Parents Guide for
Star Wars (1977) More at IMDbPro »

Note: The number at the beginning of each section refers to how explicit that aspect of the film is on a scale of 1-10. The fraction at the end of the Frightening/Intense Scenes category is the total sum of all the sections out of the highest sum possible (50) and therefore an approximation of how much explicit content of any kind is in the film.

Rating: 0/10

None.

5/10.

Early in the film, Luke sees the burned and smoking bodies of his Aunt and Uncle. They are skeletons (shown very briefly).

There are numerous scenes of gunplay, all of which leave no visible wounds. Grand Moff Tarkin has an entire planet by the Death Star's main gun destroyed merely as a show of force, killing billions of people and other lifeforms in the process.

Numerous characters die in the space battle sequence near the end of the film, some of them are shown at the moment their craft explode.

Early in the picture, the character "Obi-Wan Kenobi" cuts off the arm of an attacker with his lightsaber who was threatening him with a gun. In this scene, the severed arm is shown with some fake-looking blood around it. In subsequent sequences of lightsaber combat, the effects are bloodless.

The character "Darth Vader" is shown to strangle a man half to death using the Force, and later decapitates Kenobi, though Kenobi's body disappears at the moment of death.

The character "Han Solo" is involved in a shooting early on in the film, when he shoots a gangster looking to capture him (in pre-1997 cuts of the film, Han is shown to shoot before the gangster has made any indication of being about to fire, later cuts soften this to Han responding in self-defense after being fired upon).

The heroes shoot numerous objects in a jail reception center as well as the guards.

Darth Vader lifts a man off the floor by his throat, and subsequently strangles him to death before throwing him to the floor. The sound of bones being crushed can be heard as the man is strangled. No blood or disfigurement is shown.

The violence is never intense or serious, and there is no blood visible and if so, in one scene for a second or two.

½/10.

One or two uses of "damn"

One use of "what the hell"

½/10.

There is a scene early on in the film set at a bar. Numerous characters are drinking unidentified beverages, presumed to be alcoholic. One character in the scene is seen smoking a hookha, another appears to be smoking a cigarette on a holder.

4/10. Total - 11/50.

Luke and company end up in a trash compacter that poses two threats. First, a creature lurks under the floating garbage and then attacks and pulls Luke under. Second, the walls of the giant trash compactor begin closing in and it's all the group can do to survive as Luke desperately contacts their droid companions who manage to stop the walls and open the door out.

In the final battle's trench run, Luke's wingmen are killed or forced to disengage one by one by Darth Vader pursuing and shooting them. As the music builds in intensity, Vader is about to shoot down Luke until the Millennium Falcon suddenly attacks out of the starlight to remove the hero's pursuers.