First Star Wars Movie 1977

Star Wars

George Lucas’ science fiction epic set new standards for the great space adventure rating

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Luke Skywalker Han Solo Princess Leia Ben Kenobi Darth Vader Admiral Tarkin R2D2 Chewbacca C3PO

Editorial Review

“Episode IV” is known to be the first Star Wars film of 1977 here the young Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) first takes up the fight against the sinister Darth Vader and discovers his vocation as a Jedi Knight. After Episode V (“The Empire Strikes Back”) and VI (“Return of the Jedi Knights”), the dark power of the Empire is broken and everything goes back to square one: Episodes I and II show how it all once began. True fans take nothing else on this long “Star Wars” Saturday.

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Strap in ten hours of action in a row!

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Star Wars (US 1977)

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supplemented scene from reconstructed version (Special Edition). supplemented scene from reconstructed version (Special Edition).

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Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope News Trailer Cast & Staff User Reviews Press Reviews FILMSTARTS Review Streaming Blu-ray, DVD User rating 4.7 2720 ratings – 43 reviews Rated : 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Would like to see review Write a review

Synopsis

FSK rated 6+ Released Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) of Alderaan has obtained the plans to build the Empire’s Death Star. But she is soon captured by Darth Vader (David Prowse), but is still able to send a distress call to Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guiness), who has retreated into exile on the desert planet Tatooine. The message is stored in the droid C-3PO, which is found after some confusion by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Kenobi reveals to the young adult that he is the son of a deceased Jedi Knight. He also asks him to answer Princess Leia’s call for help – when Luke finds his relatives murdered, he accompanies Kenobi. They meet Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca at Mos Eisley spaceport, two pilots who help them escape from Imperial stormtroopers. A chase through space begins, while the Death Star is now operational and on course for Alderaan….

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Review of the FILMSTARTS editorial staff

An undefined day in 1977 was to become the blackest in the annals of Hollywood major 20th Century Fox. Director, writer and producer George Lucas is in the starting blocks with his sci-fi spectacle “Star Wars”. The results of test screenings are anything but promising. A Fox management employee makes the biggest and most costly mistake ever made by a studio: He cedes all rights to “Star Wars” to Lucas – free of charge, because the latter waives his fee in return. The result is well known. The “Stars Wars” series becomes not only one of the most successful of all time, but also an absolute cult – and Lucas becomes a billionaire thanks to the monstrous income from films and merchandising. Which allows him to finance all further parts out of his own pocket. Once upon a time in Read the full review

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Sorry, but I can’t write much about this one. “Star Wars”, or as the film is now called “Star Wars Episode 4 A New Hope”, as long as George Lucas doesn’t make any more nonsensical changes to the original trilogy, is and will remain a masterpiece. Boring in many places, but still a film that belongs to a trilogy that simply must be seen. Conclusion: Masterpiece “Star Wars” is a pretty old film and yes he is film history, but in my opinion, these films can not keep up with new films … visually clear for this year very strong but in the current comparison honestly nothing more special. letzedlich is the film good in my opinion more also not! It’s already hard for me to say something about STAR WARS, because everything has already been said by many, but since it is one of my favorite films, I’ll give it a try: Even if you have seen it several times, it is still one of the best science fiction films of all time. Action-packed, exciting, heroes to root for, Darth Vader is one of the best movie villains ever, lots of references to samurai, wild west and adventure movies and even … Learn More With 2001 the best science fiction film …about this masterpiece everything has been said..7 Oscar nomminierungen rightly ! 43 user reviews

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Versions

Meanwhile “Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope” is available in different special effects versions. In 1977 the original version was released in theaters (“Star Wars”), then in 1997 a visually polished version – the “Special Edition”. In 2004, when it was first released on DVD, effects in the film were changed again. The following two episodes of “Star Wars – Episode IV” also underwent changes in 1997 and 2004.

More details

Country of production USA Distributor Fox Germany Year of production 1977 Film type Feature film Trivia 1 Budget 11 500 000 $ Re-release 20/03/1997 Languages English Production format – color Format Color Sound format – aspect ratio – visa Number –

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When George Lucas appeared on set for the filming of “Star Wars Episode I” on June 26, 1997, he had the laughs on his side. The director wore a T-shirt that read “Star Wars: … a movie with comic book characters, an implausible storyline, no political or social commentary, lousy actors, absurd dialogue and a ridiculously simplistic moral. In other words – a BAD FILM.” The imprint quoted an article that had appeared in the “New Yorker,” the flagship magazine of America’s intellectual elite, in January of that year. The mischievous nonchalance with which the 53-year-old displayed the lines and even had himself photographed wearing the shirt made it clear to even the last critic: “Star Wars” cannot be criticized. Because the hype, the sheer size of the phenomenon, the love of the legions of fans, all this was already in 1997 far beyond the point where “Star Wars” was simply a film series that you could watch and discuss. To this day, that hasn’t changed. “Star Wars” is a religion. It’s the Force. Once upon a time… At first, however, “Star Wars” was simply one film among hundreds that hit theaters in 1977, and George Lucas was a man with a big idea – at the wrong time. For science fiction films were not being made in the seventies. The genre had had its heyday in the fifties. Even Stanley Kubrick’s “2001 – A Space Odyssey” from 1968 took seven years to recoup its 10.5 million dollar budget. And they certainly didn’t shoot infantile space tales in which princesses had to be rescued and in which laser cannons – fired in the vacuum of space – made noises. On the desolate planet Tatooine This thought must have weighed heavily on George Lucas’ mind as he sat in a movie theater in Northpoint, San Francisco, on May 1, 1977, a month before the premiere, waiting for the first test screening of “Star Wars” to begin. Among the audience was Alan Ladd Jr, the production manager for 20th Century Fox. He had lobbied the board of the financially struggling corporation for the 32-year-old director – and was now just praying to at least recoup the production costs. Lucas had modeled the film’s main character, the young Luke Skywalker, on himself. Just as Skywalker discovered the Force within himself to leave the desert planet of Tatooine and save the universe as a Jedi, Lucas had leftModesto, a barren small town in northern California, to conquer the world as a director. But after seven years of hard work, from the first draft of the script to the final cut, there wasn’t much left of the dynamic visionary. The moment the curtain opened, he had lost his faith in the film. Lucas was certain that “Star Wars” would cost him his career. “Wookie, what a hole!” Ever since his first project, the somewhat unwieldy science fiction film “THX 1138,” was completed, Lucas kept making notes on a project called “The Story of Mace Windu.” He created a fantasy galaxy to which he added new ideas at every opportunity. For example, the name of the race to which Han Solo’s furry co-pilot, Chewbacca, belongs came about in one particular moment: Lucas’ friend Terry McGovern drove his car through a pothole and shouted, “Wookie, what a hole!” He in turn came up with the name for the beeping robot at the side of protocol druid C-3PO with Walter Murch, the editor of his second film, “American Graffiti.” As the latter sat with Lucas in the editing room, Murch said: “Give me R2, D2” – reel 2, dialogue scene 2. “We’re not talking about a ‘2001’ here.” Working on the script was pure torture for the director, despite all the small successes. “Five hours writing, three hours thinking,” Lucas described his method. All the while, he had a stack of comics and a pair of scissors close at hand. With the comics, he wanted to put himself in the mind of a ten-year-old, because “Star Wars” was supposed to be a movie for kids. The scissors were his tranquilizer. Whenever he was in despair, he would cut his beard and his hair. Yet the project didn’t sound all that ambitious when he first explained it to illustrator Ralph McQuarrie: “We’re not talking about a ‘2001,’ we’re talking about a fantasy story for kids that has a couple of heroes, a clear storyline where the good guys fight the bad guys and the good guys win … at least at first.” But that was only half the truth. Shooting with obstacles What Lucas actually had in mind: He wanted to conceive of his own universe with its own peoples, planets, political conditions, and even its own logic and mythology. That took him four years and four script versions. The Story of Mace Windu” became “Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode One of the Star Wars,” then “The Star Wars” and finally simply “Star Wars. But even with the finished script, things didn’t get any easier for Lucas: in order to realize his ideas of action-packed space battles, special effects were needed that hadn’t existed before. Lucas quickly founded his own company to develop the technologies for the film: Industrial Light & Magic. During filming, the director was dogged by bad luck. In Tunisia, whose desert lands were to serve as the setting for the barren planet Tatooine, it began to rain one day after filming began – the first time in five years. In addition, Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill suffered a serious car accident and had to be replaced by a double. In addition, workers at the English studios where Lucas was shooting were unionized and unwilling to work even one second longer than 5:30 p.m. sharp. The rest was given to Lucas the moment when he went to see his animation specialists after the shooting was finished. The shock For the past two years, the tinkerers at Industrial Light & Magic had been busily working on the technology – but of the more than 200 necessary flight scenes, only exactly three were in the can. The realization came as a shock to Lucas. Shortly thereafter, he suffered such severe chest pains that he had to be hospitalized. The doctors certified that he was extremely exhausted. That evening, Lucas decided never to direct again. The power So, sitting in the theater seat at the test screening on May 1, 1977, was a completely exhausted man who was firmly convinced that he would never direct another movie. And then the miracle happened: the audience loved it. Alan Ladd of 20th Century Fox confessed to Lucas afterwards that he had cried with happiness. What’s more, “Star Wars” grossed an astronomical 461 million dollars in the U.S. and Canada alone, making it the most successful movie of its time. The film, with its comic-book characters, implausible story without political or social commentary, lousy actors, absurd dialogue and ridiculously simple morals, touched people. It was a fairy tale for children. A fairy tale for the child in each of us. And, of course, Lucas went back to making movies. After working as a producer for 20 years, he sat back in the director’s chair for the three most recent “Star Wars” episodes. Oh yes, and “Star Wars: Episode I,” for whose first day of shooting Lucas appeared wearing the unusual T-shirt, became his most successful motion picture, earning nearly a billion dollars – and has remained so to this day. Jedis, clone warriors and Ewoks in various trilogies – as a “Star Wars” newcomer, it’s not easy to find your way around. We arrange the film series. >> Also interesting: “Star Wars 9”: Mark Hamill spoils how Luke returns

This is the “Star Wars” canon.

*According to Jedipedia, canon is the content-related “red thread” with guidelines that runs through the entire story and to which the authors of all works from the “Star Wars” universe must adhere. However, the Lucas-originated canon was not published until 1991. For simplicity, all official “Star Wars” books and comics carry a LucasBooks logo and all games carry a LucasArts logo. After George Lucas sold the official license to Disney in 2014, the canon that had been in place until then was thrown overboard. Now there exists a system of two levels: “Canon” and “Legends”:

CANON: According to Disney, all episodic films, as well as the spin-offs and associated novels, “The Clone Wars” and new Disney Channel series, such as “Star Wars Rebels” and new books officially confirmed as belonging to the canon, fall into the category.
LEGENDS: This includes all publications that were once counted as part of the Expanded Universe. For example, the comic “New Planets, New Dangers!”

Variant 2: The list of “Star Wars” movies according to their chronology of content.

Release date or not: In order to be able to follow the big picture in the “Star Wars” universe, it is of course recommended – especially for newcomers – to start at the beginning with a young Anakin Skywalker. But beware: The original trilogy, so revered by fans, only comes in seventh place in this order:

Star Wars – Episode I: The Dark Menace (1999)
Star Wars – Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars – Ewoks: Caravan of the Brave (1984, Since the storyline takes place without any specific reference to the core saga, most fans and even Disney do not count it as part of the official canon).
Star Wars – Ewoks: Battle for Endor (1985, Since the plot takes place without any concrete reference to the core saga, most fans and also Disney do not count it as official canon).
Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
Star Wars – Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Star Wars – Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
Star Wars – Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (theatrical release date: Dec. 19, 2019).

>> Here’s how Carrie Fisher’s farewell to her “Star Wars” role Princess Leia. <<

Variant 3: The list of “Star Wars” movies in “Machete” order.

You’ve never heard of the “Machete” order before? That’s not much of a surprise, because really, this sequence is only for “Star Wars” devotees who have seen all the movies at least once. It also requires quite a bit of jumping back and forth between episodes. The whole thing was invented by blogger Rod Hiltonwho came up with a personal watch list that inspired millions around the world to follow suit:

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Knights (1983)

Following the “Original Machete Chronology,” the operator of the blog Nomachetejuggling.com gives more of a loose guide to the other films and series: Continuing for him with Star Wars Episode VII, VIII, IX … as well as all the episodic films that have been or will be released after “Return of the Jedi Knights”. However, he does not give a specific viewing recommendation for the films released and planned beyond that, as well as series aside from the episodic films. Rod Hilton says that at its core, it’s purely about following the journey of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill): “Episodes 2 and 3 are included (in the Machete order) because the demise of Anakin had a direct impact on Luke’s path.” 11/28/2019 – by Eric Zerm With great anticipation, millions of fans of the “Star Wars” saga worldwide are waiting for the theatrical release of the final chapter for now “Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker“. The film will be released in Germany on Thursday, December 19, 2019, in theaters. With rather mixed feelings George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars, should think back to those days before his first “Star Wars” film found its way into the movie theaters in 1977. Production had been chaotic, and Lucas had even been temporarily hospitalized at Marin Hospital in San Francisco after suffering a circulatory and nervous breakdown. I take the upcoming release of “Star Wars – The Rise of Skywalker” for my nerd blog of the Südwest Presse / DIE NECKARQUELLE as an opportunity to look back on the beginning of the “War of the Stars” to look back. Like his friend Steven Spielberg is George Lucas a great friend of old-fashioned adventure films and old serials. “For Lucas, the films of the 1960s and 1970s were too overstuffed with violence, sex and cynicism,” says the book “Star Wars – The Movies” by Oliver Denker (Wilhelm-Heyne-Verlag, Munich 1996) Many science fiction films of the 1970s were also comparatively bleak. In the case of the 1968 “Planet of the Apes” series, the earth is radioactively contaminated to a large extent after a devastating war, in “Escape to the 23rd Century“a seemingly perfect society lives in an underground super city. The dark side: on their 30th birthday, everyone here loses their right to exist. “The Omega Man“confronts the audience with an almost extinct human race, “Soylent Green” takes the problem of overpopulation to its logical conclusion, and in “Phase IV” intelligent ants take over the rule of the planet. George Lucas, however, had something else in mind after completing his film “American Graffiti”: a great Star saga. The idea for it haunted him since his childhood. “He was looking for a way to combine modern technology with traditional fairy tale structures without losing the moral underpinnings and entertainment value.” (“Star Wars – The Movies”) Lucas, however, struggled to compress the many ideas he had into one story. “It took him almost a year to write a 13-page handwritten treatment populated by strange creatures with unpronounceable names. The first sentence read: ,This is the story of Mace Windu, a revered Jedi-bendu of Opuchi, handed down to us by C. J. Thape, the Padawaan scholar of the famous Jedi.” (“Star Wars – The Movies”) A very idiosyncratic beginning, and yet it already has a lot of today’s “Star Wars” in it. The Jedi are known today by every friend of the star saga as an order of noble star knights, Padawan have been called Jedi students at least since the fourth film in 1999, and Mace Windu was developed into the character of a Jedi Master, played by Samuel L. Jackson between 1999 and 2005. Even the term “Bendu” has since taken on greater meaning; in the animated series “Star Wars: Rebels“. At the time, however, Lucas despaired at the writing. “Lucas’ entourage reacted to the treatment with polite astonishment. His agent and his lawyer did not understand a word. But they pledged their support for him to sell the project to a studio.” (“Star Wars – The Movies”) With Alan Ladd, Jr. and “20th Century Fox,” Lucas got into business. In developing the script, Lucas looked for all the inspiration he could. “Lucas used the villain Ming from the ‘Flash Gordon’ comics as a model for the Emperor. He borrowed the droid C-3PO from Alex Raymond’s Iron Men of Mongo, and the Banthas, the beasts of burden in Star Wars, came from John Carter on Mars. The first versions of the script also included many elements from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books. Lucas watched countless SF movies and read novels such as Frank Herbert’s Dune and E. R. Doc Smith’s Lensman Saga.” (“Star Wars – The Movies”) By August 1, 1975, he was at least at a script version that already contained many elements of the later film. The illustrator Ralph McQuarrie painted the first production sketches to give the studio people at Fox an idea of what the film would look like. The final script was not completed until shortly before shooting began. According to “Star Wars – The Movies,” Lucas also had his former college colleagues Bill Huycks and Gloria Katz work on the dialogue. With the beginning of the shooting in Tunisia the next test of nerves began for Lucas in May 1976. On location in the desert, it rained like it hadn’t in 50 years, a storm disintegrated the giant sand creeper, the Jawa junk collectors’ vehicle in the film, C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels suffered greatly from the robot costume, the droid R2-D2 didn’t work at all in the desert, and whirled-up sand scratched the camera lenses. When the shooting later moved to the Elstree Studios near London, the difficulties continued. At times, they had to shoot there in sets that weren’t even finished. “While one side was being shot, the other was still being painted.” (“Star Wars – The Movies”) The production fell further and further behind schedule. In addition, the special effects team wasn’t really getting anywhere either; and the film required a lot of effects shots. The visit to the effects forge “Industrial Light & Magic“(ILM) temporarily gave Lucas the rest. ” That same evening, after his flight back from L.A., Lucas was admitted to Marin Hospital in San Francisco. Doctors diagnosed him with a circulatory and nervous breakdown.” Most of the “Star Wars” effects were created in the months that followed under a new ILM direction. (“Star Wars – The Movies”) At the time, even George Lucas probably didn’t suspect that the movie shambles he had in his hands so far actually had the makings of a global hit. Among the wizards who made this possible were Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas and Richard Chew, who edited and tightened the film. They managed to relate well the many layers of action that the story has, especially in the first half, so that the audience can follow the story well. For example, the extensive introduction of the hero Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) before he meets the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO flew out of the movie. Even the final showdown, the space battle over the Empire’s Death Star, didn’t get the buildup of tension it does today until the film was edited. Another wizard in “Star Wars” was Ben Burttthe master of the sound effects. He developed distinctive sounds for ILM’s visual effects that are still typical of the star saga today. Ben Burtt gave the blaster shots a great sonic impact, the lightsabers were transformed by the buzzing, hissing and high-energy crackling for the viewer of simple glow sticks in deadly weapons and also the starships got by howling, hissing or thundering engine sounds suddenly something very real. The crown was finally given to the star spectacle by composer John Williams put on. His compositions, which he recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, exceeded George Lucas’ boldest expectations. The reward for the exertions: “Star Wars” became the most successful film of all time at the time and won a total of seven Oscars in 1978: for best editing, best sound, best visual effects, best score, best production design, best costume design and a special Oscar for best sound effects. First Star Wars Movie 1977.

Maximsmannheim

First Star Wars Movie 1977