Night At The Movies

Star Wars:  A New Hope   (1977) (Fox)

Synopsis:

Above a quiet desert planet, two ships fire at each other.  As the larger ship engulfs the smaller, a girl hides the technichal readouts to a massive battle station in a robot (known as 'droids) to be given to a man on the planet below.  The droid, R2-D2 and his counterpart C-3PO take an emergency pod to the planet's surface.  They become the property of Luke Skywalker, a kid who wants to get away from home.  When R2 runs off, Luke meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi master, who convinces Luke to come with him to help the girl.  They meet Han Solo, a pilot with an unbelievable string of luck, and it is up to them to keep the evil Empire from destroying the universe.

Availability:
VHS:      THX edition:  No longer available
              Special Edition:  Widescreen and Pan and Scan, but soon will be no longer available
Laserdisc:    THX:  No longer available
                   Special Edition:  Widescreen and Pan and Scan

Cast/Crew:
George Lucas                Director
          (Producer, Exec. Prod unless otherwise noted)
          American Grafitti (director)
          Raiders of the Lost Ark
          Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,
          Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
 
Mark Hamill                Luke Skywalker
        The Big Red One
        Batman:  The Animated Series (television) (voice of the Joker)
        Batman:  Mask of the Phantasm (voice)
        Spiderman (voice of the Hobgoblin)
        The Flash (television)
        Corvette Summer
        The Empire Strikes Back
        Return of the Jedi

Harrison Ford               Han Solo
        Air Force One
        Sabrina (1996)
        The Fugitive
        Regarding Henry
        Patriot Games
        Clear and Present Danger
        Witness
        The Empire Strikes Back
        Return of the Jedi
        American Grafitti
        Blade Runner

Carrie Fisher                Princess Leia
        Under The Rainbow
        Drop Dead Fred
        The Empire Strikes Back
        Return of the Jedi

James Earl Jones          Darth Vader (voice)
        Field of Dreams
        A Family Thing
        Hunt for Red October
        The Empire Strikes Back (voice)
        Return of the Jedi (voice)

Miscellaneous:

The Special Editon was released in 1997, and included a previously unreleased scene between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt, who was originally introduced in Return of the Jedi.  It also included a digitally remastered print, and Industrial Light and Magic digitally included new elements in the film.  Watch for the Mos Eisley sequences and Han Solo chasing after the storm troopers.
Star Wars changed the way films were made and practically created the merchandising market that we know today.
Two sequels:  The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983)
Three prequels:  No titles yet, will be refered to now as Episode one, Episode two and Episode three.  To be released in 1999, 2002, and 2005, respectively.
Star Wars was the biggest money-making movie until Titanic broke its record

MPAA Rating:
PG -- Some language, space battles, fighting with guns (blasters)

My Rating:
This is one of my two favorite films of all time.  Lucas wrote an amazing story and it still holds up today.  If you have not seen Star Wars, I believe you are one of only fifteen people alive today who have not seen it.  It is even more popular today than it's original release twenty years ago, and has been extremely successful in terms of spin-offs.

*****

S - Z
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