Star Wars - Episode IV:
A New Hope (1977)

Director: George Lucas
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

Synopsis:
A farm boy learns the truth about his heritage and joins a hermit on a mission to save a rebel princess from the clutches of the sinister Galactic Empire.

Impressions:
The Star Wars series is very near and dear to my heart. It was deeply imprinted on me as a child and remains a strong influence. To be sure, there are a great many people far more fanatically devoted than I am, but I'm still a pretty big fan and because of this, I'm going to do what I can to rein in my fan gushing about the Original Trilogy. (My relationship with the Prequel Trilogy is a little more complicated, but I'll get into that in the reviews for those films.) I don't know how the new generation will appreciate the cultural significance of this movie and its successors, but it really is a tour de force (pun not intended) that takes the tricky subgenre of space opera and knocks it right out of the park. It can't be understated what this movie did for cinema, for the advancement of visual effects, for cementing the summer blockbuster (along with such movies as the earlier Jaws), and making merchandising a big moneymaker. And the thing of it is that almost no one—not even Lucas himself—thought it was going to succeed. It's one of the great underdog stories of the entertainment industry.

The core story is timeless, with nearly one-to-one correspondence with the Hero's Journey (Lucas being a devotee of Joseph Campbell and all). The characters fit into classical archetypes but have been thoroughly absorbed into pop culture in their own right. I can praise pretty much the entire cast, but I want to give particular note to Harrison Ford as the roguish Han Solo, Peter Cushing as the sinister Tarkin, and Sir Alec Guinness as the sage Obi-Wan Kenobi. (Guinness had a lot of bitter feelings about his role, but both on and off the screen he contributed a lot to the production with his talent and professionalism.) The power trio of Luke, Han and Leia is strong and there's a lot of good stuff going on in the character dynamics.

The used future aesthetic is great and makes the world come alive. The cantina scene in particular shows off a great range of creature design to show off the diversity of the universe. The assault on the Death Star is riveting and the bar to judge all space combat scenes.

And let's not forget about John Williams' amazing score. Lucas had to fight to get a classical score in the film and thank God he did. Can you imagine where we'd be if the film was set to some contemporary rubbish?

Now for a brief aside which will accompany each film in the OT. I'm one of those purists who insist on the theatrical cut or nothing at all. Videophiles may complain about the quality of the '06 DVD release of the theatrical cut, but it doesn't bother me any. I'll admit that the '04 remastering improves on the '97 Special Edition, but its additions and modifications tend to be either superfluous or actually detract from the film. The cut scenes reintegrated into the film can be seen separately for the curious.

This film is a priceless treasure. Treat it as such.

Rating:
Treasure It