American Graffiti ending explained

What happens

At dawn Curt flies out to college, and from the plane he sees the white Thunderbird below. Captions then reveal what became of the four boys: one missing in Vietnam, one killed by a drunk driver, one a writer, one an insurance salesman.

The last image

Curt looks down from his plane at the white Thunderbird, the glimpse of the blonde he spent the night chasing.

What it says

The captions turn a warm night of comedy into a memory. The innocence you enjoyed had a date on it, and the film lets you love 1962 while knowing it could not last. The party was always a goodbye.