Watching Star Wars in 1977
In 1977, I was two years out of college, working as a freelance industrial designer in Stamford, Connecticut. Looking through a Sunday New York Times Entertainment section, I saw a full page ad for a new science fiction film: Star Wars. The ad listed the film premier would be shown in 70mm and gave the theater address and show times.
The next Saturday, I took a train from the Stamford station into New York City, and then walked to the theater. I could see the theater marque a block away with the massive letters announcing STAR WARS. My timing was perfect as I got up to the ticket window–the next showing was in 25 minutes. When I bought my ticket, I was given a souvenir booklet; I still have it.
When I entered the theater lobby there were life-size character cutouts of the three principal characters Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and of course Chewbacca. I entered the theater itself and saw the massive Cinerama screen and found a favorable place to sit with many of the seats already filled. I waited patiently and finally the film previews started and after getting through those, Star Wars began.
The first scroll of the text setting the timeline of events with composer John Williams rousing score eventually faded from the top of the screen. Then we saw the rebel ship appear from the top of the screen, firing its defensive laser weapons toward…something. And then we see it: the staggering, immense pursuing Imperial battleship firing its laser cannons at the rebel ship. This scene was positively jaw-dropping! And just like that, George Lucas had the audience right where he wanted them.
We were then introduced to the principal characters, and the first two were definitely characters: R2D2 and C3PO. Identified as droids, not robots. C3PO, we would soon learn, was fluid in a host of languages including, conveniently, English, but R2D2 communicated only through whistles, beeps, clicks and other undecipherable sounds.
Then came the malevolent embodiment of The Force, Darth Vader. Clothed in black from his helmet to his boots, he towers over the storm troopers and the defensive rebel soldiers. We learn Darth Vader is looking for the stolen plans to the massive Death Star, the most destructive weapon in the Empire. Everyone in the theater was glued to their seat. Princess Leia was struck with a stun-level blast by one of the storm troopers, put into handcuffs and brought to Darth Vader.
In one of the best lines of the movie, Leia tell Vader she recognized his stench the moment he came on board the rebel ship. We see the stark contrast of good versus evil. Leia is dressed in a pure white gown conveying truth and good. But we have also seen her fearless nature as she defended herself with a laser blaster against the storm trooper.
The princess has loaded the plans to the Death Star into R2D2 and with CP3O the two droids have escaped the rebel ship aboard an escape pod down to the nearby planet. The plot of Star Wars was complex and was rewritten numerous times by George Lucas before filming started. However, the story that unfolded on the screen made sense and slowly built up in intensity toward the inevitable assault against the Death Star which, of course was successful.
That was not the end of the Star Wars saga, of course. George Lucas was only getting started. Lucas had a trilogy planned and the next film was The Empire Strikes Back, released in 1980. This was followed in 1983 with The Return of the Jedi. I have seen all these great films and enjoyed them all. Paul Duncan has written an excellent history documenting the creation and filming these films in his book, The Star Wars Archives – Episodes IV-VI 1977-1983 published by TASCHEN. It should be on every Star Wars fan’s bookshelf.
