Star Wars is a force

Along time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was no such thing as a summer blockbuster. Star Wars is the perfect example of everything that’s great and bad about movies.

In 1977, nobody expected George Lucas’s little space western to go anywhere. It seemed too off-thewall and starred a cast of mostly unknown actors.

But the little movie that could became the highest grossing film of all-time. When adjusted to inflation, more people saw Episode: IV A New Hope in a theatre than any other movie next to Gone With the Wind. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards (including best picture) and won six.

From the opening bars of John Williams’ Main Title, audiences anticipated something special was about to happen.

Lucas created characters audiences loved, including a classic villain. When the final credits rolled, it begged for an encore, one that came three years later with The Empire Strike Back, perhaps the best sequel outside of The Godfather Part II.

With the phenomenal success of Star Wars, art was quickly tossed out the window after Empire.

Beginning with a truly awful Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, Lucas was more interested in selling toys than expanding his art. His contemporary Martin Scorsese, by contrast, always put art first.

The ewoks in Return of the Jedi appeared to have no purpose other than to appeal to children. They made really cute stuffed animals. Jar Jar Binks, who singlehandidly ruined the three prequels, was placed there for the kids, certainly not for plot development.

The films had several theatrical re-releases which fans demanded but Lucas re-edited the triology on the 20th anniversary of the original, with special editions nobody asked for. For Star Wars completists, it meant buying the DVDs again with a new format.

A conspiracy theory that’s been around the internet for years is that Luke Skywalker would turn to the dark side in Return of the Jedi, but Lucas would have nothing to do with it because Star Wars was marketed as family entertainment.

So here we are, 40 years later and the No. 1 movie at the box office is a Star Wars film and Mark Hamill has come out of retirement to play Luke. With Lucas handing over the reins of his franchise, it’s done wonders. The new versions, along with the stand-alone films, are surprisingly good. The present series has married a new story and set of heroes with some of the old favourites.

Perhaps Star Wars movies were intended as entertainment and not art.

Entertaining they are.

40 years later, movie series No. 1 at box office

—James Miller Valley Editor