phantom Thread, Anderson was referencing himself at times too. I saw nods to Magnolia and the strange animal costumes at the New Year's Eve party brought to mind Lancaster Dodd's line about 'man is not an animal'. One last obsrevation. If Anderson is referencing American Grafitti, how long will it be before he, like George Lucas, tries a Sci fi?! I'd love to see that and it's not so far fetched. Phantom Thread has horror and fairy tale elements to it, so why not a sci fi?! If Tatantino makes one, as it's been rumoured for years, then PTA will too (though his will be better! lol)

There is one thing that Phantom Thread has over Licorice Pizza; a fantastic breakfast order.

You hit on all the ones I noticed and even more. The main ones I was reminded of were American Graffiti, Fast Times, and Dazed and Confused.

Kay Lenz was in both Breezy (titular character) and American Graffiti, and Paul Le Mat was in both American Graffiti and Melvin and Howard (titular character). Very interesting

I got a strong Rushmore vibe from LP. I think there are some serious parallels between Gary and Max Fisher, also the older love interest. Classic rock soundtracks and oddball supporting characters.

Hate when people say “steals from” because PTA isn’t claiming to have come up with these ideas, he’s clearly taking inspiration from them

I think the movie also likes to steal from all the "Cardio for beginners" tutorials on RU-vid.

Great video, but I think one point that's slightly off is about technoscope - It's a way to mimic anamorphic cheaply, but is still a spherical process. Also, because you're not losing any width when shooting technoscope, there's not actually any loss of resolution or spatial fidelity like with 16mm (the grain would appear the same size on screen as if the image were shot super35 1.85 because the horizontal resolution is identical) - Other films shot in technoscope, albeit the crop is done digitally in this case, like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Spider-Man 2 and 3, among others do so for different more VFX centred reasons, but the grittiness of American Graffiti comes from the stock rather than the technoscope format.

I would like to add movies that influenced this brilliant film, but you nailed it !!!! Seriously. Great job. As I watched this I was like , “yep, for sure…definitely “, over and over again. And I’m a bit of a film snob. So psyched I found this link!!

It's interesting that you mention Fast Times. It reminded me a lot of Boogie Nights, when I first saw it. Of course, it's the other way around, in that Boogie Nights has the same spirit as Fast Times. Licorice Pizza is more optimistic, it runs towards Linklater territory, which is cheesy-american-filmmaker-in-his-50s goof movie, which I'd be disappointed if it wasn't the intent. It shows versatility and to still be able to produce a comedy with such texture is fantastic.

A Star is Born, both Streisand and Cooper versions, Shampoo, When Harry Met Sally, The Apartment , LA Confidential. Maybe references rather than influences

I certainly saw "American Graffiti" in the motorcycle scene with Sean Penn (it was in some ways a pastiche) and you couldn't help but notice the "Taxi Driver" scene when the lead actress is working for a wayward political campaign and a creep appears outside the window and the energetic beta male tries to protect her

I'm a biiiig fan of Melvin and Howard. Love the connection you made there, I can totally see it in PTA'S work. Even in The Master.

10:26 this was such an unexpected twist after the build-up that preceded it, that I cackled in the theater when that happened.

awesome video man. giving so much knowledge about so many different films. cant wait to watch them all!

i watched too many movies and i can't believe the opening was taken from American Graffiti, how come i did't straightly remember that? he's a genius.

This is so beautifully done. Thank you for your insight!

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood reminded me of American Graffiti as well. All three excellent movies by directors I'm not always a fan of.

For some reason, the film reminds me a little bit of Robert Mulligan’s Summer of 42. It’s not as blatant as the films you’ve listed, but that story of 15-year-old Hermie having a mature relationship with someone older than him as Dorothy sorta reminds me of Gary and Alana. It’s a movie I don’t see get talked as much nowadays, which is a darn shame since it eventually became the blueprint to a plethora of teen comedies over the years.

I've always thought that The Graduate's influence is ALL OVER this movie.

I found, at least earlier in the film, some aesthetic parallels to Daniel Clowes comic books, the same sort of storytelling, even period (Death Ray comes to mind), so in that vein, ghost world comes to mind, so the push/pull of adolescence vs adulthood is a common theme there as well.

Awesome video, loved the editing and analysis 👍🏼

💜 i just found this channel and i love it! what a wonderful video on pta. i hope someday you do a video on sergio leone!!

Cool I read your review on Letterbox, and I've been looking forward to seeing this video, glad to see it here.

The final line “I love you” sounded intentionally dubbed, at a hazy remove from what I can remember. In the style of some French films from that era or similar. Anyone have any insight on that last move from the film?

such a great video! you were able to put into words why I'm in love with this film

Great video. I'm really interested in the font name on 2:30. Thanks :)

I love Licorice Pizza! Thanks for this amazing video! 💖

Nice video always love how ur videos are edited.

Good work, keep it up! This is the best analysis I've heard so far. Thank you!

Is Paul Le Mat retired? The common thread between American Graffiti and the early Demme works is him. He seems like an obvious casting choice for PTA in the same way he used Jason Robards.

Make this a series and watch the channel hit a million.

Everytime I watch one of these videos I come away with some inspiration or insight. Good job

Great video, captures the movie very accurately I think, within PTAs career and movie history.

Fantastic video. Loved Licorice Pizza and I think you summed it up so well!

I think a great double-bill would be Licorice Pizza w John Sayle's BABY ITS YOU. Great upload and analysis.

I thought licorice was gonna be like Northwood Pie but definitely not the same. Both movies are so good though!

Love PTA - but Licorice Pizza was a poor man’s Ladybird or even Frances Ha. Fascinated that people love this movie, I almost walked out of the theater from boredom alone. There Will Be Blood and Punch Drunk Love still my fav movies tho

Melvin and Howard is a masterpiece.

I personally think that Gary and Alana do not end up together. Weeks after Alana could have cut all ties with Gary, or Gary could move away for all we know. That’s why I love this film, it doesn’t give a clear answer.

The rhythm and sort abrupt editing reminded me so much of the ending of north by northwest actually.

This is a very good essay. Makes me appreciate the movie more

Guys where do you watch those movies

I don't think Licorice Pizza has a bittersweet ending. I find it happy yet realistic. The cycle might be broken this time, and they may be happy forever after, just like anybody in love might be happy ever after, you just have to trust it. You never know. But I think it's more about how Alana finally stopped fighting the fact that for better or for worse, she's meant to be with Gary, as annoying as he is lol.

Great commentary! Liked and subscribed!

I haven't caught up with films recently. Had to rubberneck when you mentioned Tom Waits. I guess this is what he's been up to. :P

3:20 Mary Steenburgen

just watched SHAMPOO the other day! i think that can be added to this list

This analysis is incredible, just had to point that out. Fantastic analysis.

Amazing movie. And your video really added to my experience with it.

I'll watch anything with the sisters Haim in it. So underrated.

Phantom Thread has to be my personal favorite film (so far). There's this vibe about it that you feel incomplete, but hungry for more. Being obsessed with your craft, but have to let go if you want to be in love. But I also love the music. If I was a soundtrack/Album that fits my personality, Phantom Thread has to be it.

Beautiful video💞

The Graduate. And thanks for the Fellini.

Amazing work!!!

American graffiti was/is one of my favorite movies. Watched it 100s of times as an adolescent. Something about it made me remenence to a time I wasnt even alive for. A completely different America than the one I knew.

The best analysis of LP I've seen to date.

John C Reilly’s cameo was so awesome!

That last shot of him running with her reminds me of the couple in External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Another mismatched couple that probably can't stay together

“Wax lyrically” Is your favorite phrase by far

Regardless of the merits or otherwise of your review material, (and lots of people did not like Licorice Pizza) the way it is presented with so many in depth comparisons and derivatives, makes your review compelling viewing.

This is one of those films that I enjoyed will watching it but the more I thought about it the less I liked it. I compare it with a clip show from a long-running series and it assumes that anyone who is watching knows these characters. I'm not a slave to plots or structure but there has be something to hold my attention. Paul Thomas Anderson films are told in a way that abandons all conventional filmmaking standards. I was invested for the first forty-five minutes or so and liked the characters and the reconstruction of this era. I grew up in the 70's and vividly remember the gas shortage. I would have been 8 at the time when the film is set and living on the opposite side of the country. Drawing a comparison with American Graffiti is a fairly obvious choice but the George Lucas film has a narrative hub which these various stories are connected to. Licorice Pizza just wanders from one situation to another. I thought the guy lurking outside of the campaign centre was going to pay off in some way but after Alanna confronts him it's never mentioned again. The second half goes downhill once Sean Penn enters the story. It's only saved by the hysterical Bradley Cooper, but even he comes and goes with no greater impact on anything. Both Alanna Haim and Cooper Hoffman look like they were teleported from the 70's. They're not the prettyed up version of the era you might see in any other period film. Both being newcomers adds to the overall look of the film. I really wanted to love this film. From the moment I saw the trailer I was hooked but it just fizzled.

How excited I am, that I watched all these movies and going to watch Licorice Pizza!

The real Gary grew up to be highly successful. Producer, and business partner with Tom Hanks. Other than that this video is an excellent analysis. American Graffiti coming out in 73, the same year Licorice is set us no coincidence I feel.

no wonder i loved LP, my favorite movie is american graffiti. they are both so similar i see after watching this.

To be honest, I despised Licorice Pizza, and if I think about how it might relate to PTA's other films I worry that they might actually not be any good... but you raise some interesting points so... maybe I might watch it a second time after all.

Why was Licorice set in the 70s? What was stopping them from setting it now? To cash in on retro/nostalgia?

Love Gary Goetzman and Yours, Mine and Ours!

Techniscope is technically not anamorphic. It uses spherical lenses. The prints, however, are anamorphic.

I wouldn't call it theft or stealing -- it's homáge. PTA knows the language of film more than most active directors. He knows from whence his art form came. And he makes these references out of respect of greatness, not because he has no ideas.