Scott Ott requested more movie related content from me, so here’s a piece I wrote a year ago, commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Star Wars.
This is the 40th anniversary of the release of Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope. Or as we called it back in the day, Star Wars. Apparently, the thing to do today, is to share your story of the first time you saw this landmark film.
I probably should have made this post yesterday, because I saw Star Wars for the first time on Thursday, May 24th, 1977. A friend’s mom worked at one of Chicago’s FM rock-and-roll stations (WMET), and was comped two passes to the Thursday night press showing, before the general release.
She had no interest in seeing the film, but knew her son was a big scifi nerd. My friend Mike, knowing that I shared his nerdery, invited me along. So, with press passes in hand, we rode the “L” downtown to Chicago’s Esquire theatre, bought our popcorn and candy, found seats in the center of the front row of the balcony (best seats in the house), and settled in for what was to be a mind-blowing experience at the movies.
I was stupefied. From the opening shot of Vader’s Star Destroyer swooping down on Princess Leia’s ship, to the closing credits, I was enthralled. I’d never seen anything like this movie. Part space opera, part comicbook, part King Arthur and part war movie, to my then sixteen-year-old brain, this movie had it all. It was literally, the best movie I’d ever seen in my young life. I must have seen it fifty times over the summer of ’77.
To this day, it’s my favorite of the franchise. Empire Strikes Back may be a better film, but you can’t beat the original for it’s awe-inspiring sense of wonder. Ah, those halcyon days of yore. 8/10
9 replies on “Remembering “Star Wars””
I fell in love with first and third movies hard when I was a kid–still deeply love Jedi even though I’m keenly aware of its various flaws. But I rewatched the despecialized edition of the original Star Wars recently and was astonished at just how well constructed it is once you remove all the CGI crap Lucas slapped onto it for the DVD/Blu-Ray releases. Gorgeous, too.
And Han shot first, Damn it!
I had to watch Star Wars because Rocky was sold out.
Thank you all you lot for forcing me to watch the “other” at the duplex.
Um…you’re welcome..?
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly declare and clarify that there are SIX Star Wars movies, them being A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and The Revenge of the Sith. The excellent television series The Clone Wars also exists.
Rogue One was actually pretty good, but stands outside of the main sequence. TFA was a bad retcon of “Star Wars” (I still won’t call it, “A New Hope”), and TLJ was the perfect, BAD ending for the “Star Wars” saga. I really have no interest in seeing Episode IX. Notice, I won’t even dignify those pieces of crap with a name.
Nolan, hon, you’re a victim of your youth and inexperience. To anyone who can remember when the first film came out, there is only one “Star Wars.” No one who saw that film in the theater during its first release ever called it “A New Hope,” nor did they ever call The Empire Strikes Back “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” and so forth. If they felt a need to distinguish the film subtitled “A New Hope” from other films in the series, they said, “The Original Star Wars” or “The First Star Wars.” (This became a little confusing after The Phantom Menace was released, but they would still use some phrase like, “the first trilogy they made” or “the 1977 film.”)
In the interest of accuracy, there are Ten films and two series (Clone WarsandRebels). When you’re completist like me, you gotta count them all, even the crappy ones. Personally, I enjoyed Solo.
All that said, Laura is spot on. To we first generation fans, it was Star Wars,Empire and Jedi. Everything else is retrofitted.
Honestly, the only reason I count the prequels is because I love Revenge of the Sith so much. I would even say it’s my favorite: an unpopular opinion, I know.