***FROM THE ALL-TIME FAVORITES LIST***
Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
Dir: George Lucas
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guiness, Peter Cushing
Up until about 12 years ago, when I finally, truly "got"
It's a Wonderful Life, this film would have been my #1 or 2 favorite (alternating with its first sequel,
The Empire Strikes Back). It's still in my Top 10. I missed the original release (I was 3 1/2), so I saw
Empire first. I first saw this in re-release in the years between
Empire and
Return of the Jedi. At the time this was the perfect film. In many ways it still is.
There are characters to appeal to everyone. We have the young hero setting off on his grand adventure and saving the universe. We have the hero of questionable reputation for the "cool" factor. We have the beautiful princess who can be both the damsel in distress and the strong, independent woman who can take care of herself. Comic relief - check. Wise old man - check. Scary, super-evil villain - check. Also scary, super-evil British guy - check. And the special effects, most of them essentially invented for this movie, were awesome (and in manye cases I still prefer the old effects to today's over-digitized films).
Released in a decade when disaster movies were all the rage (
Airport,
Towering Inferno,
Posieden Adventure), this was a film with a positive, good-wins-over-evil message that the whole family could enjoy. A young farm boy discovers he comes from a line of heroic knights and sets off with a wise old wizard on an adventure to places neither he, nor the viewer, has ever dreamed of. What kid, or kid at heart, can resist? Visually stunning and with the fun of the old cliffhanger serials,
Star Wars was just what the world was looking for at that time. And it's never gone away since, thanks to the merchandising onslaught it begat (which I loved at the time, but I am so over it now). Disregarding that, this is still one of the most fun films you'll ever watch. Kids of all ages still love it.