You want to know what it was like when it was first released - I saw it as a tween and the whole audience was just completely immersed and invested. It got a standing ovation! It's all people talked about once they saw it. Lines formed to see it that were blocks and blocks long. They'd start forming a couple of hours beforehand and you'd just wait - play music, play card games, etc. to pass the time. When the second movie (Ep. V) came out several years later, it was even worse - my friends and I would get there about three hours ahead to be at the front of the line. (sometimes already half a block long). And nobody saw it just once - we went over and over again. Such great memories!
When I saw it, I was in the state's capital city, for an employer's medical that would green-light my first job out of high school. I'd travelled 400km for this, and I had the afternoon to kill before catching a train home that evening. My town was too small to have a cinema, and the nearest cinema was 100km (basically, an hour's drive away). So I went to see this 'Star Wars' movie everyone was raving about. Needless to say, MIND. BLOWN. Nobody had EVER done a movie like this. Science fiction movies of that time *gleamed.* Everything 'high tech' was spotless, polished and shiny. Not so much as a scratch. Sterile. This new universe, on the other hand, felt Lived In. It was grimy, and things looked old and used. C3PO and R2D2 had numerous dents and scrapes. 3PO's lower right leg is a different colour than the rest of him. At some point in the past, he's lost half a leg, and had to have it replaced with one that didn't match. That kind of detail was applied to everything, even the cast's clothing. And the story was engrossing. When the Death Star was destroyed, the entire audience was on their feet yelling and cheering. Mind blown again. I have NEVER in my life seen that happen, before or since. So yeah, that was my first time experience of Star Wars. I already had a deep love of science fiction books, and this cemented sci-fi in my heart forever.
The scene near the beginning of the movie where Han is talking to Jabba the Hutt at the hanger that the Millennium Falcon was parked at was cut from the original. In it, Jabba was played by a human actor, because at that point George Lucas thought the Hutts were just a cartel family. In the scene Harrison Ford (playing Han) walked behind the other human actor as you see. Later, Lucas reimangined the Hutts as a separate species, so when they put this scene back in, they had to figure out how Han could walk so closely behind the torso of Jabba's slug-body. That's why he steps on Jabba's tail. They had to edit it so Han moves up and back down as he steps on his tail. Also, that is why the dialog has Han saying "You're a wonderful human being". After they changed it to have Jabba being a different species, it still works because Han is very snarky and you can imagine him saying that.
I was 13 Years old in 1977 when I saw Star Wars in the Movie theatre. The special effects were ahead of its time. It was originally just called Star Wars because George Lucas did not know if he would be able to make more Star Wars movies. The Movie was renumbered Episode IV when Episode V The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980. The scene where Han Solo is trying to stall the Storm troopers from coming into the Detention Center was improvised.
I think it's sad that younger viewers don't get to discover these movies on the big screen for the first time - it was magical. I'm not talking about the multiplex/cineplex "big" screens-I'm talking about the old-fashioned movie "palaces" with huge screens - they don't know what they're missing!
This particular version had a few scenes added & altered when they re-released the trilogy to theater & home video all of the o.t. re a few scenes . Also the Jawa transport prop almost caused a war when filming was gaining on in tunisisa.
I saw this in the theater in 1977. It became a phenomenon very quickly and George Lucas always had it in his head to do 3 movies in the original trilogy and then a prequel trilogy. He had a vision for the story of both trilogies pretty early on. He was inspired by serial films like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. Back in the 1930s and through the 40s and 50s people would go watch serial films at the theater every week. If you missed one, they were kind of episodic so you didn't necessarily get completely left behind, and maybe you came in to a serial somewhere in the middle. Also, as can be seen in the beginning of Star Wars: A New Hope, Lucas always liked to start In Media Res (in the middle of the action). This is why starting with episode IV wasn't as weird as it seems now. Anyway, What could be more in the middle of the action than halfway through Darth Vader's story. Also he was heavily influenced by samurai films, especially those of Akira Kurosawa. The influence of eastern philosphy/religion/Bushido culrure can be seen in how Lucas imagines and portrays The Force and the Jedi. There is a samurai film called Hidden Fortress which starts with 2 Japanese peasants bickering and bantering wirh each other that were the inspiration for C3P0 and R2-D2
I watched your reaction and felt like I was watching movie I love with new friends I get the feeling may become life-long friends. Thanks, I had fun reliving my old great memories with new friends.
Excellent reaction!!!! BTW I need to warn you guys about something; you might come across some people in the comments that are gonna try to pressure you to not watch Episodes 7,8 &9. DO NOT listen to them. Watch them and decide for your self whether you like them or not.
I don't know if you had subtitles on, and in next movie there are not much alien language but for Return of the Jedi there are much aliens language, mostly Huttese that bring the story forward so I suggest you have subtitles on for that so your know what's going on.
Great reaction! It is very interesting to see your joint detailed reaction to the film Robocop 1987. This is a cool movie 🦾🤖🔥 Do you have any plans to do it?