For better or for worse, when Star Wars was released in 1977, it changed the course of film forever. Some would say it was the key turning point in the dumbing down of cinema. In the book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex – Drugs – and – Rock ‘n’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood, director William Friedkin says of the original film that “What happened with Star Wars was like when McDonald’s got a foothold, the taste for good food just disappeared. Now we’re in a period of devolution”.
The fact that Star Wars was a ‘popcorn movie’ and could be seen as the first real big summer blockbuster – although technically, that would be Steven Spielberg’s Jaws – may have been enough to put some people off, but it was received with open arms by audiences all over the world; much to the surprise of everybody involved in the production.
Most people would now consider it to be a classic, but there were only a small few who actually thought Star Wars would be a success when making the film. The majority of the cast have famously said how they thought of Star Wars as some kind of big joke, with Harrison Ford once telling George Lucas that “…you can type this shit, but you can’t say it”, and Alec Guinness often going on record to describe it as “fairytale rubbish”.
Even George Lucas has said numerous times how he thought it was going to be disaster, and the studio behind the film, as well as fellow filmmaker friends, all seemed in agreement; except for Spielberg, who was apparently the only one to think it would make millions.
Indeed, it did take millions at the box office – a staggering $775 million worldwide, to be exact – but I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t see where the director’s and cast’s pessimism came from.
Let’s be honest, whilst Star Wars is often described an ‘epic space opera’, a sweeping fairytale which tells of a young man’s quest to save a princess from an evil Lord, it could also quite easily be described as a film about a young farmer – who looks like the acne guy from The Simpsons – who goes on a quest with a space-pirate, a bear, a camp robot and his cheeky robot friend, to save a princess from a wheezy sorcerer.
If you look at the original Star Wars in that way, it’s easy to see why Lucas and friends thought it wouldn’t surmount to anything more than a b-movie or cult classic. What the film had going for it though, was that it was simply unlike anything anybody had ever seen at the cinema. To fully appreciate the original, this is important to keep in mind.
Born a whole eleven years after the first film’s initial release, I can watch it and take it for granted. The visual effects and costumes look poor in comparison to what I was used to growing up – although at least the rickety effects have heart when compared to Lucas’ incessant and unnecessary tinkering with the film’s CGI over the years – and frankly, by the age of ten I’d already seen much better than A New Hope.
However, when I think about what it must have been like to have sat in a cinema screen in 1977, an adult or child, and to have seen that opening shot of a huge star destroyer in space, it’s easy to see how Star Wars became a worldwide phenomenon and huge cinematic influence.
If it had been originally released today, I doubt it would be received in the same way. In fact, I’d hazard a guess that it would be laughed out of cinemas, much in the way the Lucas had originally thought it would be. With flimsy dialogue and cringeworthy performances – except for Harrison Ford as Han Solo, who oozes coolness – it’s surprising that we’re even still talking Star Wars nearly forty years from its release.
So why are we still talking about it?
For some it is a nostalgic and generational thing; the memory of first seeing it on the big screen and subsequently passing down the film to their children and so on. But fundamentally, I think the reason why Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope is still loved by so many people today, is that it features storytelling which can be recognised and enjoyed universally, by all ages.
It’s a story about good triumphing over evil, with clearly defined characters on both sides. Alec Guinness was right when he described the film as “fairytale rubbish”, but in this case, with lasers, spaceships and lightsabers, this was only a good thing.
Yet, the best was still to come…
You can read Joe Richards’ previous articles on the Star Wars franchise here.
words JOE RICHARDS