Star Wars (1977)

Luke Skywalker, a spirited farm boy, joins rebel forces to save Princess Leia from the evil Darth Vader, and the galaxy from the Empire's planet-destroying Death Star.

Director:

George Lucas

Writer:

George Lucas

Stars:

Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

Top 250 #16 | Won 6 Oscars. Another 33 wins & 24 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Hamill	...	Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford	...	Han Solo
Carrie Fisher	...	Princess Leia Organa
Peter Cushing	...	Grand Moff Tarkin
Alec Guinness	...	Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi
Anthony Daniels	...	C-3PO
Kenny Baker	...	R2-D2
Peter Mayhew	...	Chewbacca
David Prowse	...	Darth Vader
Phil Brown	...	Uncle Owen
Shelagh Fraser	...	Aunt Beru
Jack Purvis	...	Chief Jawa
Alex McCrindle	...	General Dodonna
Eddie Byrne	...	General Willard
Drewe Henley	...	Red Leader (as Drewe Hemley)

Storyline

Part IV in George Lucas' epic, Star Wars: A New Hope opens with a Rebel ship being boarded by the tyrannical Darth Vader. The plot then follows the life of a simple farm boy, Luke Skywalker, as he and his newly met allies (Han Solo, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, R2-D2) attempt to rescue a Rebel leader, Princess Leia, from the clutches of the Empire. The conclusion is culminated as the Rebels, including Skywalker and flying ace Wedge Antilles make an attack on the Empire's most powerful and ominous weapon, the Death Star.

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Plot Keywords:

empire | galaxy | planet | princess | farm | 

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Taglines:

It's Back! (re-release)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for sci-fi violence and brief mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 May 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Adventures of the Starkiller: Episode 1 - The Star Wars

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£6,032,329 (UK) (21 March 1997)

Gross:

ESP 1,366,116,825 (Spain) (13 July 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lucasfilm, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min 125 min (special edition)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While George Lucas was filming on location in Tunisia, the Libyan government became worried about a massive military vehicle parked near the Libyan border. Consequently, the Tunisian government, receiving threats of military mobilization, politely asked Lucas to move his Jawa sandcrawler farther away from the border.

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Goofs

On the way to the turbo lift to the detention area, the position of the rifle Han Solo (dressed as a stormtrooper) jumps from shot to shot.

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Quotes

[first lines]
C-3PO: Did you hear that? They shut down the main reactor. We'll be destroyed for sure. This is madness.

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Crazy Credits

The film has no opening credits. Instead, the first credits seen at the end of the film are presented in the order in which they would have otherwise been shown at the start. Although by the late 1990s it was commonplace for films to not have opening credits, in 1977 it was somewhat unusual for a major film to not have opening credits.

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Connections

Referenced in The Making of 'Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas' (2003)

User Reviews

The greatest cinematic epic of all time begins here.

Here begins the greatest cinematic epic of all time, and arguably one of the greatest stories ever told. Originally conceived as a serialized popcorn movie in the manner of the old action movies that Lucas grew up with, Star Wars surpassed even George's keen and bombastic imagination to become a central part of movie history.

There are countless tales of the making of this movie; how Lucas never believed he would get the chance to complete the series, how it spawned an industry and made the name of nearly everyone who touched it a household word. But what that does not reveal, nor do the much diminished prequels, is the sheer joy and excitement these movies generated.

It was a once in a lifetime experience. You could feel it from opening day, earlier if you paid attention to such things. We had never seen anything like it, and we are not likely to again.

This episode finds young Luke Skywalker yearning to leave the agrarian life he has with his aunt and uncle, and chase after adventure as his friends before him have already done. And what adventure there is. The galaxy is in the grip of a massive rebellion against a tyrannical and oppressive empire, but on Luke's home planet, it's something you only dare speak of in a whisper.

Along come two robots, "Droids" for short, who inadvertently involve Luke in a stellar attempt to contact an old wizard named Ben Kenobi, who lives in the caves near Luke's home.

The rest is history, and there isn't a person alive in the civilized world who doesn't have at least some awareness of the epic story that unfolds. Luke's rise from adolescent obscurity on Tatooine to a leading role in the greatest struggle of all time is told with humor, action, adventure, and always a sense of story that is unmatched on the screen or on the page.

With the completion of the prequel trilogy, these films are enjoying a renewed popularity among a generation that never saw the films on the big screen, and the theatric revivals are almost guaranteed. Go. Get some popcorn. And may the Force be with you.