Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
I realize that I'm one of those people who saw
Star Wars at the theatre upon original release, twenty times in the first year, so to me, yes, it was something akin to the second coming of
Jaws. No, this time the film didn't save my life, but I graduated from college just about a week after the film came out, so it did seem to come along as the completion of the
Jaws miracle two years previously. Nowadays it's usually taken for granted that people think that
The Empire Strikes Back is the best of the series, but I still don't buy it personally. Sure, the sequel is more-serious and darker, more-operatic, introduces the Jedi Yoda, and has one of the greatest reveals in film history, but it's just not really all that fun and then it ends anti-climactically. I love
The Empire Strikes Back, but I love
Star Wars much more.
For all its seeming ripoff of legends and tales from all over the world (and it's not my place here to discuss those; they have been discussed at the site elsewhere),
Star Wars still feels fresh and new to me. I'll be the first to say that the acting and dialogue may
seem weak here and there, but in the context of the entire stand-alone film and awesome universe and characters created,
Star Wars deserves as much slack as just about any film I can think of. It's not meant to be all that deep, yet it easily becomes "the stuff that dreams are made of". Besides that, for all the acting you may think is weak, much of it actually fits the youngish characters, and to balance them out, you have the wonderful Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing and the overpowering voice of James Earl Jones.
I know that a lot of people hate Lucas based on his constant tinkering of the old trilogy and what they see as a raping with the new trilogy, but
Star Wars was cool from the get-go and it still remains cool and just one of the most fun film experiences a child of any age can have. I put
Star Wars on last week with a friend who hadn't even seen the version with all the changes and the extra F/X, and we both became little kids again. We didn't give a crap who shot first because we both remembered who shot first. It's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, at least it's not worth changing your opinion on what rating to give
Star Wars. Go ahead and give Lucas some personal low ratings if you feel the need, but please don't attack the film (I have it in multiple incarnations, including the original release). I guess in this case, you can switch around the saying about "attack the message, but not the messenger."
Anyway, why do I love
Star Wars? The opening scene with the Empire starship flying over your head at the beginning attacking Princess Leia's ship is still as memorable as it ever was. Tattoine is an awesome planet, containing tons of non-human life and the awesome space port of Mos Eisley and its charming cantina. No matter what Guinness thought of his character or dialogue, his Obi-Wan Kenobi is an awesome anchor to give this seemingly-lightweight film some needed extra
gravitas. The switch to Warp Speed and the attack on the Death Star trench are two of the greatest scenes I've ever seen with a packed audience where everyone went insane laughing and clapping. John Williams did compose better scores than he did for the
Star Wars series, but 95% of people will always remember him for the
Star Wars films.
Just to remind people that
Star Wars is actually full of wit or at least some form of humor, what about these
bon mots of dialogue: "Uh, everything's under control. Situation normal." "Don't call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease." "Who's the more foolish: The fool, or the fool who follows him?" "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" "Look, Your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person: me." "It's a wonder you're still alive." "Will someone get this big walking carpet out of my way?" "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought." "So, what do you think of her, Han? "I'm tryin' not to, kid." "Good." "Still, she's got a lot of spirit. I don't know, whaddya think? You think a princess and a guy like me... " "No." "Let him have it. It's not wise to upset a Wookiee." "But sir, nobody worries about upsetting a droid." "That's 'cause droids don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookiees are known to do that." "I have a very bad feeling about this." "One thing's for sure, we're all gonna be a lot thinner." "Garbage chute. Really wonderful idea. What an incredible smell you've discovered!" "It could be worse." "It's worse." "Your eyes can deceive you; don't trust them."
May the Force be with You.
]
In 1977, Star Wars was groovy. It became nerd-dom over time, but that isn't what it has to be, and that isn't what it orginally was at its core
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