Star Wars (1977)

There's a moment in this film where a young farm boy stands at the edge of a ridge, staring out at two suns sinking below the horizon, and John Williams' Binary Sunset theme swells beneath him. No dialogue. No action. Just a kid and his dreams and the vast, unknowable universe stretching out before him. I'll argue until my last breath that it's the single most iconic scene ever committed to film. Not the most explosive, not the most technically dazzling. Just the most perfectly felt. And that feeling is what Star Wars is built on.

My dad was a child when this released. I watched it recently with my firstborn. That's not a detail I throw in lightly. There aren't many pieces of art you can say that about, where the same story lands with the same sense of wonder across completely different generations, in completely different worlds. But here we are. That's not just a successful film. That's mythology. That's what George Lucas made in 1977, whether he fully understood it at the time or not.

What strikes me every single time is the sheer confidence of the world-building. You're dropped into a galaxy that feels ancient and lived-in, with its own history, its own politics, its own spiritual framework, and yet none of it feels like homework. You absorb it. The Millennium Falcon looks battered because it's done a thousand runs. The bars are grimy because that's just what bars are like out here. The Empire is evil not because someone gives a speech explaining that they're evil, but because you feel it in every corridor and every uniform. Lucas built a universe that breathes, and nearly fifty years on, people are still living inside it.

And then there's Luke Skywalker. My favourite character in any medium. Full stop. No qualifications needed, except one: I'm applying that title strictly to the original and prequel eras, because as far as I'm concerned, the Sequel trilogy happened to someone else wearing his name. The Luke of this film is something special though. He's not cool. He's not hardened. He's impatient and a bit whiny and completely, infectiously full of hope. His arc across this film alone, from frustrated kid on a moisture farm to the pilot who trusts the Force and takes the shot, is as clean and satisfying a character journey as you'll find anywhere.

It's worth saying, because people sometimes forget: this film works as a standalone. The lore that would eventually sprawl across decades of sequels, prequels, spin-offs, TV series and (let's be honest) some fairly grim Disney-era output, none of that is required here. The story begins, it builds, it pays off. You care about every character. You feel the stakes. And the final battle sequence remains an absolute thrill, even now, even knowing exactly what happens.

I've spent time with the wider saga, the highs and the considerable lows. I've sat through Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) and had thoughts I won't fully repeat here. I've watched Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) divide entire fanbases down the middle. And through all of it, I keep coming back to this: the original is untouchable. It set the bar at a height that almost nothing in the franchise has cleared since, and it did it by telling a story about wonder and courage and the idea that even the smallest person in the galaxy can matter.

Before the corporate machinery got its hands on it, before the discourse got exhausting and the release schedule relentless, there was just this. A boy. Two suns. And the whole universe waiting.

Five stars. A masterpiece. It genuinely isn't up for debate.

Rating: ★★★★★  | Year: 1977  | Watched: 1999-03-03

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Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies · Sky Store
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Amazon Video · Google Play Movies · YouTube · Fandango At Home
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from George Lucas: American Graffiti (1973) · Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) · Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) · Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
More with Mark Hamill: The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) · Batman: The Killing Joke (2016) · Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) · Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
More from the 1970s: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Here and Elsewhere (1976) · Italianamerican (1974) · Punishment Park (1971)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)