Star Wars (1977)

There are films that perform well, films that endure, and then there is the occasional film that rewrites the rules of the industry entirely. George Lucas's Star Wars, released in May 1977 by Lucasfilm Ltd., belongs to that last, very small category. Coming off the back of the warm, nostalgia-soaked American Graffiti, Lucas made what seemed, on paper, like an enormous gamble: a science fiction adventure set in a fully realised galaxy, populated with alien creatures, robotic companions, ancient mystical orders, and a conflict between good and evil so archetypal it felt like it had always existed somewhere. Many studios passed on it. Twentieth Century Fox, to their considerable fortune, did not. The film went on to become one of the highest-grossing pictures ever made at the time of its release and fundamentally altered the commercial logic of Hollywood, ushering in the era of the modern blockbuster and the merchandising machine that came with it.

The production itself was famously troubled: sets that fell apart in the Tunisian desert, a cast and crew who were, by several accounts, uncertain what exactly they were making, and an editing process that went down to the wire. Yet none of that chaos is visible on screen. What audiences got in 1977 was something polished but also genuinely alive, a space opera drawing on everything from Akira Kurosawa's samurai films to the Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s, filtered through Lucas's own mythology-conscious sensibility. At the centre of the story is Luke Skywalker, a young man on a desert planet who finds himself drawn into a galactic struggle after Imperial forces capture Princess Leia in their bid for total control. He is joined by the roguish, mercenary Han Solo, and guided, at least initially, by the elder Obi-Wan Kenobi. The casting is one of the film's great quiet achievements. Mark Hamill brings an open, earnest quality to Luke that could easily have tipped into blandness but instead reads as genuine and affecting. Harrison Ford, as Han Solo, delivers the kind of effortlessly cool, wryly comic performance that made him a star overnight. Carrie Fisher, for her part, refuses to let Leia be anything other than a full, forceful presence, even within the constraints of the era's writing. On the other side of the conflict, Peter Cushing brings his customary quiet menace to Grand Moff Tarkin, and Alec Guinness, a man who openly had mixed feelings about the whole enterprise, somehow lends Obi-Wan a weight and dignity that gives the film an emotional anchor it badly needed. For younger audiences unfamiliar with Guinness, it is worth knowing he had, by 1977, one of the most distinguished careers in British cinema and theatre behind him. His presence here was a signal, whether intentional or not, that this strange space adventure deserved to be taken seriously.

Lucas would return to this universe decades later to direct the prequel trilogy, and if you are curious how those hold up, you can find thoughts on Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith elsewhere on the site. But the 1977 original is where it all began, and it is the film against which everything else in this universe tends to be measured, fairly or not. With that in mind, here is what I made of it.

Before Disney plunged the galaxy into darkness... It’s probably one of the most important films of all time, not just for what it did at the box office, but for the universe it created. The sheer scale of its world-building, the iconic characters, and the deep, sprawling lore that would go on to define generations. This film isn’t just cinema - it’s mythology. I mean think about it... My Father was a child when this released and I got to watch this with my firstborn recently. It's literally generational. And at the heart of it all? Luke Skywalker. My favourite character in any media. Ever. (if we ignore the Sequel trilogy, which I do) His arc, his journey, that raw sense of wonder and destiny - it's perfect. And when the Binary Sunset theme swells, with Luke staring at those twin suns, dreaming of something bigger? That is probably the most iconic scene in all of cinema. An absolute masterpiece, and the beginning of something far, far greater.

I stand by every word of that. The Binary Sunset moment is one of those scenes that bypasses critical thinking entirely and goes straight for something more instinctive, and John Williams's score deserves no small amount of credit for that. There is a reason people who saw this as children in 1977 still talk about it the way they do, and a reason it translates just as well to a new generation sitting on a sofa decades later. For all the sequels, prequels, spin-offs, and corporate upheaval that followed, none of it diminishes what this film is on its own terms. Some things just land, and they stay landed.

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

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Trailer

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Watch in the UK
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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)