posted 10-02-2011 07:14 PM                    

quote: Connor Wilson

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it's sad to say it won't look better on home video in the future, because it was shot in 1080p, the Blu-ray standard. They only way it would look better if a codec greater than AVC will be used.

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posted 10-04-2011 03:47 PM                    

quote:

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The Making of Star Wars (Updated)
Posted September 16, 2011 11:35 PM by Robert Siegel

What can one write about a film that has been written about thousands of times, been torn apart in documentaries and on specials since 1977. This was my dilemma when writing about Star Wars. Also coming into play was the problem of obtaining the rights to use many of the materials I had originally planned to use (which may be added to this column at a future date when and if they are cleared). Many of the behind the scenes photographs in my collection could not be cleared for use, as well as some publicity shots. So, I have compiled a history as best I could with what I was able to show and write about. Hopefully you will find some material you have not read or seen before. You may left click on most of the photographs to see an enlarged version. I have taken out all marks and folds on posters and old photographs so I hope you enjoy these "remastered" works of art.

The most magnificent toy ever invented for grown men to play with and express their fantasies, to project their nightmares and dreams, and to indulge their whimsies and secret desires is the motion picture medium. Taking full advantage of the technical wizardry of filmmaking, writer-director George Lucas conceived of his film, Star Wars, as an expression of his boyhood fantasy life, his love for Flash Gordon and all the great mysteries and adventures in books and movies. Star Wars is a distillation of the joys Lucas experienced in the hours he spent watching television and movies, and reading comic books and comic strips. It's a high-energy action movie uniting the hardware of contemporary space adventure with the romantic fantasies of sword and sorcery, plus a dash of wish fulfillment. Lucas' goal had been to make an imaginative entertainment experience that would transport audiences out of the theater and into an unknown galaxy thousands of light years from earth. Star Wars is a tale of heroes and villains and a romance between a young naive boy and a princess. It is an odyssey from innocence to knowledge, the ages-old tale of the passage of the sword from one generation to the next. It is a world where magic is possible, and love and goodness triumph over evil.

Star Wars follows a young man, Luke Skywalker, through exotic worlds uniquely different from our own. Leaving the small arid planet of Tatooine, Luke plunges into an intergalactic search for the kidnapped Rebel Princess Leia from the planet Alderaan. Luke is joined in this adventure by Ben Kenobi, the last of the Jedi Knights who were the guardians of peace and justice in the old days before the "dark times" came to the galaxy; Han Solo, the cynical captain of the Millenium Falcon, a Corellian pirate starship; Chewbacca, a Wookiee, a race of tall anthropoids with quasi-monkey faces and large blue eyes; and the robots, See-Threepio (C3PO) and Artoo- Detoo (R2D2). This odd band of adventurers battle Grand Moff Tarkin, the evil Governor of the Imperial Outland regions, and Darth Vader, the malevolent Dark Lord of the Sith, who employs his extrasensory powers to aid Governor Tarkin in the destruction of the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. In the battle of Yavin, Luke engages in a climactic space battle over the huge man-made planet destroyer, The Death Star. Star Wars was a space fantasy designed to stimulate imaginations, entertain and gave moviegoers an infinite variety of vicarious emotional, physical and mystical delights. It is a world people on this earth have never been to, but it's a world they may have encountered when years ago they dreamed about running away and having adventures that no one else had ever had.

George Lucas

In a 1981 interview, George Lucas said, "I had taken some creative writing courses. I had no intention of becoming a writer. I was always terrible in English." During his attendance to USC, he made eight short films, one of them was THX 1138 4: EB, which was about a man running in the world of the future. "I had already graduated from USC in 1966 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts." He would become worried about being drafted, but when his call came he found out that he had diabetes and they would not accept him. He then applied for a position at the Hanna-Barbara studio because of his love for animation and the fact that with animation, you could be in any world at any time. He was rejected there. Following this rejection, he was invited to a competition of students making documentaries, which was being done by Columbia Pictures for Mackenna's Gold. The students were assigned to make a documentary on the film. The Lucas documentary stood out because it did not have much do do with the film but the location. This impressed Carl Foreman, a Hollywood producer. Due to this, Lucas won a scholarship program at Warner Brothers. Lucas was hoping to be involved in Warner animation but he was sent to the set of Finian's Rainbow, which was being directing by Francis Ford Coppola. This music project was one that Coppola hated and continued to hate throughout the years. As luck would have it, Coppola, seeing Lucas on the set for weeks, got to know him and Lucas eventually became his personal assistant for the picture.

After his helping Coppola and getting to know him on the Finian's Rainbow set, he felt he was ready and started to write his feature length script for THX 1138. Coppola in an interview at the time stated, "I wanted George to make a film and he wanted to make a feature length version of one of his class projects. I told him, "Well you know, we could get money in the budget for you to write a documentary on the making of the film, but instead you could write your script." In 1968, while working on Rain People, Lucas took some much needed time off and vacationed in San Francisco, where he would meet John Korty, who had money to produce his own independent films. Lucas put him in touch with Coppola and out of that introduction came American Zoetrope (under which films like Apocalypse Now would be made).

When THX was completed, Warner Brothers was shocked at what Lucas turned in. They had hoped for a mod sharp film and according to a Warner executive, "We ended up with a very abstract sci-fi documentary." Warners were not pleased and edited out some scenes and without much fanfare released the film. It is apparent looking at the press materials released for THX that Warner didn't expect much as the press materials were quite short compared to all of their other releases at the time. The film bombed, and the contract that had been made with Zoetrope was canceled. Lucas was livid with Warner Brothers for chopping off even a small amount of footage. Lucas then announced his next project would be Apocalypse Now, but Coppola didn't like the direction Lucas was taking it and changed the script completely, using nearly none of Lucas' ideas. Lucas wanted the film to have super-hero like characters and done as a documentary.

Star Wars

United Artists became interested in Lucas and signed him to a deal to make Apocalypse Now and American Graffiti and another picture which would be Star Wars. All Lucas could tell them was that this would be very similar to a Flash Gordon type film. Lucas wrote the script to American Graffiti, mainly using his memories as a teen. After completing the script, United Artists turned him down. That is when Universal showed interest and accepted the project. It was made for $750,000 in 28 days. The film was a gigantic success, surprising the heads of Universal. Lucas at the time wanted to make a film of Flash Gordon, but the rights were not available, and so he decided to write his own story, and all he knew is he wanted space battles, laser swords and sorcerers in capes. Of American Graffiti, Lucas said, "It was January 1973 and I had been paid $20,000 for Graffiti which had taken two years. Universal was unhappy with it before its release and considered selling it to television. Still, the cutting of the film was something I could not tolerate and I decided from then on I would have complete control over my work."

Lucas was enthralled by a 1958 film called The Hidden Fortress. It was a fairy tale-type film made for the younger audience. There were two fighting characters in this film, and so when developing Star Wars (which he started writing in January 1973), Lucas admitted that this was how he developed C-3PO and R2D2. The similarities are fascinating. Universal ended up passing on Star Wars (when American Graffiti had not yet been released), just as United Artists had. Lucas would say, "In their rejection letter, UA states that it is truly a film for all ages but there would be too much cost involved for this kind of kid's story." Universal also said the idea was very good and they might have a great space adventure in the film, but we wonder if Mr. Lucas can pull it off." But the (at-the-time) bright executives at 20th Century Fox could see a fantastic film in the script, and took it on, giving Lucas $50,000 to write it and $100,000 to direct plus all income from merchandising and complete sequel rights. Little did Fox know that with that contract, they were giving up hundreds of millions of dollars.

It took Lucas over a year to write just the first draft. It was titled The Adventures of Luke Starkiller." Lucas did not change his name to Skywalker until one month into filming. After adding Ben Kenobi, Lucas decided this was not all about Luke, and so the title of Star Wars was born and on March 22, 1976, filming commenced. This would be the hardest work Lucas had ever done and he leaned on an expert team to help him with his vision, but he knew exactly what he wanted, it was "in my head." When the film was completed, Lucas thought it was going to be a complete bomb. He had been dealing with robots and models that rarely worked, and thought some of the rubber masks were actually funny when they were not meant to be.

Lucas was a child of the "stereo" era, having grown up with the advent of RCA Living Stereo albums and Columbia stereo albums, and knew this film had to have stereo sound. At the same time, Dolby Laboratories was ready to use their process for the theaters, and so Lucas decided to use Dolby Stereo instead of 4-track magnetic stereo due to it's wider range and quality of sound, and Lucas felt. Dolby would be the future of theater sound. So the film was mixed into 6 tracks for 70mm showing, and then into 4 tracks.

In late spring, the finished film was screened for friends of Lucas, studio executives and a few other special invites. There was no ovation. That night, Brian De Palma and Steven Spielberg were present. Spielberg had met Lucas on the Universal lot during American Graffiti. De Palma told Lucas that the movie was "an absolute travesty, horrible." But Spielberg had a different vision. He told Lucas that he had made a "modern classic."

In the wake of the success of Star Wars, George Lucas' desire to create a nine-part saga set in that galaxy far, far away became a viable aspiration, and "The Empire Strikes Back" is a manifestation of that dream. The movie was a further episode in an adventure divided into three trilogies. Star Wars and "The Empire Strikes Back" were the first two parts of the middle trilogy. "In choosing to film 'Star Wars' first," Lucas had explained, "I chose the chapter I felt the most secure with." "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" -- its original and complete title - was the result. The episode number and the sub-title were dropped for considerations of length and clarity, and the movie was called simply Star Wars. But now that a saga of interrelated movies is evolving, the full title appears on prints and videos of Star Wars.

"There are essentially nine films," Lucas said. "The first trilogy is about the young Ben Kenobi and the early life of Luke Skywalker's father when Luke was a little boy. The first trilogy takes place some 20 years before the second. About a year elapses between each story of the first trilogy. The whole adventure -encompassing the three trilogies --spans about 40 years." How much has been written? "I have story treatments on all nine," he said at the time. "Then I've got voluminous notes, histories and material I've developed for various purposes. Some of it will be used, some will not. After all, it takes three years to prepare and make a 'Star Wars' picture. How many years are left? It's like making an 18-hour movie. Each film is conceived like a chapter of a book. It's a whole tapestry of which I can deal with one part at a time. Each part is two hours of screen time, and one has limited funds and limited time to do it in."

Mark Hamill

George Lucas is noted for the calm and quick way he handles actors, and in the process, getting very real, very true portrayals from them. When asked about his technique with actors, Lucas merely stated that "I think part of it is that I cast very close to the kinds of people the actors really are. Mark Hamill, who plays the hero in Star Wars is very much like his character, Luke Skywalker. Mark is wonderfully naive, energetic and very enthusiastic." When asked about the nature of the character he portrays, Mark Hamill agreed that his character was very much as Lucas had described him. Then he impishly added, "George Lucas is Luke Skywalker! I guess in many ways George and I are alike," Mark added, "Because neither of us is tall and we both look really young, we've both been called 'the kid' on movie sets. George said he has given to me, forever, his nickname of 'the kid.' That's what he used to be called until he grew his beard. And that's what I ended up being called on the set of Star Wars 'Hey, where's the kid,' was the way the people called me for a scene. "I realized that my character, Luke Skywalker, was really George while we were filming in Tunisia. I was doing the scene where I discover the robots. I said my lines very big, very dramatic. George came over and went over the lines with me. He didn't give me line readings, but as he explained the intention of the scene, he was very low-key. I just watched him. I don't know why, but something in me told me to observe how he was speaking, to try to pick up his inflection.

"I even imitated a few of his gestures as he explained to me what he wanted me to do. At one point, I thought to myself that he was doing it so small. That can't be right. I thought I'd try it very small and he would see that it didn't work. He would tell me to go back to the way I was doing it before. So when I played the scene, I did it just like I thought George would react in the scene. When I did it like that, George called, 'Cut. Perfect.' I was flabbergasted. I thought, 'Oh, I see. Of course, that was right. Luke is George. Even the names are similar, Luke —Lucas.' "From then on, I followed through on my feelings. I began to really feel like I was playing George. I guess if you sit down and write an adventure like this, you have to think of yourself as the main character. I actually think 'Star Wars' is the adventures of George Lucas," Mark said, "Making this movie has been to George like playing with a big toy. He had a great time. While we were filming, Carrie Fisher brought over to England a Buck Rogers helium pistol. She gave the toy to George and he wouldn't put the thing down. We would see him with the gun in the hallways of the studio. Although he was not conspicuously running down the hallways and aiming it at imaginary villains, he did spend a lot of time kind of twirling it around. You couldn't pry that helium pistol away from him," Hamill revealed. "Sure, in 'Star Wars' I'm telling the story of me," George admitted. "It's my fantasy. I made it because no one else is making movies like this and I wanted to see one. I want it to be a success so everyone will copy it. Then I can go see the copies, sit back and enjoy them."

As for The Empire Strikes Back, "I've always identified very closely with the character of Luke Skywalker, and I think it will be clear that in the new picture, both he and I have matured since 'Star Wars,' " said Mark Hamill "Luke was a callow youth in the first movie, and to some extent I was naive and inexperienced too about life in general. Luke was suddenly thrust into amazing adventures in different parts of the galaxy. Similarly, I was taken to Africa and to England to play the role, having previously hardly been out of California," said Hamill. "For the second movie, I had to travel to Norway and to England again. I'm a much more knowledgeable individual now than when George Lucas first auditioned me for the role and I think audiences will see a more mature Luke." In between Star Wars and "The Empire Strikes Back," Hamill not only made other movies, one of which took him to Israel, but traveled widely to help promote Star Wars.

Hamill also survived a very serious road accident, which he believes fundamentally changed him into a more careful, caring person. He also got married, and is now the father of Nathan Elias, born in England during the production of "The Empire Strikes Back." "I know that being Luke Skywalker places upon me the responsibility to live a good life," he said, "because so many young people identify with the character. I don't think I've been changed by the success of Star Wars, it didn't go to my head. But nobody could go through such experiences as I have gone through, without maturing more rapidly than most people do during less eventful lives. So Luke will look and behave more maturely in The Empire Strikes Back' -that is inevitable and it's what George Lucas intended."

Carrie Fisher

In Star Wars," Carrie Fisher had a film role that measured up to her own rich fantasy life. She portrays the beautiful Princess Leia, a senator from the planet Al-deraan and a rebel-leader working secretly for freedom and justice against the oppressive, evil Galactic Empire. "When I made my first film, Shampoo, my scene was shot in a house in Beverly Hills, which is where I grew up. I wore this little tennis outfit, which was something I might wear in real life. It wasn't at all what I expected making movies would be," Carrie Fisher said. "I grew up watching movies and they always seemed like adult recess. And that's exactly what making 'Star Wars' turned out to be - a kind of adult recess. I got to go to lunch with outer space monsters at a Chinese restaurant."

Then 20-year-old daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Carrie Fisher stars with Alec Guinness, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Peter Cushing. Carrie Fisher is five foot one with dark hair and large dark eyes. She was brought up in the show business oriented world of Beverly Hills and made her professional debut at the age of thirteen in her mother's nightclub act. After appearing in "Shampoo," she attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She had been approached to do several motion picture roles following her brief scene in Shampoo but none of them really interested her until she read and was tested for Star Wars. "I wanted to do the role of Princess Leia because I wanted to have real conversations with people with bubbles on their heads," Carrie explained. "I just wanted to be blase about someone sitting across from me being a 'small person' or some strange looking person who was hired through the Ugly Agency. 1 love that there's an agency in London called that. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to be casually sitting around with those people as if they didn't have hair-dryer heads and things like that. I wanted to sit next to Wookiees, which are tall, half-man, half-ape creatures, jawas which are tiny, shrouded creatures with glowing eyes, and all kinds of robots.

"The people in the restaurant wouldn't react. I thought that was terrific. And we were in Boreham-wood, which is the English version of Crazylady, Wyoming. If I saw someone who was seven foot two, like Peter Mayhew, who plays Chew-bacca the Wookiee, with someone like me, who is really small, and all of the rest of the weird looking cast, I certainly would react. We looked like a Fellini congregation entering this little Chinese restaurant. When I was growing up, I used to go out a lot in costumes. There's a whole subculture of people who get dressed up in strange costumes and go out for ice cream at 31 Flavors, and I remember realizing that people just won't give you the attention that you seem to be screaming for. Kids react, of course. They think it's terrific. Adults don't. Except for drunks. Although I never read much science fiction before I made 'Star Wars,' I had a kind of active space fantasy life all my own. Once I saw a science fiction movie that scared the hell out of me. I don't know what it was, but it took place on the moon."

Fisher continued, "And I used to be afraid of Martians. There was an invisible Martian in that movie who was surrounded by an electric field. If you got thrown into that electric field, it was goodbye forever. It was really scary, scarier than even burglars or snipers. You can't put Martians in jail." When asked about her feelings about making a space fantasy film such as Star Wars she said, "I was scared to death. And when I finally did it, I felt like my body was being ventilated from the inside. But it was a different kind of terror. And I knew it was also going to be fun to do. I was really afraid of doing something wrong. I was also afraid my hairpiece would fall off. Despite the fears, I was sort of sorry we got it right on the first take. Once I got over the initial shock of doing it, I wanted to do it again. I still do. And that's why I hope they do a sequel with lots of swings across chasms in it. "I also want weightlessness in the sequel," Carrie Fisher added. "That looks like it could be a lot of fun. And lots of space travel. I like going places."

"It's like in the 1930 films with Fred and Ginger fighting up to the last reel," continued Carrie Fisher, talking about the romantic relationship between Princess Leia and Han Solo, which develops in The Empire Strikes Back. "It's Bogart and Bacall and Hepburn. If two independent people are quarreling and fighting, then they neck. That's what it is. It's romance in celluloid. In "The Empire Strikes Back," a strong emotional situation develops between Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and the Princess. But neither will admit to it until, that is, Han faces extreme danger. Up to that time, it's love in a cold climate with the Princess rejecting Han's advances during their stay on, and flight from, the frozen planet of Hoth. Seriously, though, I believe both characters are far more fully-dimensional in The Empire Strikes Back' than they were in 'Star Wars.' In the first film, the action was so intense that it gave us no time to think about one another. Now George Lucas has given the Princess a more full-blooded feel about her and it was much more challenging to play."

Alec Guiness

"I feel movies can be a positive influence in people's lives. Something really good should come from a motion picture," said Alec Guinness of the making of Star Wars. "A good story can show how people can overcome obstacles, rise to the occasion. When I read the script for 'Star Wars,' it had something that made me high, held my attention. It was an adventure story about the passing of knowledge and the sword from one generation to the next." Alec Guinness portrays Ben Kenobi, the last of the Jedi Knights, one of the greatest warriors of the Old Republic, who leads the fight against the sinister Galactic Empire. "One of the difficulties of being in my sixties is that I can't pick and choose quite as much as I could in my thirties. But my role in 'Star Wars' has been described as a blend of the Wizard Merlin and a Samurai warrior, and you can't beat that," Guinness commented. "Unlike most space fantasy, the characters George Lucas has created aren't cardboard. And the story is gripping. There's a quest, encounters with other forms of life, and conflict between good and evil. The good wins, which is a novelty these days."

"Actually, I think my films have been, on the whole, positive. I think even the comedies, such as 'The Captain's Paradise,' 'The Lavender Hill Mob,' 'The Man in the White Suit' and 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' showed that anyone with ingenuity and aspirations can do something with their lives. People liked to see that. And even though the characters I played often bent the law to achieve their ends, they had a sense of adventure to them. Audiences related to those characters. I suppose I start from the outside of the character and work in. It's wrong, but I can't stop my imagination," he said as he explained his acting methods. Although Guiness might consider the methods he uses wrong, the results he has achieved have been lauded by critics and applauded by film and theater audiences throughout the world. When asked to further amplify on his acting technique, Alec Guinness, who is generally reluctant to talk about either his public or private lives, allowed a brief glimpse into what make his characterizations so memorable. "Never having been a handsome juvenile, I've always been a character actor. I've always been determined that my work should be different each time I act."

Actors are notoriously and perennially worried about being out of work, but Guinness confesses to being lucky. He has worked continuously since John Gielgud took an interest in him when he was starting, casting young Guinness in his production of Hamlet. Then Guinness himself got the chance to play Hamlet when the great director Tyrone Guthrie staged the play. "The production was not a success. Nevertheless it all went to my head. I was only twenty-four at the time. And I still think it was one of the best things Guthrie ever did. Working with Guthrie was a whole other experience. He encouraged his young actors to let their hair down and let things rip. He encouraged a sort of mad amateurism, which was wonderfully liberating. It's the sort of experience actors today don't get. Plays, not to mention films, are much harder to come by because of the expense of putting a production together."

"There's no chance to experiment because each job is a life or death, success or failure experience. When I was starting, if one job failed, there always seemed to be another lurking not too far behind to wipe out the bad memories and, hopefully, the bad notices." Although Alec Guinness has aimed a shrewdly observing eye on the other people, he is not adverse to viewing himself with a keen sense of humor. "I'm a very self-conscious person. Maybe I think people are looking at me the same way I look at them," Guinness admitted. "Probably the most self-conscious moment of my life came when I was knighted by the Queen. It was a very odd experience. I remember there was a little band there for the occasion, and when it came my turn to be knighted, the band struck up, 'I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair.' It was a very droll moment."

Peter Cushing

Horror film enthusiasts loved, respected and feared Peter Cushing as the fanatical scientist Baron von Frankenstein and as Count Dracula's perennial nemesis, the determined and steely Van Helsing. Now, as Grand Moff Tarkin, the Governor of the Imperial Outland regions, whose insatiable political ambitions to become Emperor have driven him to ruthless means to quell an intergalactic rebellion, Peter Cushing took a role in Star Wars to achieve something new that wasn't horror. Although Peter Cushing has had a remarkable career portraying deadly characters in horror movies, he is a decidedly kind person off-screen, as greatly beloved for his gentleness by his co-workers as he is loved for his evil ways by horror movie cultists. Peter Cushing, before Star Wars, had worked many years for American International Pictures, which released hundreds of low-budget horror movies, some from Hammer films, that generated good profit.

Carrie Fisher said, "I like Peter Cushing so much that it was almost impossible for me to feel the hatred I needed to act against him. I had to say to him lines like, 'I recognize your foul stench,' but the man smelled like linen and lavender. I couldn't say that to this nice English man, whom I adored. So I substituted in my mind the one person I hate." As an example of Peter Cushing's kindness, people would relay stories about about how he insisted on the film company hiring his stand-in, who was recovering from an operation and was still too weak to work. Cushing knew his friend needed the job, so in order to protect him, Cushing ended up standing-in for the stand-in and spending off-camera time making tea for his friend. Peter Cushing was not long on the set of Star Wars though, completing his scenes in just five days.

Harrison Ford on The Empire Strikes Back

Harrison Ford, who later recreated his role as Han Solo in "The Empire Strikes Back" reached the snow-stricken location at Finse, Norway (where the ice-planet scenes were filmed for Empire), in a manner to justify the traditional claim that the show must go on, whatever the conditions. When called form London to the location, which is set on a glacier 6,000 feet above sea level, Europe was in the midst of one of the worst winters on record. Finse was isolated by blizzards and avalanches, which had cut the railway link with Oslo, the only means of reaching the remote mountain pass. Because he was required for scenes of a rescue nature on a snowscape depicting a planet in its ice-age, the production chartered a special snow-train equipped with snow plows that I forged a path to Geilo, a ski resort 30 miles east of Finse where Ford was stranded in a train blocked by a collapsed snow tunnel.

They radioed the railway authorities to unload the actor, and the plow brought him through 50 feet of high drifts to the location base at midnight. In the morning, he was before the cameras with Mark Hamill in the scenes which open the picture."Part of professionalism is showing up on time and knowing your lines," said Harrison, "but I have never before learned them in an avalanche or reached a set in a snow plow." In Star Wars, I was really in my element. I felt that I was just having a great time, it was not like work." Lucas had worked with Harrison Ford before, when he was cast in a small part in American Graffiti. As Lucas prepared the script, he would keep his mind on Ford as Han Solo. "I knew there was something there, a cockiness that was needed for the role and Harrison did it to perfection." Ford says of his role as Han Solo: "I intentionally keep my interpretation simple. Han is no longer the only stamp in my passport, but somehow he is becoming a part of me." After the success of Star Wars, the Chicago-born actor starred in Force Ten From Navarone, Hanover Street, Heroes, Raiders of the Lost Ark series, The Frisco Kid, and played a cameo role in Apocalypse Now. He has gone on to make dozens of successful films.

Darth Vader

One of the most famous villains in movie-land is Darth Vader. While the voice you hear was that of James Earl Jones, it was actually actor David Prowse in the black costume. Darth Vader was originally a Jedi Knight who fell to the dark side of the force. He was a ruthless being with no feelings whatsoever, at least in the first film. Prowse's size filled the large Vader costume creating an evil compelling lord. It was actually a stuntman named Bob Anderson who did the fighting as Vader. Darth Vader did not become such a major player until the second script revision in which Lucas created a more evil threat to the rebellion. Darth Vader has still remained a symbol of evil, and has even been written about in several books by psychiatrists when writing about severed and hidden personalities.

James Earl Jones was known for his infamous low voice, having narrated dozens of programs and did voice overs for commercials, documentaries and other productions. He lent his voice to Robots and The Lion King and starred in such films as Dr. Strangelove, Swashbuckler, Conan the Barbarian, The Hunt for Red October and his famous appearance as the king in Coming to America. David Prowse had many roles on television series but would have very little success in films.

News Coverage

Star Wars would obtain major coverage in almost every newspaper in the country, not only once, but in some papers dozens of times. Considering the film played so long in theaters, newspapers and magazines continued to use the movie as a major story attracting readers. Magazines on the stand in news-stands and grocery stores were full of Star Wars covers. Papers like The New York Times as well as other papers would run behind-the-scenes stories, something they rarely did so many times for a single movie. Hundreds of magazines, whether or not their subject was film, would find a way to incorporate the film into their publications.

John Williams

John Williams, who conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in recording his original compositions for the Star Wars saga, is well known for his very popular and accessible music. Nominated thirteen times for an Academy Award, he has received Oscars for Fiddler on the Roof in 1972, for "Jaws" in 1976, and for Star Wars in 1978, which became one of the top selling soundtrack albums of all time. He had twice received an Emmy Award for "Best Musical Composition," and was awarded two Grammys for Superman. Williams has also composed a large body of work for television, particularly for "Alcoa Theater," "Kraft Theater" and "Playhouse 90." His symphonic works have been performed by many major American orchestras. He was appointed conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, succeeding the late Arthur Fiedler and continued to write scores during that time.

For Star Wars, Williams spent months looking at drafts and the finalized screenplay and knew he had something special to work with. "I had done many types of films before, but I was too young to do the serials, the western action/adventures and had only done a few science fictions scores. This film allowed me to combine all of those themes. So I created a special theme for each character that would be heard when the character appeared. For the theme itself, I spent a month at my piano changing notes and working with different octaves and keys. Then one day, a beautiful sunny morning, I woke up, walked to my piano, took all of the work I had used before, and combined it to create the main title theme. It was a very exciting day that I will never forget. I never realized at the time just how popular this composition would become." Lucas had originally planned to use classical music, as in 2001 A Space Odyssey, until Steven Spielberg introduced him to John Williams.

In "Star Wars," Williams' unparalleled ability to create exciting, captivating music is evident. In this two-record set, each major character has its own highly recognizable theme. The only theme that had not been created until the second film was the unforgettable "Imperial March," which not only personified the foreboding character of the villain Darth Vader, but served to depict the Imperial forces themselves. Later he also created a special theme to portray Yoda, the teacher of the Jedi Knights, as well as a beautiful love theme which accompanies the growing romantic relationship between Han Solo and Princess Leia. Williams even wrote a theme for the ever-popular robots, C-3PO and R2-D2. Throughout the soundtrack, Williams had given emphasis to the relationships between the characters, keeping in mind the importance of the original story, while generating excitement for the adventures of the original script. New material was developed to tie-in with the original score, yet the creation of new themes steadily unfolds to accompany every event and character in the Star Wars sequel as well.

Williams also created an appropriate musical mysticism in his themes, which introduces the fantastic and exotic locations in which the story takes place. Star Wars was John Williams' forth association with the London Symphony Orchestra, whose experience in performing film scores went back many years. In Williams' opinion, one of their exceptional attributes was their flexibility. As part of the musical renaissance in London, the London Symphony musicians have been exposed to great changes and innovations in the instrumental arts; there has been the development of new recording techniques, as well as a close association with the British film industry, As a result, the players developed superb technical expertise and artistic flexibility. In recording Star Wars, the orchestra had to adjust to various changes in their composition, depending on the specific requirements of certain sequences. For example, the themes at Luke's home is a theme accompanying the heavy movements of the drama as Luke realized his parents have been killed. This music called for five piccolos, five oboes, a battery of percussion, two grand pianos, and two or three harps in addition to the normal orchestration complement.

With a score as complex as Star Wars, the flexibility of the London Symphony Orchestra and their ability to provide such exceptional orchestration was a tremendous asset in helping Williams create this motion picture soundtrack. The music not only added great dimension to the action in the film itself, but thanks to Williams' unparalleled expertise, the score also stands out on its own - innovative, exciting and appealing. The music from Star Wars is another landmark in both Williams' own career and in the entire field of motion picture soundtracks. The score for Star Wars ranked #1 on AFI's 100 Greatest Film Scores. This also marked the first time in years that the younger audience was buying a soundtrack of orchestral content. At the time of the film's release, there were three singles released of the title theme. The one that made it to the top of the charts was from Meco Monardo (on his albums he is named 'Meco'). The disco version of the theme and its album would remain on the top of the Billboard charts for months. Meco would then be assigned to Millenium Records, and his next album was titled Encounters of Every Kind, using music from Close Encounters and other original Meco space music.

Premiere

The film was shot in an aspect ratio of 2:40:1 with anamorphic lenses, even older VistaVision cameras were sometimes used. Opening weekend grosses came in at an estimated $35.9 million, extremely good for 1977, but the staying power of the film would actually shock the studio, going on to make almost $800 million worldwide. May 25, 1977 will be remembered as one of most important days in film history. This was the day that Star Wars was released. It was booked only into a few select theaters. Word of mouth quickly spread. Lines three to four blocks filled the sidewalks to get in to see this new adventure in space, a totally original tale unlike the public had ever seen.

Lucas told Starlog Magazine in an interview, "I was mixing sound on foreign versions of the film the day it opened here. I had been working so hard that I really forgot the film was being released that day. My wife was mixing New York, New York at night at the same place we were mixing during the day. She came in just as I was leaving for the day and we ran off to the Chinese Theater and there was this huge line around the block. I said, "What's That?" and I couldn't believe it when it hit me, they were waiting to get into Star Wars." Fox executives could not keep track of the boxoffice intake. Not since The Sound of Music had Fox had one of those "One in a million" films that would take the world by storm. In American cities, every show was packed and sold out. To get away from it all, Lucas went to Hawaii with Spielberg and their wives, and on the sand in front of the beautiful ocean, the idea of Raiders of the Lost Ark was born.

On May 25, 1977 at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Star Wars had its premiere. The stars came out in droves for the heavily-promoted event. Debbie Reynolds, Beatrice Arthur, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Roger Moore, Helen Reddy, Richard Widmark, Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason, Linda Blair, Liza Minelli, Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Alan Alda, Christopher Reeve, Brad Davis, Geneviève Bujold, Beverly D'Angelo, Charlton Heston, Tom Sellek, Jeff Conaway, Larry Hagman, Jessica Lange, Jim Henson, John Cleese, Gregory Peck and of course the cast were in attendance.

Also attending were the heads of several studios, including the Presidents of Universal and United Artists, both of which had turned down Lucas to make the film. The premiere was similar to the golden days of Hollywood. When the film ended, a five minute standing ovation would bring a tear to the eyes of George Lucas. The stars and specially invited would then attend an after party that was filled with smiles and excitement and lasted into the early morning hours. What would follow this night would not only surprise 20th Century Fox and George Lucas, but nearly everyone in the movie industry.

The World loves Star Wars The reviews began to appear. Time Magazine wrote,'"This is certainly the best film this year, a combination of Flash Gordon, swashbucklers and The Wizard of Oz." The L.A. Times said, "Star Wars is Buck Rodgers with a doctoral degree and not a trace of narcissism...a slam band rip-roaring trip through a distantly futuristic world." Variety exclaimed, "A Magnificent film, like a breath of fresh air." Roger Ebert said, "Every once in a while, I have what I think is an out-of-body experience at a movie. The characters in the movie Star Wars are so perfectly and simply drawn that it's the movie's heart that will endure people to this film for a long time." There wasn't a place in which Star Wars was not being discussed. In schools, gyms, restaurants and literally everywhere, the words Star Wars were echoed.

When Lucas returned from Hawaii, it was madness. Lines around the block in hundreds of theaters nationwide were continuing, and the boxoffice dollars kept coming in. During this period, it is interesting to note that many movie houses equipped their theaters for Dolby Stereo to present the film as best as it could sound. Many of these theaters made the transition after weeks into the run when people who had seen it in a stereo theater complained to management that audiences were not seeing the real Star Wars in their theater without the fantastic stereo experience. By the end of June, only one month, Star Wars earned back it's cost. The flow of cash was so high that Fox, which usually produced twenty-five films a year, produced less than half of that for 1978. After three weeks of release in 1977, Fox's stock price doubled.

With the success of the movie, Lucas could now, having all rights to the sequels, do whatever he wanted at greater cost and perfection and have control over his work. He would go on to produce The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and then go on to complete the first three chapters. The film would get ten Academy Award nominations, and go on to become to most profitable film in history. It was the first science-fiction film to be nominated for Best Picture. In its first video release, the film remained on top of the charts for months.

Following this and a laserdisc release, Lucas decided to take modern special effects which could not be used in 1977 and apply them to Star Wars. This began a long and serious debate between Star Wars fans and Lucas that continues to this day. Lucas added special effects, and even changed the bar scene in which Han Solo fires his weapon, which has created much controversy. Claiming the original negatives were all cut up to create the special editions, Lucas finally relented and released the laserdisc transfers in non-anamorphic widescreen to DVD.

Comic Books

One of the most popular by-products of the film were the comic book series. Marvel Comics obtained the rights for the first Star Wars comics. Most of the stories did not follow the film and were all original, with titles like "Six Against the Galaxy," "Death Star," "Doomworld," and "Crucible." But in later years, other comic companies would publish many assorted comic books based on the series. "Tales of the Jedi," "Knights of the Old Republic," and "Attack of the Clones" to name a few. Marvel did very well with its original series which is now in the hands of many collectors and extreme fans of the series, with the first issue going for a high price in auction.

Star Wars was the subject matter for many documentaries and spoofs. Mel Brooks used the film as a basis for Spaceballs. Another popular parody made by students was Hardware Wars, with household items taking the place of ships and weapons. In 1982 Lucasfilm made Return of the Ewok. The film has been spoofed in television series such as Robot Chicken and Family Guy among others. Regardless of the Stars Wars on earth over the changing of the original film, the Star Wars in space has become a legend, a film that changed motion pictures forever.

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posted 10-05-2011 10:45 AM                    

quote: Robert Siegel

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Opening weekend grosses came in at an estimated $35.9 million, extremely good for 1977

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quote: Robert Siegel

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On May 25, 1977 at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Star Wars had its premiere. The stars came out in droves for the heavily-promoted event. Debbie Reynolds, Beatrice Arthur, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Roger Moore, Helen Reddy, Richard Widmark, Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason, Linda Blair, Liza Minelli, Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Alan Alda, Christopher Reeve, Brad Davis, Geneviève Bujold, Beverly D'Angelo, Charlton Heston, Tom Sellek, Jeff Conaway, Larry Hagman, Jessica Lange, Jim Henson, John Cleese, Gregory Peck and of course the cast were in attendance.

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quote: Robert Siegel

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In late spring, the finished film was screened for friends of Lucas, studio executives and a few other special invites. There was no ovation. That night, Brian De Palma and Steven Spielberg were present.

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quote: Robert Siegel

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Spielberg had met Lucas on the Universal lot during American Graffiti.

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quote: Robert Siegel

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John Williams, who conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in recording his original compositions for the Star Wars saga, is well known for his very popular and accessible music. Nominated thirteen times for an Academy Award, he has received Oscars for Fiddler on the Roof in 1972, for Jaws in 1976, and for Star Wars in 1978, which became one of the top selling soundtrack albums of all time. He had twice received an Emmy Award for "Best Musical Composition," and was awarded two Grammys for Superman.

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quote: Robert Siegel

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When Lucas returned from Hawaii, it was madness. Lines around the block in hundreds of theaters nationwide

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quote: Robert Siegel

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It was the first science-fiction film to be nominated for Best Picture.

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posted 10-06-2011 02:55 PM                    

quote: Michael Coate

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The last time I posted a list of corrections to a published work, it received only a single dismissive comment and no discussion, so why should I think this time will be any different?

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posted 11-12-2011 09:32 AM                       

quote: Michael Coate

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[facepalm]

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