Star Wars IV: A New Hope

The Star Wars franchise is, as previously mentioned, a juggernaut of pop culture. We've looked at the franchise a few times now, and it's time to go back to it. This time, we're looking at the very first game in the series - A New Hope.

So, does this film hold up today? Is it still worth watching? Well, let's find out, shall we?

The Beginning of the Saga

The origin of the Star Wars saga starts around 1971. He'd been discussing the trend in sci-fi films at the time. The 70s were packed with dystopian films, and Lucas and his friend Gary Kurtz were tired of that stuff. He went about trying to get the film rights of Flash Gordon. Of course, by then, the company that owned the rights was already looking for someone else to direct a film.

With all that in mind, Lucas decided to write his own original space opera based - from what I understand - at least partly on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series. In May of 1971, George pitched his space opera and a film called American Graffiti to United Artists' president David Picker. The space opera project was initially declined, but American Graffiti ended up in development hell and Lucas focused on his space opera.

The initial drafts were impressive, distributors liked the innocence and simplicity of the story, but nobody was willing to fund the film. The refusals cited a lack of confidence that Lucas could direct. Eventually, however, he was able to convince the head of 20th Century Fox. When American Graffiti was released in 1973, it was a smash hit and gave George Lucas the leverage he needed to renegotiate the terms of the contract.

When it came to casting, Lucas cast Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and, after some initial hesitation, Harrison Ford. He also cast Sir Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi. The film was a special effects extravaganza and it was a huge success. I found a documentary on YouTube that was around 7-ish hours that discussed the behind the scenes stuff of the original trilogy...Yep, I've got way too much time on my hands sometimes. The pictures included in the documentary showed crowds lining up around the block.

Sir Alec Guinness was rather dismissive - initially - of the film, calling it fairytale rubbish. Still, he was far more forgiving after his first viewing, saying:

"It's a pretty staggering film as spectacle and technically brilliant. Exciting, very noisy, and warm-hearted. The battle scenes at the end go on for five minutes too long, I feel, and some of the dialogue is excruciating and much of it is lost in noise, but it remains a vivid experience." - Alec Guinness

Unfortunately, he quickly became disillusioned with the role, but his co-stars and the film's crew talked about his professionalism. Still, the film has continued to grow its fanbase.

The Story

The Galactic Empire holds the galaxy in the grip of tyranny. As a result, there's a rebellion in place, that aforementioned rebellion has been able to steal the plans for a secret, deadly super-weapon.

Luke Skywalker is a farmboy on the planet of Tattooine, when his family is murdered by the evil Galactic Empire, he is recruited by an elderly warrior - Obi-Wan Kenobi - to help the rebellion by delivering the plans. Of course, nothing goes according to plan...

What Did I Like?

So...what did I like about this one?

• Well, I liked the story. It's fairly well-written and well paced.
• Alec Guinness' performance as Obi-Wan is phenomenal. He was impressed with the film initially, but the role followed him and he grew to resent that - which I understand. Still, he did a great job, so did everyone else in the cast.
• The music is great, that's all I can say about that and the costume design is wonderful.
• The landscapes and cinematography are wonderful.
• The special effects work is largely practical, which I loved.

What Didn't I Like?

So...was there anything I didn't like? Yeah, there were a couple of things, most notably:

• The practical effects work, as nice as it is, is very dated. Tech at the time wasn't great, but it was enough to make things interesting.
• The script isn't bad, but some of the dialogue was more than a little cringey.
• Fight choreography isn't bad, it's just much slower than what you'd see nowadays.

Final Thoughts

I didn't get to see the original trilogy until my late teens, but it's worth watching if you haven't seen it yet.