May 25, 1977 marked the premiere of George Lucas’ moderate-budgeted follow-up to his huge success American Graffiti (1973): Star Wars! Lucas initially hoped United Artists would buy his original pitch back then, but the studio balked. Lucas then approached Universal — despite his misgivings about the studio’s handling of his earlier films. Universal head Lew Wasserman was quoted at one point stating “We don’t make science-fiction movies.” Finally, vice president for creative affairs at 20th Century Fox, Alan Ladd Jr. Fox, which had recent success with sci-fi thanks mostly to its Planet of the Apes franchise, liked the idea and signed a deal with Lucas.
Making Star Wars was most difficult. So many vital tasks –the script writing all the way to the final edit and visual effects — involved frustrations, heartbreak, cancellations and, eventually, months of delays. A dessert storm destroyed the Tatooine planet sets and pushed the production weeks behind schedule; the hundreds of effect shots were initially shoddy and eventually delayed the production to the point where the production was forced to miss its original Christmas 1976 release date and move to May 1977. In nearly every production photograph of Lucas, you would find the man tired, forlorn and occasionally demoralized with his pet project falling to pieces around him. It’s little wonder why he turned over his directing duties of the follow-up films to others .
Late in the post-production, Lucas screened a rough cut (with only a few finished effects and zero sound effects and music) to his coterie of film-making buddies. When the viewing was finished, many were dumbfounded and quiet. Some, including Brian De Palma, thought the film had huge problems. However, another Lucas comrade, Steven Spielberg, was enthralled. “It only had a couple dozen final effects shots; most of them were World War II footage. So it was very hard to understand what the film was to become. I love it because I loved the story and the characters. Because the reaction was not a good one; I was probably the only one who liked it and I told George how much I loved it,” Spielberg said.
However…Lucas took many of his pals’ advice and got to work. Forced to fire his original editor, Lucas restarted the whole cutting process from scratch with Paul Hirsch, Richard Chew and his wife, Marcia Lucas. The new cut enhanced the action by using a faster-design that put more emphasis cutting between movements in key scenes. It was a modern technique which helped push Star Wars from an antiquated approach toward a new frontier in action-editing and remains one of the film’s crowning (and most influential) achievements.
As the new May 1977 release date approached, Lucas and his newly formed special effects company, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) completed the daunting requirements of the project and music composer John Williams had finished recording his monumental soundtrack. Initially, the producers didn’t want Williams. Instead, they pushed for edgier, modern compositions, which was the norm for most big budget films at that time. But Lucas remained steadfast and persevered in getting his classical score that would quickly become one of the most memorable and cherished compositions of the 20th century.
When the film was finally released, critics and audiences loved it, with the former appreciating its nostalgic celebration of the innocence and wonder of the old movie serials from Hollywood’s Golden Era, while the latter rejoiced in the spectacle and fun. That was 40 years ago on this day.
Cut to now. 40 years has been kind to Star Wars. Many films of the era (or even earlier) have fallen into obscurity are beholden only as a nostalgic curiosity. But Star Wars remains poignant because, first-and-foremost, Lucas and, now, Disney, have kept the saga afloat with new tales continue to rekindle its legacy for new generation.
But, I think Spielberg was right from the very start. Star Wars remains beloved because of the story and characters. The best Star Wars films were the one that maintained a specific dosage of wonder, innocence and fun. The visual effects, while monumental in its day, no longer surprise and awe us. But we remain ever faithful to its mythos because it was — and remains — damn good story-telling.
It’s hard to believe that the time between now and Star Wars’ original release date is now longer than between Flash Gordon and Star Wars. So far, many directors of the generations that followed have tried to take their childhood memories and inspiration from Star Wars to pave another path for the industry. But none have ever made the imprint that Lucas made on May 25, 1977m — although I’m confident that they will continue to try for another 40 years!
May the Force be with you.
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