Star Wars (1977)

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Directed by George Lucas.

Starring Peter Cushing, Anthony Daniels, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher.

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George Lucas' mythological popcorn movie is a two-hour roller-coaster ride that has passed into movie legend. The story, for the tiny number of people not familiar with it, concerns a farm boy named Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) who discovers that the used robot recently purchased by his family plays back a message from one Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), begging for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke asks his father's friend Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness) about this, and he discovers that Ben and Obi-Wan are one and the same. Kenobi tells Luke of the battle of the rebels against the ruling Empire and the spiritual energy called "The Force." Soon Luke, Kenobi, and a mercenary named Han Solo (Harrison Ford) join forces to rescue Princess Leia from the Empire's mammoth warship, the Death Star, controlled by evil genius Darth Vader (David Prowse, with the voice of James Earl Jones). George Lucas has frequently cited the influence of several films on Star Wars, particularly Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo and John Ford's The Searchers, as well as the original Flash Gordon serials. After Star Wars became a success, Lucas announced his intention to turn the film into a series, originally totalling nine films (later pared back to six). Consequently, most reissue prints now feature the title Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope, with The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) serving as Episodes Five and Six in the serial, and Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace (1999) going back to the myth's beginnings. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

movie year countdown #71 - 1936 ...
by Risselada in Risselada Blog

loved it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”. To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry. Flash Gordon I guess this was one of the first huge Sci-Fi epics made for the screen. Maybe it was the introduction of Sci-Fi as we think of it into popular culture. This series may even have even shaped how we think about these kinds of fantastical outer space travels with strange creatures, humanoid aliens, and all kinds of fantastical technology or the fact that we even think of these things at all. At it's time it was the most successful serial ever. And although over time these kinds of movies began to lose less interest and were relegated to smaller budget productions, when Star Wars revitalized this genre it was maybe just recapturing much of what was original created with Flash Gordon. What is really amusing to see is what passed as special effects in those days. And also what people imagined would be appropriate attire on alien planets and ... " [More]

Cinema Still Loves Nazis
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Upset that the Third Reich doesn’t appear in either this summer’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or Hellboy II: The Golden Army? Of course you are. Nazis have featured in many great Hollywood films, from Casablanca to Schindler’s List. They’ve been the focus of one of the best documentaries of all time (Triumph of the Will). They show up in the best musicals (The Sound of Music), the best action films (Raiders of the Lost Ark), the best science fiction films (Star Wars, sort of), the best comedies (The Great Dictator, sort of), the best dramas (Judgment at Nuremburg), the best foreign films (Rome, Open City) and even the best animated shorts (Der Fueher’s Face). In fact, without the Nazis, cinema might not have had so many great war films, POW films or other kinds of films necessitating a personification of evil. Of course, like many others I would wish for them to have never existed, because millions of lives are more important than any number of classic movies ... " [More]

Re:$7 Champagne
by Risselada in B Movies

loved it.

"[quote user="SkyPilot"] B movies can be like a seven dollar bottle of champagne, miles away from the real thing but every bit as fun. I sometimes wonder if the most "alive," vervacious movies are necessarily made on a low budget... Compare Star Wars: Episode IV to Episode I. Or True Romance, Reservoir Dogs, and Pulp Fiction on the one hand -- the getting-bloated Kill Bill 2 on the other hand, followed by the totally hit-and-miss Death Proof. Energy and entropy, Mssrs. Lucas and Tarantino! What's going on here, money or ego? [/quote] I agree. And what about Steven Spielberg whose greatest movie in my opinion is Duel. Then they gave him quite a bit more money to do Jaws which was just as awesome. But after that I think his movies got too "big". " [More]

$7 Champagne
by SkyPilot in B Movies

loved it.

"B movies can be like a seven dollar bottle of champagne, miles away from the real thing but every bit as fun.I sometimes wonder if the most "alive," vervacious movies are necessarily made on a low budget...Compare Star Wars: Episode IV to Episode I. Or True Romance, Reservoir Dogs, and Pulp Fiction on the one hand -- the getting-bloated Kill Bill 2 on the other hand, followed by the totally hit-and-miss Death Proof.Energy and entropy, Mssrs. Lucas and Tarantino! What's going on here, money or ego? " [More]

Re:Top 5 Title Sequences
by mercurial in Top 5

loved it.

"Hehe, sorry, I'm slow. " [More]

Re:Top 5 Title Sequences
by Risselada in Top 5

loved it.

"I wasn't insinuating the Star Wars things was the title sequence, I just wasn't sure. For instance I wasn't sure if the montage at the beginning of Raising Arizona counts since titles aren't shown during it, but it all leads up to showing the actual title of the film. And that sequence is awesome! " [More]

review
by grandmasterjedi in grandmasterjedi Blog

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Hi thereOne Luke is cleaning the botss and r2-d2 plays the message of the princess asking for the hepl of Ob1-Wan Kenobi. He tells his uncle about at dinner. He asks his uncle could the robot mean Old Ben kenobi who lives out in the hills. Luke does not know that his father knew Obi-Wan or that he was a Jedi. Lets get the story right. Grandmasterjedi " [More]

Barry Sonnenfeld Prophesizes To ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"The internet is an evil construct that’s causing us to submissively open our arms to totalitarianism! No, this isn’t another one of my posts about how our society is entering the world of The Matrix. This is the belief and fear of Barry Sonnenfeld, the director of Men in Black, Men in Black II and Wild Wild West, clearly a fan of lighter sci-fi than of the Orwellian sort. Speaking this week at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Vegas, he lashed out against the internet, because of how it’s threatening democracy: Sonnenfeld fears that children today will grow up with “no concept of the right to privacy and in fact not understand the need for it. Because the Facebook generation is not concerned with what people know about them . . . they will have no problem with additional governmental supervision, spying and intervention. They will be thrilled that the Internet will be able to follow their every move. Bonnenfeld’s main issue, of course, may be with his claim that kid ... " [More]

Re:Top 5 Title Sequences
by mercurial in Top 5

loved it.

"Heh, was it the opening prologue or the title sequence? Cause I do like the Star Wars title flying into the screen with that amazing score, but if you're refering to the slow creep of the intial prologue to it then I'm not sure if that's the titles necessarily.I know, I'm a nitpicking bastard, but I have no life. Sorry. " [More]

Re:Top 5 Title Sequences
by dunedonkey in Top 5

hasn't rated it.

"I can't believe no one said Star Wars.Hitchcock films and the Bond films deserve mention. As do the Pink Panther films...I need to come up with a list...and get back here. " [More]

[More reviews]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

loved it.

Bursting with excitement, and throwing in one wild chase, life-threatening dilemma, and dazzling effect after another, George Lucas' Star Wars packs a remarkable amount of story into 121 minutes; if the characters and dialogue sometimes lack depth, they have plenty of flash and boundless energy, and the film keeps just enough of its tongue in cheek to acknowledge an undercurrent of sly, low-key wit without snickering at either the characters or the audience. In a decade in which cynicism was the order of the day in the film industry (and American culture), Star Wars dared to be hokey. With its wise old men, dashing young pilots, spunky but virtuous princesses, and bad guys who were either deliciously evil or downright slimy, the movie had the courage to take a truckload of Hollywood archetypes, present them with smarts, humor, and no apologies, and make them work for a new generation of filmgoers. The movie in this way forged a totally original amalgam of myth, marketing, and movie serials to become one of the biggest cultural phenomena in movie history. Commercially, Star Wars opened new vistas in merchandizing toys and other movie tie-ins, as it helped transform science fiction from a fringe market into one of Hollywood's dominant genres. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Tags: Classic , sci-fi , future , space , lightsaber
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