Star Wars
Year: 1977
Grade: A+
Country: USA
Director: Lucas
Review(original version) – what can you say about a film that has already had everything said about it? what can you say about a film that made carrie fisher hot, harrison ford huge, and mark hamill a hero? a lot, but not much that’s going to be insightful or novel. if not for pulp fiction, reservoir dogs might still be a relatively unknown cult film by an unknown director. though i have to say that i saw reservoir dogs in the theater, so i would be among the few who would have appreciated it without pulp fiction, but i digress…i think that john williams’ score is to star wars as pulp fiction is to reservoir dogs – without the sweeping, moving and epic score, star wars might not have been the huge blockbuster that it was. this isn’t a knock against the film, rather it’s a praise of the music. the main theme and the finale are both among the finest pieces of music ever composed for film.
it’s got a great balance of comedy, action and philosophy. i would be remiss if i didn’t mention kurosawa’s “hidden fortress” which served as an inspiration for star wars. lucas “borrowed” several elements from it: telling the story from the point of view of two lowly characters, the traitor character (which comes later in the series), and the sword fighting. he also borrows from flash gordon (the title sequence) and the writings of joseph campbell.
the empire strikes back is still probably my favorite, but this one is fucking great.
Watched on TV