Tag: 1977

“Star Wars” opened on May 25, 1977. Yet today is celebrated as “Star Wars Day.” Why? Because of a stupid pun: May the Fourth be with you.

I can get behind that.

The young will never truly understand what it was like to experience “Star Wars” in a theater for the first time back then. Standing in enormous lines. Not being able to get in. An absorbed audience without cell phones. No vacuous tabloid entertainment “news” prior to the feature. 45 years ago, before the lights went down and the trailers started, you had the conversation of your family or friends.

Then the 20th Century Fox Fanfare. The peculiar text “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” The brash appearance of the film’s title – STAR WARS – receding into space. The opening crawl. The enormity of the first star destroyer. The richly-imagined creatures and lived-in locations. The jump to light speed. The grappling hook swing across a yawning chasm. The light saber duel. The extraterrestrial dogfights and dizzying race to destroy the Death Star. And of course, the exhilarating, exuberant, totally transporting music.

In 1977, not only was “Star Wars” sensorially thrilling, but the overall experience resonated. It was clearly-told, cleanly-executed, and deeply satisfying, and viewers left the theater glowing.

Whether or not it was intended to be so, the film was a brilliant piece of postmodernism. Everything about it was fresh, yet comfortingly familiar, with elements of the western, the swashbuckler, the war movie, the matinee serial, the samurai chanbara, and whatever else George Lucas may have picked up from film school and a lifetime of going to the movies.

Likewise, John Williams’ score was like an ice cream soda, with dollops assimilated from English and Russian classics of the western canon, topped by a schlag of Austro-German Romanticism.

“Star Wars” mania swelled like an overstuffed Shmoo to dominate pop culture. But in 1977 it was all brand-new, and the merchandizing had to scramble to catch up. At first, there was the novelization and the Marvel comics and some t-shirts, and that was about it. Kenner, the toy company, was caught totally off-guard and unable to meet the demand for action figures in time for Christmas. Anybody else remember the Early Bird Certificate Package? At Christmas 1978, they were still struggling to keep up.

For better or worse, “Star Wars” changed movies and merchandizing, and the relationship between the two, forever.

Alas, in 2022, the magic has long since faded. There’s little nutritional value in the devouring of one’s own tail (or tale) and, decades later, the franchise, like an enormous ouroboros, has lost most of its vitality.

Furthermore, you can’t even see the original movie anymore, or rather the theatrical cut, thanks to years of Lucas’ digital retrofitting. Here’s hoping that someday Disney allocates some of its profits to removing the “overpainting,” as it were, so that the film can again be experienced as it was originally shown.

Lucas has been steadfast in insisting that his revisions comprise a definitive version, yet he continued to tinker right up until the time it left his hands. He even went so far as to claim that the source material was so degraded by then that such a restoration would be impossible.

Yet the theatrical cuts were selected by the Library of Congress National Film Registry for preservation as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” Lucas tried to offer his retooled versions in place of the originals, and the library said no thanks. So the theatrical cuts are out there, folks. I just hope somebody’s taking care of them.

Long live “Star Wars” (the original), and may Disney do everything in its power to restore the 1977-83 trilogy to its original brilliance. At this stage in the decline of the franchise, I would venture to guess, it would generate more revenue than to produce another substandard movie. Then, to promote the reissue on home video, why not rerelease the original trilogy in theaters? There would be three generations of “Star Wars” fans lining up to see it.

Don’t let J.J. Abrams get you down. The Force is still strong with this one.

Happy Star Wars Day!

A face-melting side-by-side comparison (still not comprehensive) of Lucas’ alterations to “Star Wars”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J09VSUHZDLc