STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (1977) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

star wars: A NEw hope (1977) movie

Genre              |   Science Fiction
Classification   |   PG
Running time   |   121 minutes
Released         |   25 May 1977

cast

Mark Hamill ... Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford ... Han Solo
Carrie Fisher ... Princess Leia
Anthony Daniels ... C-3PO
David Prowse ... Darth Vader
Peter Mayhew ... Chewbacca
Kenny Baker ... R2-D2
Alec Guinness ... Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi
Peter Cushing ... Grand Moff Tarkin
Phil Brown ... Uncle Owen
Shelagh Fraser ... Aunt Beru
​James Earl Jones ... Darth Vader (voice) (uncredited)
Denis Lawson ... Rebel Force Wedge (as Dennis Lawson)

director

George Lucas

writer

George Lucas ... (written by)

cinematographer

​Gilbert Taylor ... director of photography

music

John Williams

film editor

​T.M. Christopher ... (1997 special version)
Paul Hirsch ... (film editor)
George Lucas ... (uncredited)
Marcia Lucas ... (film editor)
Richard Chew ... (film editor)

box office result

Worldwide             $​​​​​​503,015,849
Australia                 $​​​​​ not available
North America       $​​​​​​​​​​307,263,857

movie minutiae

​Prior to the release, George Lucas showed an early rough cut to a group of his movie director friends. According to Lucas, this version still contained a lot of stock footage from old war movies in the place of special effects shots, and did not make a lot of sense. Most people in the room had a "what were you thinking?" response toward it; Brian De Palma reportedly called it the "worst movie ever". Nearly everyone, including Lucas, felt the movie would be a flop; the only dissenter was Steven Spielberg, who predicted that the film would be "the biggest movie of all time" and make millions of dollars. Lucas admitted that everybody in the room looked up at Steven and thought "Poor Steven".
​The name Wookiee came about as a result of an accident. When San Francisco D.J. Terence McGovern was doing voice-over work on THX 1138 (1971) for George Lucas, he made a blunder and exclaimed, "I think I ran over a wookiee back there." George Lucas, confused, asked what he meant by the term. Terence McGovern admitted that he didn't know, and added that he simply made it up. George Lucas never forgot the cute word and used it in this movie.
After visiting the set of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977), George Lucas was sure CLOSE ENCOUNTERS would outperform the yet-to-be-released STAR WARS at the box office. Steven Spielberg disagreed, and felt Lucas' STAR WARS would be the bigger hit. Lucas proposed they trade two and a half percent of the profit on each other's movies. Spielberg took the trade, and still receives two and a half percent of the profits from this movie.

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STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (1977) MOVIE IMAGES

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STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (1977) STORY SYNOPSIS

​The Imperial Forces -- under orders from cruel Darth Vader (David Prowse) -- hold Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) hostage, in their efforts to quell the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), captain of the Millennium Falcon, work together with the companionable droid duo R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) to rescue the beautiful princess, help the Rebel Alliance, and restore freedom and justice to the Galaxy.

STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (1977) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 1 November 2014
​​Pop Movee Rating

STAR WARS is a landmark film in so many ways; it's difficult to review it objectively. The release of the film cemented the idea in Hollywood that Summer movie releases in the US should be action films that were entertaining for as broad an audience as possible. The film also set a new benchmark for the use of visual effects as an integral component of the story. STAR WARS also created a universe outside of the film itself, driven largely by merchandise tie-ins that marketed the film to a youth audience. So, putting aside the phenomenon that grew out of its release, how does Star Wars stand up as a film?

So, what about the story?

The story is simple… Princess Leia, while being pursued by the evil Darth Vader, loads top secret information into R2-D2, a service droid aboard her ship. R2, and his fellow droid C3PO, use an escape pod to escape from the Princess' heavily damaged spaceship.

This opening sequence sets the tone for everything that is to come over the next two hours; big effects, the Princess, the shoot-out between the Rebels and the Imperial Forces, the droids and Darth Vader!

The story then cuts to the planet below, where Luke Skywalker comes into the possession of the droids C-3PO and R2-D2. Luke discovers that they have a connection with Ben Kenobi, so he decides to seek him out and find out more. R2-D2 reveals a message with Princess Leia asking Ben for help in her fight against the Empire. Ben, Luke and the two droids set off to charter a spaceship and soon after meet Han Solo and his co-pilot Chewbacca. 

The Mos Eisley scenes were instrumental in getting STAR WARS a great deal of publicity when the movie was first released. Audiences had never seen such a vast array of creatures that took them away to another place in the galaxy. These creatures would soon after provide George Lucas with vast amounts of money as he exercised the rights to produce STAR WARS merchandise through various toy & entertainment companies. The action figures of Greedo, Hammerhead and Snaggle Tooth would all find their way into the bedrooms of children all over the planet.

After escaping the cantina, Luke, Ben, C-3PO & R2-D2 head to the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo & Chewbacca, but not without incident. Evading Imperial Cruisers, they make the jump to light speed and Ben soon feels that there has been a great disturbance in the Force. Arriving at the coordinates of the planet Alderaan, the group find nothing but space debris. The planet has been destroyed by the Empire's most powerful weapon - the Death Star!

The Death Star sequence is the film’s strongest section. During their time on the Death Star, the audience get the sense of the emerging heroes in both Luke and Han. There’s also a great throwback to the cinema of the 1930s and 1940s with Luke & Leia’s dramatic chasm-swing and there’s the quieter more suspenseful moments with the Kenobi character on his own mission to save the group.

At the beginning of the piece, the Millennium Falcon is caught in the Death Star's tractor beam, which forces the entire group to become stowaways on their own ship. The group successfully evade detection, but are forced to take their chances on board the Death Star.  R2-D2 learns that Princess Leia is aboard but is scheduled for termination! 

The group decide to rescue her. Ben, however, tells them he'll put the tractor beam out of commission and meet them back at the Millennium Falcon. The droids stay put while Han, Luke and Chewbacca head to the detention block where the Princess is being held. Upon getting to the detention area, the trio find Leia but their cover is blown and Imperial forces rush to prevent their escape. With no other way out, Han blasts a hole in the wall and the four of them slide into a garbage compactor!

The compactor scene is where the chemistry between the three leads is cemented. It’s only a couple of minutes, but in that very short time, the relationship that endures for the rest of STAR WARS, as well as the subsequent sequels, is captured between Luke, Han and Leia.

After some misadventure, the group get themselves out of trouble only to be confronted by more of the same in the form of hundreds of Imperial Stormtroopers. Undeterred, the group split up with Han And Chewbacca going on the attack, while Luke and Leia try for a shortcut back to the Millennium Falcon.

Meanwhile, Ben Kenobi has put the tractor beam out of commission, but is confronted by his old pupil - Darth Vader! The two lock light sabres in a duel to the death. As they parry and slash their way through the corridors of the Death Star, they eventually find their way back to the hangar where the Millennium Falcon lies in wait for her crew to return.

Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca also meet back near the hangar and decide to make a run for the ship even though it's heavily guarded by Stormtroopers. Suddenly, the Stormtroopers leave their post; their attention drawn by something else. Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca decide to make a run for the ship. As they do, they see Ben battling Darth Vader. 

Realising that his time is at an end, Ben concedes the light sabre duel by raising the sabre to his head and closing his eyes. Vader swings his sabre back and Kenobi disappears. Luke screams out, drawing the attention of the Stormtroopers. As they charge back towards the Millennium Falcon, Luke opens fires on them. Hearing Ben’s voice telling him to run, Luke realises he’s out-numbered and scrambles to get on board the Falcon as Han and Chewbacca kick it into action to escape the Death Star.

The group evade pursuing enemy fighters and make their way to a secret rebel base, not realising that the ship has been bugged with a homing device. Luke learns that rebel forces intend to attack the Death Star using the technical read-outs that R2-D2 has been carrying inside him. He decides to join them in their fight, but is frustrated by Han's reluctance to get involved.

The rebel forces set off in their ships to attack the Death Star. The commander of the Death Star informs Vader that the rebel ships are so small they're evading the Death Star's weapons. This forces Vader to take an attack force of his own to combat them ship-to-ship. Vader's plan proves a success, as the Rebel forces are shot down one-by-one. Luke, however, manages to avoid the Imperial fighters and makes his run down one of the Death Star's trenches, spurred on by the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Before he can take his shot, Luke realises that Vader is right on his tail and is closing in for the kill. Before Vader can shoot, one of the other Imperial ships is hit by incoming fire. It's Han & Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon and they're just in time! The Imperial ship loses control cutting across Vader's path, sending his ship careering out of control into the depths of space. Luke hears Han telling him to blow the Death Star, so they can go home. Skywalker fires his proton torpedoes into one of the Death Star's exhaust port and, as the remaining ships get out fast, the battle station explodes before it can fire on the Rebel base!

The story concludes with Luke, Han & Chewbacca receiving bravery medals and the accolades of their new found Rebel allies.

STAR WARS can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. I like the idea of adding as much detail as possible because it helps to illustrate that the film is not simply a children's story. It is more adult and more complex than what many people give it credit for, but the beauty of it is that Lucas manages to get his exposition done while keeping the action moving forward.

The story only has one glaringly obvious problem and that is the fate of Darth Vader. George Lucas must have been incredibly confident that a follow-up film would be made. So, just like the movie serials upon which Star Wars is based, Lucas made sure that one of the two antagonists lived to fight another day against the newly-bestowed heroes. The other antagonist, governor Tarkin played by veteran British actor Peter Cushing, was the villain of the piece who ended up becoming star dust when Luke torpedoes the Death Star.

The screenplay is not without its problems, but the story is compelling and keeps the audience involved for the duration of the film.

No one knew in 1977 what a success STAR WARS would turn out to be. A few of George Lucas's friends had seen the film prior to its advance and people such as Steven Spielberg suspected that Lucas had a hit on his hands. It wasn't until a couple of weeks after the release of the film that strong word of mouth started to drive scores of moviegoers to the cinema to see this astounding film.

STAR WARS set a new benchmark for production design. The movie had a lived-in, "used future" look to everything seen on the screen as it took audiences to a galaxy far, far away. Prior to STAR WARS only Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY had completely realised a futuristic environment so completely, but this was based on already established technology that NASA was using in the space program at the time. STAR WARS was new and very different. Notably, it was the Mos Eisley cantina scene that drew a great amount of attention at the time due mainly to the vast array of alien life forms that inhabit the scene.

In addition to the cantina, the Millennium falcon, the Death Star and the blockade runner are all bespoke environments created from the production team's imagination into fully realised working environments. This was no mean feat by Lucas and his crew, as the film's budget was tight and the support of 20th century Fox CEO Alan Ladd JR was crucial in making sure the film had enough money to be completed.

Four people were critical in creating the STAR WARS universe. The first person was Ralph McQuarrie. STAR WARS fans the world over know his work, as many designs from his pre-production artwork what ended up in the finished film with only small variations from the conceptual art to the finished filmed piece. His paintings provided the inspiration for all other artists on the production to push the envelope and create something special. 

The second person was Production Designer John Barry, who had already designed a near-future science fiction environment for Stanley Kubrick’s film A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Barry also went on to do the production design for the SPERMAN I & II films, but, sadly, died in 1979 of meningitis. The third & fourth were Art Directors Norman Reynolds & Leslie Dilley, two hugely talented individuals who have become Production Designers in their own right and have handled design duties some of the biggest films of the last 35 years.

STAR WARS needed effects that had not even been created at the time George Lucas wrote the story. To get what he needed Lucas created his own effects company, the now-celebrated Industrial Light & Magic. What a master stroke! 

Once again, Lucas was creating the future to meet the needs of his storytelling. ILM has gone on to become the preeminent effects production company for films and TV shows around the world, but it wasn't like that in the beginning when the Director was in desperate need of his EFX shots to complete the film.  Lucas himself has stated that he had to walk a fine line during the production of STAR WARS as he was acting in a dual-capacity as Director of the film and owner of ILM. If he wanted have an effects business at the conclusion of filming, he had to make sure he didn't disenfranchise the talent he had working for him at ILM. On the other side, he was obligated to Fox to deliver his film for the summer of 1977 and, if he ever wanted to direct another film, he needed to make sure that STAR WARS made the studio release schedule.

In the end, he managed both, giving the studio its film and getting the shots he needed to make the EFX something that audiences had never seen before. As we know, the EFX in the first three STAR WARS films have become a subject that he has revisited more than once; improving certain shots as technological improvements, especially in digital effects, have allowed effects elements to be improved. In 1977 though, his team at ILM were recognised for their work with John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune & Robert Blalack winning numerous awards, including the Academy Award, for their work on the film.

What about the acting?

George Lucas is not an actor's Director and, there's little doubt, the leads must have, at times, been scratching their heads at what they were filming. The most criticism is reserved for Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. Sure, he's meant to be a kid, but the character comes across as a whining know-it-all with some flourishes of the melodramatic thrown in for good measure. I don't think it was entirely Hamill's doing to play him this way, but his performance is the weakest. 

Carrie Fisher, on the other hand, gives a feisty performance that lights up the screen every time she appears. It’d hard to believe that she was still a teenager when she played this role. It’s unfortunate that her character was diminished throughout the course of the trilogy. Her turn as the Princess in this one shows her as a freedom fighter who has gone to extraordinary lengths for a greater cause and that’s how she acts.

It’s hard to argue that Harrison Ford’s Han Solo brought the rugged anti-hero of yester-year new meaning in STAR WARS. Very much like Humphrey Bogart in the 1930s and 1940s, Ford brings a charm and swagger to a character that, on face value, shouldn’t be sympathetic at all. He’s selfish, only in it for the money and, at first, seems keen to stay as far away from trouble as much as possible. There’s an ever-so slight mockery of the whole situation in Ford’s performance and, I suspect, it wasn’t all acting on his part. Even early in his career, Ford was known to become frustrated with Directors incapable of keeping the show together. It has been well documented on more than one occasion that Lucas struggled to keep the STAR WARS production from going off the railroad track. Regardless of the motivation, Han Solo, along with Indiana Jones, sky-rocketed Harrison Ford into the stratosphere of genuine movie star.

If ever there was a supporting role that brought dignity to proceedings, the portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi by Alec Guiness must rate as one of the best. Guiness is not really in the movie for very long, but his scenes on board the Death Star play out as part of a three-pronged story that culminates in his “death” at the end of the Second Act. So, not only is the character vital in moving the story forward beyond the group’s escape form the Death Star, it also provides Luke with the motivation to take his place as both hero and, ultimately, Jedi. Guiness, who was a legend of stage & screen around the world by this time, was recognised for his work on STAR WARS with a number of Nominations for both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. He didn’t win either, but it is fair to say his presence lifted the tone of the show considerably.

The antithesis of the Obi-Wan Kenobi role was the evil Governor Tarkin, played by another famous British actor, Peter Cushing. Cushing had been a genre favourite for years having appeared in many of the Hammer horror films and even did a stint as The Doctor in two big screen adaptations of DR, WHO in the 1960s. Like Guiness, Cushing brought a level of class to his role as Governor Tarkin and imbued him with a wonderful blend of “I’m just doing my job” and “Gee, I get a kick out of being evil”. There’s also the great vowel-rolling that comes from a veteran of the British theatre, which, to this day, still elicits genuine glee when watching the film.

No review of the acting in STAR WARS could be complete without the mention of James Earl Jones. Jones never appeared on screen, but as the voice of Darth Vader, he took the idea of villain to a whole new level. The deep baritone of his voice, coupled with the ‘metallic’ alteration made Vader as frightening an antagonist as what had ever appeared on the big screen. Surprisingly, Jones didn’t ask for a credit on the film as he didn’t believe his contribution was large enough to warrant one. 

In addition to the ‘completeness’ achieved by the production design, the production & post production elements of cinematography, sound and music combined perfectly to create something audiences had never seen or heard before. Brit Gil Taylor handled the cinematography, Don MacDougall the sound & Ben Burtt the sound effects and John Williams the music. 

Special mention must go to Williams whose STAR WARS theme is recognised the world over. (Not to mention, his work before and after this film.) Williams won the Academy Award for his soundtrack and has gone on to score every subsequent STAR WARS "Skywalker Saga" film that has come thereafter.

​There’s no doubt, as a film, STAR WARS ticks just about all the boxes. There’s some issues but they’re not insurmountable. The movie deserves to be regarded as a revolutionary piece of film-making, especially in the area of special effects. It also deserves to be regarded, along with JAWS (1975), as a pioneering film that ushered in a new way for people to consider the type of movie they wanted to see at the cinema. STAR WARS should be rightly regarded as a modern cinema classic.

STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (1977) USEFUL LINKS

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