Review of Star Wars (1977) by Jonathan B — 01 Aug 2018

It was a long time ago in a galaxy not so far, far away but back in 1977 nobody knew what was about to happen. Imagine a world without Luke Skywalker, the Millennium Falcon or R2-D2? It seems as though almost everyone in the known universe has heard of the much loved Star Wars saga and this is where it all began.

Since originally released, the movie has been tweaked and fluffed up with new effects and even new characters added but it remains one of the finest space opera science fiction adventures ever brought to the screen.

The sheer vision and imagination of the creative teams that worked on every element of the movie shines through. Looking back on it now, from an era where CGI effects mean that all manner of fantastical vistas and situations can be created inside the gibbons of a machine, it seems incredible to think that the vast majority of the effects were created using models, costumes and prosthetics.

It has a real feel and grittiness that the prequels too often lacked. The cast throw themselves into the action with gusto. For the most part, they look scarily young and fresh faced as indeed most of them were at the time.

However added to the young leads, we have the genius of Alec Guinness and the delicate, yet menacing Peter Cushing. Both of these fine old British actors demonstrate their absolute skill as actors and use every gesture and nuance to make their characters work within the plot.

The script here, whilst not always brilliant, isn't as clunky or cliche riddled as they became in later outings of the saga and there is none of the morass of stifling plotting that dogged the prequels.

This is just non-stop fun and action where you can really cheer at the heroic antics and hiss at the bad guys. This movie spawned generations of geeks and fans who simply loved the escapism and fantasy of it all.

We collected the figures, read the books, ate the cereal and slept under the Star Wars duvet covers and now, approaching our fifties, we can look back on this film and know that we were there. We queued up to get into the cinema to see it.

We had light sabre fights in the playground and argued over whether Han was better than Luke. Most of all, however, we know full well, that these first three were the proper Star Wars films. The original and best.

The later versions will never quite measure up and we don't mind telling everyone.