Wary of the hype I went to see it at a big West End cinema in London Liked it. Preferred Close Encounters Star Wars did grow on me though and I see it as a big step in cinema
This reminded me of the night my older siblings and their friends came home from seeing A Star Is Born (with Streisand & Kristofferson). The girls were gushing about the big screen romance they'd just seen, but I distinctly remember the guys buzzing about the coming attractions trailer they'd seen before the film, "the science-fiction flick with those cool laser swords."
I was about 13 when it came out. I enjoyed it but to me it was just another blockbuster movie which people queued round the block for. There were quite a few of those in the 70s - Towering Inferno, Jaws, Close Encounters, etc. I remember there was a lot of hype particularly as I think we got it in the UK quite a bit later than the US. My friend's younger sister seemed particularly interested in Han Solo. I possibly preferred the second one a couple of years later, but the franchise lost me with the 3rd.
I didn't see it until early 1978, age 10. The merchandise and visuals generally had seeped through and gotten me wanting to see it, but once the line-ups had dwindled! I'd seen Logan's Run and Damnation Alley before it so I liked science fiction (also read it), if you want to call Star Wars science fiction; unlike those other two films it wasn't based on a text piece of sf but the old Flash Gordon comic strips (Darth Vader = Ming The Merciless etc.). How can you not have fun? The visual effects were often truly amazing for the time (why people didn't want them 'improved' later), the music stirring... Did I go Star Wars crazy like many? A bit... got two droid figures initially and started following the comic books. Sorry, no bedroom sets or exclusion of other creations. It was always just one of a bunch of things I enjoyed as a kid in the '70s.
Thinking about it, the only other flick that comes to mind as being as massive as SW was the original Jurassic Park! When I 1st saw the brontasaurus (and the 1st viewing of the park) I knew the movie was special! Again, now that they've made it over and over, it's easy to forget how groundbreaking the original was!
I was 11, and it was mind-blowing, thrilling, gripping. Darth Vader was terrifying. It's hard to even explain how amazing the experience was, as we just weren't prepared for something like Star Wars. It was a game-changer. And of course, every kid I knew was obsessed with it. I myself wish I could know what it felt like to see 2001 A Space Odyssey in the movie theater in 1968. That must have been even more mind-blowing.
I was in grad school, so not a kid. I went with my gf a week after it opened. She liked it quite a bit although unlike you she was not an SF fan. Was this popular with women in general?
Good prompt. Star Wars - during the opening week, I was 16, at the fairly large Coronet theatre in SF’s Richmond district. Long lines. After the opening scroll and never-ending overhead starship sequence, I totally bought into it. Fiercely enjoyable throughout. The orig. Raiders of the Lost Ark may be the only other peer in regard to both captivating opening and overall enjoyment factor. 2001 - I believe I might have seen this within the first year of introduction, and at the Palace of Fine Arts movie theatre (adjacent to the initial incarnation of the Exploratorium) in SF, no less. A classmate’s 8th or 9th birthday party included a viewing. What his father was thinking, I’m not sure. I had no clue what I was watching, but remember it being occasionally visually spectacular, sometimes interesting and incredibly boring at times. I may have fallen asleep. Possibly several times.
I was at the end of my sophomore year in high school, when I saw the trailer for Star Wars on TV, then at the end of the school session, I heard some friends talk about Star Wars and that it was the new film to go see. Even though I lived in the SF Bay Area at the time, I saw it that summer in LA, I think it was near Westwood (Cinema I and II). By then the hysteria was going strong, we waited in one of about 2 or 3 lines waiting to see the next show. There was even a busker doing a somersault routine on the street to entertain us (and pass the hat after). I saw it again in a drive-in back at home later that summer, with 4 other friends all crammed in one friend's family LTD sedan.
Sorry if i'm a downer. guess by your terms i'm a "troller", perhaps? But, I'm just answering the post question:..what a let-down. lowest common-denominator kind of movie. Would have walked out 1/4 of the way through, but, we stuck it out. I was with friends. Like eating Wonder Bread. Just a horrible picture, and the fact that so many liked it and thought it was good, was maybe one of the 1st instances where I actually realized that the human race will forever be lost and underwhelming in the popular vein of artistic endeavors. Good god! What were they thinking. It made millions, of course. Perfect, really. and they talked about the special effects! I came out of the theater, just knowing, in my heart of hearts, that I would never be hoodwinked ever again, and that there was something different between me and the masses. Just my personal point of view, folks. Don't go hating on me. Sorry if I don't subscribe to the popular plebian viewpoints. We can do better, peeple!
I saw 2001 in 1968 when I was 4. My mom and her boyfriend/fiancé (now my stepfather) took me with them to see it. All I remember is the "dancing bears". I probably fell asleep through most of it.
I was 9 at the time so it was quite exciting in an ineffable way... we were playing baseball and an older kid said to me, "You like war movies... there's this movie called Star Wars I bet you' d like..." that was the first mention of it I can remember... then a classmate came in one day with a tee-shirt with the two droids... the zeitgeist was building... my parents had no interest in taking me to see it, but luckily my older sister was home from university (she'd seen it opening day) and took me to the cinema at the old Worcester Galleria (Massachusetts)... it touched a nerve unlike any other movie had yet (though seeing the original Planet of the Apes on New Years Eve the previous year all by myself on late night tv - while said parents were out partying; just imagine parents leaving an 8 year old alone til 3 or 4 in the morning these days - came close)... I remember vividly going upstairs to Filenes after the movie and while my sister shopped I sat in a spinning chair and pretended to be Luke firing at TIE fighters from the gunport on the Falcon... p.s. I'm of the generation that will never call it A New Hope... bah... Made sure I was there for opening day of Empire... bought all the comic books for both, but never did get into the toys... by Return - though I also saw it opening day - I was a bit too old and the Ewoks and new Death Star were a deal-breaker...
I was 16 years old. I saw it the first week it came out, then took my brother to see it on the 4th of July. It became a ritual with us…first Star Wars…then The Empire Strikes Back…then Return of the Jedi. We both have very fond memories of that. I really loved Star Wars but I wasn’t obsessed with it. That would change with The Empire Strikes Back…that movie blew me away. One memory…I worked in a pizza restaurant across the street from the theater. The entire summer, the name on the theater marquee never changed…”Star Wars”…and every night, there were long lines waiting to see the movie. I had never seen anything like it. There were far few movie theaters back then, but the ones that did exist were larger. And the for the entire summer, it was filled every night.
I vividly recall seeing Star Wars as a kid. I was 10 yrs old at the time. My viewing was not really planned though. My brother who is 7 yrs older than I am was 17 at the time and could drive. Once in awhile my mother would allow my brother and couple of his friends to go to the Drive-Inn. There was one condition: Little brother had to go along. You know, the little snitch if weed was smoked or liquor involved. I never said anything of course because back then older brothers would "kill you" if you told. Anyway we were at the Drive Inn and me and my best friend Tony were in the back of the old Mercury sationwagon playing with cars while my brother and his two buddies were in the front drinking, getting high and watching whichever movie was furthest in the corner as to not be spotted by cops or anyone. While my friend and I were playing with our toys in the back thats when we spotted it on another screen. First it was flashes of green light, then these weird looking robot things in white that reminded me of the creature from the black lagoon were running around. Stormtroopers, of course. It seemed so clear and big. The entire movie captivated me and my friend. We couldn't hear it but watched the entire thing as we were introduced to R2D2, C3Po, Chewbacka and the entire cast of characters. You almost didnt have to hear the dialogue. It was like watching a giant comic book. You knew the bad guys and good guys. The scaredy cat robot, the bumbling but endearing little robot guy, the ominous Darth Vadar. I remember most the battle at the end. It seemed so different than any science fiction movie Id seen. It wasnt Star Trek and it didnt look fake. But we didnt think about fake then so much. The story was so simple and good that you felt the character chemistry without hearing them. Its difficult to imagine now that these were totally unknown characters and plots to us at the time. But there was a time in history this was true. I dont guess I thought too much about it afterwards. But subconsciously the Star Wars seed had been planted. I didnt see the movie again for many years. There was no Net Flix. We tried to tell my brother what we had seen but they just told us to shut up lol. Brothers, pfft. Later my brother went to the Navy and when he came home on leave we went to see Empire Strikes Back. This time around was different of course as there wasnt a soul on planet earth that didnt know Star Wars. I was pretty happy to get to see in real time the best one out of the three in a proper theatre with cool sound. And that is how I experienced Star Wars as a kid. Im still a big fan and each year its a tradition to watch the trilogy in May. Sometimes I get my old beat up hotwheels out and spin the wheels with my thumb and go back to a galaxy far far away that a 10 yr old kid saw at a drive inn with no sound
While I did not see it upon first showing, I did see the movie when first released in 1977 at some point. There was talk about the movie at school, and quite a few kids were able to see it multiple times....some in the 20 times area. I was not as fortunate, but I did get to see it twice in 1977 thanks to a freind bringing me along when he went....Thanks Jeff. I liked the space genre stuff so I watched quite a few space oriented shows like Star Trek, Space 1999....and even Dr. Who could give enough space travel to scratch that itch. I also watched any number of movies that were based in space when they would come on TV for the Sunday Night Movie.....so I had senn quite a lot before Star Wars was released, but I was sill a kid so my perspective was different than it is now. The biggest thing you will never be able to realize at your age, and 45 years after first release, is the first exposure to Star Wars and the new level of special effects. You heard about the movie, you saw the TV ads, you read the newspaper hype, and you were part of the conversation and buzz about the movie.....but you had not seen it yet so you did not really know or understand. Then your day came and BAM! A whole new world of space oriented movie was there for you to take in.....one that looked better than any other space movie you have ever seen. They were in space, they were on the Death Star, they really had light sabers that could kill you with a touch....all of it looked so great that it almost ruined everything beneath it overnight. Now the "old" space movies were just that.....old looking. Oh the story and acting may still be great, and you may really like the movie eventhough it did not look like Star Wars, but it was now different because Star Wars set a new bar to measure from. The sets, the costumes, the models, the lighting, the music.....everything was just better. Being a modle building doofus I was very much enthralled by the models.....dang they are good, and I wanted a Millenium Falcon as bad as ever. I saved and saved and saved because the big model I wanted was very expensive for the time......I got it, built it, still have it, and it still puts me an a fun frame of mind whenver I see it and think back to how I was feeling at the time. Before too long EVERYTHING was Star Wars in some manner. New car selling ads?........Yup, "CAR WARS" with a proper soundtrack and some type of light sabre sound as the slashed prices....or something along those lines. Going out drinking?.....Yup, "Bar Wars" where you can get your blue colored drink special. Just let your imagination go and there was some type of ad, somewhere, referencing Star Wars in some manner pretty much everywhere. Toys....the toys and marketing. Star Wars stuff everywhere. Halloween.....Chewbacca, C3Po, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Storm Trooper......all of it was there and it seemed about half of the kids wore a Star Wars themed costume for the next two years. The first experience of Star Wars, going from having no concept of the movie to then being fully emmersed into our lexicon is something intangible that happened in 1977 and it can not be repeated with this storyline. I was a typical kid doofus who fell 100% for this movie and the character I wanted to be was Han Solo....He was cool, had a good friend, and had the best spaceship in the whole galaxie.
Yeah, I was a bright-eyed pre-teen when Star Wars came out and a cynical 18-year-old when Return of the Jedi came out, and that third movie was one of my biggest movie disappointments. Forget the Ewoks, the happy smiling "Force Ghosts" at the end -- after the drama of "Stop being evil, Dad!" -- were about the stupidest crap I'd ever seen (and still are, TBH).
I saw Star Wars in June 1977 with my best friend. We were 11 years old and it was also the first time I went to the movies without a parent. I lived in a small town in central Texas and major movies did not arrive later after opening weekend. The town only had 2 indoor 2-screen theaters and 3 drive-ins and I think one of the drive-ins had it. I remember it was a brutally hot summer and my friend and I got to the theater two hours before show time. We were 20th and 21th in line. He and I stood beneath the only shade tree in the parking lot and watched the line grow longer around the theater. This theater was fairly newly constructed with air conditioning and plushy cloth seats that actually rocked. We took seats in the fourth row, looking straight up at the screen. I don't remember any trailers or previews. There were so many of our friends from junior high school in attendance with us. The lights dim and then we heard the opening chord of the main theme and read the screen text crawl. The flyover of the star destroyer made us jump because it rumbled so loud. I think the theater had cranked up the sound just for the opening scene. From that moment forward, George Lucas had me. I've been a Star Wars fan to this day. It's still my favorite movie.
Today is the 46th anniversary of the original Star Wars film and the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi. A local Star Wars ad from 1977 A local Return of the Jedi flyer from 1983
You beat me to it. This film is essential viewing for anyone who wants to know what it was like in 1977 before, and after, the film first opened. A fascinating true story, and without giving spoilers, as a teenager he was the FIRST person to see a rough cut of Star Wars, and it changed his life. He eventually DID become a film maker and worked at ILM.
What a fun idea for a thread. I was 13 years old in 1977. The first thing I remember about Star Wars was seeing the film advertised on television. I was getting burned out on seeing the same episodes of Star Trek all the time. My mom often went to Shoppingtown in Dewitt, and Star Wars was going to be playing there. One Saturday afternoon, I saw it as a matinee with my friend Dave while my folks poked around the stores. I remember us laughing about the opening crawl (“didn’t know I’d have to read on a Saturday!”) but as soon as the “boring part” was over, we were launched into space. This thing had thrills, laughs, scary creatures, fast and believable movement, and a scale that boggled our young minds. I remember being blown away when that first star destroyer went sailing over our head, and it just wouldn’t stop. That thing was huge! And we certainly went for a wild ride through the death star canyon. I remember all of these things clearly, because that’s all we talked about until we saw the movie again. And again. And again. I saw that movie six times in the theater with Dave.
I was 7. My parents took me after weeks of begging. It was mind blowing. I thought I was watching a "real" event. My 7 year old brain could not comprehend that it was pretend. The audience cheered when the Death Star blew up. I've enjoyed much of the Star Wars universe since, especially Empire. But honestly, it could have ended after Star Wars...
That was a movie? I thought it was a documentary. I was eight at the time. Jaws had already the same kind of hype. And Close Encounters would after. Lines around the block. Kids talking about seeing it. But Star Wars trumps both of those movies in its opening scene. By the time the Imperial star cruiser finishes showing its nearly endless bulk while chasing the blockade runner, you know that something special is in store. The film left you exhilarated rather than exhausted, leaving you wanting more, and wanting to see it again. There was also so much movie-related ephemera like collector cards, poster magazines, figurines. It's like the makers had pre-mapped out the concept that a Star Wars universe existed, leaving them a lot of 'space' to work with for future films in the series. There were photos of robots, monsters, and environments that weren't in the film very long, but were part of the landscape reality anyways. Everything could be expanded on and explained if needed.
