Star Wars (1977) * * * *

Directed by:  George Lucas

Starring:  Mark Hamill, Alec Guinness, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, James Earl Jones (voice), Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker

Star Wars was called Star Wars when it was released in 1977.    Over the past 20 years, the title has morphed into the monstrosity, "Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope".    It's Star Wars, the original which spawned a series of now seven films (and counting).     Its impact on pop culture and the movies themselves is undeniable.     It was the dawn of the big-budget space adventure.     There were imitators, but they missed the magic that Star Wars contains in its heart and its very structure.     We are sucked in by this tale of good vs. evil and find that such a story works wonders if it is told right and with great care.     Call me stubborn, but I will never agree to refer to this movie as anything but its original title.      Did they retitle Casablanca as Casablanca: Play It Again, Sam?    

Nearly all of the civilized world knows the story of Star Wars.     The Empire rules "a galaxy far, far away".     There is a Resistance, led by Princess Leia (Fisher), who is taken prisoner by Darth Vader, the de facto leader of the Empire.     There is an emperor, but he is not seen until later films.    Vader is among the most menacing villains in movie history.     Voiced by James Earl Jones (although the actor who physically wears the black costume and cape is David Prowse), every syllable he utters is foreboding and threatening.      In between the words is the breathing which is amplified from under his mask.    Even that is scary.   

Leia summons the help of Obi Wan Kenobi (Guinness) via a hologram.     Surrounding everything is The Force, which has a good side and a dark side.    Consider Obi Wan the leader of the good side and Vader as the leader of the bad side.     They have a history, these two, which is later fleshed out during their epic light saber showdown.      The light saber is the weapon of choice, which is like a laser sword that can pierce through people and objects, but the lasers can "block" one another if they make contact.     I never could quite figure out why this is.  

Writer/director Lucas pays homage to the space adventures he enjoyed as a child by making a high-budget one with the same sense of awe at its core.     The "non-human" characters are vividly realized.     You have never seen creatures quite like these.     Even the ones in later films do not match what you see here.     Some of them are threatening, some friendly, and some just mind their business while imbibing at a local saloon.     Gun play and saber fights are common, so much so that when bounty hunter Han Solo (Ford) kills rival bounty hunter Greedo in a cantina, the patrons scarcely seem to notice.

The characters are carefully drawn while being painted in broad strokes.    Luke Skywalker (Hamill) is the young hero who epitomizes good, Vader personifies evil, Obi-Wan is Luke's willing mentor, Han Solo looks out for number one, but joins Luke in the fight, Princess Leia is not a helpless captive, but smart, sassy, and takes no guff from the guys.    And then you have the droids C3P0 and R2D2, who are robots with personality, plus the large hairy creature Chewbacca; the loyal sidekick of Han Solo.    These characters live on in our memories and in pop culture.     They are known even to those who don't sleep out on the sidewalk six months in advance to buy tickets for the next Star Wars installment.

Besides the hand-to-hand combat, light sabers, and laser guns, we also see aerial wizardry in the form of the Millennium Falcon, X-wing fighters, land cruisers, and Y-wing fighters.     They are space planes that do battle like the RAF battled the Luftwaffe in World War II.     Maybe that was Lucas' intent.     Future films introduce technologically superior machines used to further the ongoing war.    The Empire wants to rule the galaxy, but with all of the pushback and headaches they receive, maybe they shouldn't bother.      Lucas' allusions to The Empire and the seemingly endless numbers of storm troopers that carry out the destructive orders of Vader are no doubt intended to remind us of the Nazis.     Notice how the storm troopers all look the same, with no distinguishable personalities.    They are strictly targets or obstacles to overcome.     Five die, five more seem to take their place.  

The first three Star Wars movies, including this one, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi are masterpieces which form a complete, satisfying trilogy.     Lucas pushed his luck with the three prequels from 1999-2005.      Episode I and II were boring chronicles of the rise of the Empire.    They played more like intergalactic C-Span.     The most recent Episode VII was the first Star Wars film in a while to capture the fun spirit of the original films.     Star Wars is the one that started it all and does so in spectacular, imaginative fashion.