Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

As Luke trains with Master Yoda to become a Jedi Knight, his friends evade the Imperial fleet under the command of Darth Vader who is obsessed with turning Skywalker to the Dark Side of the Force.

Director:

Irvin Kershner

Writers:

Leigh Brackett (screenplay), Lawrence Kasdan (screenplay),

Stars:

Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

Top 250 #11 | Won 1 Oscar. Another 12 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Hamill	...	Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford	...	Han Solo
Carrie Fisher	...	Princess Leia
Billy Dee Williams	...	Lando Calrissian
Anthony Daniels	...	C-3PO
David Prowse	...	Darth Vader
Peter Mayhew	...	Chewbacca
Kenny Baker	...	R2-D2
Frank Oz	...	Yoda (voice)
Alec Guinness	...	Ben 'Obi-wan' Kenobi
Jeremy Bulloch	...	Boba Fett
John Hollis	...	Lando's Aide
Jack Purvis	...	Chief Ugnaught
Des Webb	...	Snow Creature
Clive Revill	...	Emperor (voice)

Storyline

Fleeing the evil Galactic Empire, the Rebels abandon their new base in an assault with the Imperial AT-AT walkers on the ice world of Hoth. Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca and the droid C-3PO escape in the Millennium Falcon, but are later captured by Darth Vader on Bespin. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and the droid R2-D2 follows Obi-Wan Kenobi's posthumous command, and receives Jedi training from Master Yoda on the swamp world of Dagobah. Will Skywalker manage to rescue his friends from the Dark Lord?

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Plot Keywords:

princess | empire | rebel | escape | training | 

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Taglines:

The Adventure Continues...

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for sci-fi action violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 May 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back

Filming Locations:

Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

ITL 609,584,000 (Italy) (11 April 1997)

Gross:

$290,158,751 (USA) (9 May 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lucasfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min 127 min (special edition)

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When escaping the asteroid field a tie fighter strikes an asteroid. As the asteroid travels down and to the right off screen, the pilot can be seen traveling down and to the left doing back flips as he travels off screen.

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Goofs

Just before cutting off Luke's hand, Vader cuts through a piece of equipment on the bridge. As the top of the pipe falls off, both cut ends are wrapped in what appears to be duct tape, most likely to hold it in place for multiple takes. When the scene cuts to a new angle, the duct tape is gone.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Luke: Echo Three to Echo Seven. Han, old buddy, do you read me?
Han Solo: Loud and clear, kid. What's up?
Luke: Well, I finished my circle. I don't pick up any life readings.
Han Solo: There isn't enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser. Sensors are placed. I'm going back.
Luke: Right. I'll see you shortly. There's a meteorite that hit the ground near here. I want to check it out. It won't take long.

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Futurama: Viva Mars Vegas (2012)

User Reviews

Better than Titanic!!!

While the Titanic made all the rich people (with the exception of Molly Brown and Rose) automatically uncaring, snobby, and thoughtless just because they were rich and needed a couple of villains for the story, The Empire Strikes Back did not portray "the villain" in a completely evil light. Sympathy is induced when we see the back of Darth Vader's scarred and pasty head. When he tells Luke of their blood relationship, some feeling is allowed to creep in, telling us that he is not just some maniacal killing machine, but a human, fallen from grace, yet able to retain some sense of love, however twisted it may be.