Happy (belated) birthday, Star Wars

1977. That's forty-two years ago. I certainly wasn't in a big rush to see the new science fiction movie all the kids were talking about. By the time I got around to it the crowds had dwindled and though it wasn't a bad audience, the theatre wasn't packed. I seem to remember it was in one of Perth's wonderful old art deco movie theatres around December or January..

By http://www.chefelf.com/starwars/images/ep3_tantive_anh.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6834028

The initial crawl went up the screen and then there was a planet hanging in space, and a space ship driving across the screen from bottom right, taking up most of the screen. It looked nothing like the sleek ships we'd been accustomed to in Flash Gordon et al, a bit like drums strung together. And it was under fire. Then a presence appeared on the right, a looming darkness that caused me to physically duck. How cool is that? Totally visceral responce within the first five minutes of a movie? Then this... thing... started to emerge while my brain tried to process what I was looking at.

Shit. It's a spaceship!!! It totally dwarfed the ship I'd thought was pretty big seconds ago, coming and coming and coming. It was vast, a real David and Goliath scene in space.

And it went on from there. Darth Vader emerged into the blasted corridor of the rebel ship, the ultimate villain, black and masked and clearly an individual with a very bad health condition.

I wouldn't say I was in love with the movie. George Lucas's lousy dialogue was right up there, front and centre, and we all know about his tight budget and the rubbery aliens in the cantina scene. But I liked Han Solo and the Wookie. Princess Leia was a heroine with guts and style who didn't need rescuing, thanks all the same. "When you came in here didn't you have a plan for getting out?" That was a wonderful breath of fresh air to those of us used to Disney Princesses.

Hey, it was fun. Lots and lots and lots of fun. I came out of the movie theatre smiling. It was like a one night stand. "Yeah, that was great. See you around sometime. Maybe."

I fell in love when I saw The Empire Strikes Back. Saw the movie three times in the first week and probably a couple of hundred times since. But that's another story.

When did you first watch Star Wares: A New Hope?