In '77 the first 10 minutes screen time already amazed me, I felt like I was IN the movie. We didn't know anything like such special effects before Star Wars.
Thank Industrial Light & Magic for creating the special effects, and also Ben Burtt and Skywalker Sound for creating the sound effects, I really recommend documentaries like Empire of Dreams, which narrates how George Lucas struggled to get the films made, and also Light & Magic, behind the special effects of Star Wars and other movies.
@@jesustovar2549 According to the documentary I watched in that decade, Lucas began work on Star Wars in '74. I imagine the engineers had to build the production technology from scratch at the time.
I was 5 when it came out. Because it was released around my birthday and various relatives visited at different times, along with my dad being in the Air Force (and Air Force bases showing movies at later dates), I was able to see the movie 11 times in theaters. It was a great time to be a kid!
@@kenlompart9905 I remember when it came to television for the first time. It was a huge event. Recorded it on the VCR. Watched it another 55 times (for a total of 66) before the VHS tape was gone. When it finally came out on HBO, I stopped counting after my 100th viewing. 😁
I was only five when it came out, so I only saw it once in the theater. I saw Empire at least five times, and then by Return of the Jedi I was old enough to ride to the mall and use paper route money to buy my own tickets. Saw it at least eight times in the theater. Star Wars toys and discussions pretty much defined my entire childhood.
As a huge Star Wars fan this is awesome i showed this video to my family member they said vcrs were expensive at the time looks like it’s film no way it can be vhs❤
I was 6 when ROTJ came out. Only saw at once, but had the audio cassette version of the movie to listen to repeatedly at home. The cassettes are also the first way I was able to experience ANH and ESB. ROTJ was definitely a phenomenon in and of itself that went beyond simply watching the movie. Me and the other kids all had toy and merchandise collections we worked on and played with for the next couple of years, and we of course thought about and talked about the movies often.
Like you I saw Star Wars 1 rime as I was five years old and ran out everytime Darth Vader was on screen. My friends and I saw TESB and ROTJ at least 4 times each. My parents bought us the action figures, ships and records. Millennials today don't realize what a freaking big event each movie was and how the space battles were like nothing anyone say before. Glad to have been born to see both Star Wars and Indiana Jones in the theatre. I remember Raiders as being the most fun theatre experience ever. People were whopping, clapping and generally having a good time during it. Innocent times.
I was super excited. Family was on a road trip and we were going to see it but when we showed up to the theatre it wouldn't start for another three hours and my parents bailed. 😢 eventually saw it on VHS...
I was 7 years old. We saw it in the theater. I remember there was a collective "ahh!" from the audience when the Star Destroyer first flies overhead in the opening sequence. No one had seen anything like that before. It definitely had a magical quality.
Před 3 měsíci+5
I was 7 when my family went to see it as well. Star Wars then shaped my childhood playtime, as well as all of my friends. Every birthday party involved going to see it, and my count was 13 times on the big screen. I don't recall the excitement for Empire at all, except some about the Boba Fett action figure.
I was seven as well. It was mesmerizing. I went back every week for weeks that it was in the theater. Some days we stayed and watched it twice back to back. I had Star Wars sheets, curtains, and pajamas.....lol
I think "Star Wars" (1977) effected that sci-fi movies weren't treated as small budget B-movies like before and film studios were ready to invest more money to them. The 1979 "Alien" movie was also a big success mixing science fiction and horror elements.
@@Mark73dude, I love star wars, but c'mon. It didn't invent the wheel, let's put it that way lmao. Its narrative structure is based on models/rules that have existed for literally thousands of years. Like, from the epic of Gilgamesh, to Romeo and Juliet, etc.
@@surfboardjoker6299 we're talking about the technical aspects of film making here, not the storytelling aspects of it. Star Wars reinvented how big budget films are created.
was was 12 yrs old when it came. Nothing like it had been on the screen before, lightyears ahead in special effects technology, no one could do what Lucas envisioned, so he started his own special effects group to invent the technology. My mother told me that the ONLY time a movie made the audience audibly gasp was the Wizard if Oz, when Dorothy opened the door to a technicloor world from black and white in 1939. To this day I can still get goosebumps.... it was so cool to see that big rebel ship come into screen flying over Tatooine, but when the Imperial Battle Cruiser came into screen...and came on... and kept coming and coming and coming did you realize how HUGE that thing was! It gives me goosebumps just typing right now! And when Darth Vader first appears.... there were gasps and then boos from the crowd!? If you were there in 1977, in a big theater.... we didnt WATCh the movie... we were brought INTO it! When Luke hit the exhaust port and blew up the Death Star... the applausde was like a football game! Had to be there.
Saw this in the theater with my father and brother. I was amazed. The most thrilling movie I’d ever seen. When Empire Strikes Back was released I was working at Burger King. They were offering a Star Wars drinking glass promotion which I thought was cool. Saw that film with my high school friends. And, when Return of the Jedi was released I was home on leave from the service to see that with my fiancé. Best trilogy. Ever.
In fairness, That’s not some incredible insight. It’s not like there were many science fiction films to choose from, and none with that level of technical achievement. The movie was instantly canonized.
@@sethwiseman1017 Perhaps. But its unequaled in any sense of the imagination. I thought it was cool when it came out. But I didn’t even have a sense there would be a sequel.
It was. I remeber getting the marvel super special Star wars comics and reading them over and over and over. My parents refused to take me to see it a second time. My dad thought he knew everything and claimed "itll be on tv in a month just like other movies" boy was he so wrong. 🙄
Was 13 when my friends and I saw it at the Granada theatre in sherbrooke, Quebec. We were on the edge of our seats, and when Luke blew up the deathstar, the whole place stood up and cheered like it really happend!
What do you mean; "Like it really happened"?? I saw this in Toronto when I was 5. Are you telling me, it wasn't a "Historical Documentary"!!! What about those poor people on Gilligan's Island??!! (To anyone who stumbles across this and doesn't recognize the references. Turn off CZcams, right now, and go watch Galaxy Quest) (Go on...)
Star Wars can’t even be narrowed down to mere science fiction. That’s just its superficial aesthetic. Speaking strictly about the first 6 movies, at least.
The opening scene with the massive Star Destroyer coming in overhead and hearing the oohs and wows eminating from everyone in the theater is my greatest memory from Age 7. Thanks, Dad.
My godmother who was a huge sci-fi movie fan, insisted on taking me to see Star Wars in the theater when I was 7 years old, after she had already seen the film a dozen times with her various coworkers, family members and neighborhood friends. It was a fantastic experience. She's also took me to the theater to see Close Encounters. For me, it was the best of times for sure.!!!
I saw both movies at drive-in theatres, on massive outdoor screens, while sitting in a car. Close Encounters of the Third Kind would have come out just before Star Wars, but the director wanted to fix up some parts of it before they released it, so they ended up waiting about a year before they released eventually the film.
I attended the first Star Wars on opening day in Orange, California, in 1977, but it got off to a bad start. Somehow, the theater had oversold seats by over 100 people, maybe 150. Luckily, we got seated, but the people who had nowhere to go were extremely angry and yelling at theater staff. Also, they refused to leave the theater, many just standing in the aisles refusing to budge. Finally, after several minutes, bout 15 or more helmet-clad police carrying tactical batons arrived and ordered the people without seats to vacate the theater. The manager promised either refunds or seating for another showing. I can't recall how late the movie started but was around 30 to 40 minutes late because of the mixup. The movie, of course, was great.
I was 12 years old when Star Wars came out in 1977 and I will never forget the effect it had on me then. You never witnessed in film anything like this before... EVER!!!
Lot of people don't even understand that at this point in time, once a movie left the theaters that was it. It's gone now. It might come on HBO if your family pays for it.
I was eight years old and every time when I see and hear the intro I get goose bumbs. Thank you George for one of the best experiences in my childhood.
At that time, there was nothing to compare it to. No other movie to that point had comparable special effects. It was pretty cool watching it in the movie theater. Everyone was blown away.
One of my favorite fun facts about 2001 A Space Odyssey (1969) is that despite having no digital effects in the filmmaking itself, it did have ground breaking CGI... but only because the computers used in the movie have screens with Graphical User Interfaces. GUI's were science fiction at the time. Xerox wouldn't make a computer with a GUI for another 4 years. You take it for granted watching it that Stanley Kubrick is just casually predicting the future of computer screens.
I remember watching a documentary on the special effects and how they did them, and how each effects department was so compartmentalized that they never got to see how their own work fit into the movie as a whole. When they were able to finally see the movie, even they were astounded, with one technician joking "is THIS what we were working on?" I think that says everything about how Lucas' vision was so far beyond anything that had come before, that even the people working on it were shocked by the final product.
My dad had a driver. His driver got us three tickets to see Star Wars during its first week of release. My brother, my best friend and myself felt like freaking kings as we were shown to our seats. Still one of the best memories of my life! RIP dad !
I went to go see it with friends in late July or early August '77. None of us had any clue what it was about or what it was going to be like. It was a pivotal point in our 9-year-old minds. We left the theater changed, to say the least.
Yep. I was a little kid too and it blew me away! I’ve been a die hard fan ever since. I even enjoyed the prequels everyone bitches about just because I’ll take any Star Wars I can get.
@@Mr.Goodkat Sequels were good, but my classmate spoiled it for us by opening his big mouth and bragging that Darth Vader was Luke's father. Return of the Jedi for me was even better than Empire Strikes Back, because it ended with the rebels winning....just like in Episode IV.
I was 9 years old. I went with my mom and my friend Danny. It was absolutely magical. Completely awestruck. We went and saw the movie in the theatres about 4 times at least and saw it a number of times after that. We bought our first vhs just to watch Star Wars in 1982
Younger people will never know what a really huge event Star Wars was back then. I saw it when it came out in the cinemas and never since have I ever seen lines going around the block and people camping out in front of theaters just to see a movie. And this went on for weeks if not months. When the sequel Empire Strikes Back came out , it was almost the same.
I think anyone born after stuff like cell phones & internet became huge (along with cheap big screen T.V.'s & home surround sound) won't understand what it was like back then where you had to coordinate with your friends ahead of time where & when to meet, then with parents or older siblings to pick you up at a certain time & place. Few people had truly big screen T.V.'s (50+ inch) let alone good surround sound to even approach the experience of quality theater viewing. Not to mention that if you didn't see it in the theater back then your only options to watch it after it left theaters was stuff like a drive in theater, VCR or laser disc.
I was 9 years old when Star Wars came out. In my small town there was only one movie house with 2 theaters inside. In one theater, they played all the other movies that summer, in the other... they showed Star Wars non-stop. They even had to add new times slots for more showings... on the weekend, people would start lining up on a Friday night, camp out, while the line slowly creeped up every 2 or so hours, to finally see the movie on a Sunday... Yep. It was mayhem in my little town in the summer of 77!
Saw it at age 13 opening day with my big brother and a buddy of mine. We waited in line for around 4 hours and were close to the front of the line but ran once we got inside to get good seats. Nothing like it had ever been seen before - It was a cultural earthquake! So much fun and long, long lasting good memories.
We went as a church group to see this movie in Shreveport, Louisiana . Someone brought cupcakes that had pot in them. I don't remember anything about the movie but the light show was incredible I think.
must've been incredible. I was huge into star wars as a kid from when I was 4-5. When phantom menace came out I begged my parents to go see it that summer. I absolutely loved it not realizing it was a massive step down in quality from the originals. I imagine that's how it felt seeing the original, im grateful I saw PM when I was 8 lol
My dad said he watched the first Star Wars in theatres at least 5 times. His dad would give him money and told him to watch a different movie every time.
I was 11 when Jaws came out. Our local theater, in Culver City, CA, used to let us kids in to see R-rated movies unaccompanied by adults. Blockbusters like Jaws would either stay in theaters for months or get re-released periodically for the next couple of years. My friend and I went to see it by ourselves in 1976. I was afraid to get in the water for years after that. 😂
I watched it in the theater at least twelve times, but one of my high school buddies saw it at least 20. Every audience stood and applauded during the credit roll and would not stop until the projector was turned off.
I was 5 when I went with my dad and his dental school buddy. We stood in line, and I remember being terrified by somebody in a full Darth Vader costume, which only added to the impact of his first appearance in the movie. The rest of my childhood was dominated by Star Wars.
I was nine years old when my mom took me and my sister along with our friends and their parents!! Their was not one boring moment the first screen grabbed us and never let go. Whe Luke destroyed the Death Star the audience actually stood up and started high fiving each other.😊
In the MYC area THE theater to see Star Wars was the Loews Astor Plaza in Manhattan. With state of the art 70mm 6 track Dolby sound and 1440 seats, you had an experience...and then some. In the summer of 1977 I saw the movie 14 times, only one of which was with a date in a local house (only 35mm print). For $10 you could go by train to the city (round trip ticket), see the movie, and get a bite to eat with change left over. By the way, the buildings on both sides of the gave the appearance of the Death Star trench...so guess what I imagined while walking...
@@vampirerobot I would always sit through two showings of SW at the Loews (a ticket cost $4.50 then). And the walk back to Grand Central for the train home was a treat, for it went straight to the Pan Am building, now the Met Life, which I imagined as my making an attack on the Death Star. Then September arrived and suddenly it was last summer. The song "Suddenly Last Summer" by the Motels can take me back to those days, something like a last summer of innocence. Check out the movie 5/25/77, the plot of which is based upon the filmmaker's experiences.
I still remember walking home with friends afterward, we were blown away because there was nothing like it before that. All since never really left me as thrilled as I was in '77. I was 15 then. Ah, youth.
I was born in 1973 so I was too young to remember seeing it in the theater but my mom says she took me 5 times to see it because I would beg her over and over. By the time Empire came out I was a little older and I was all in.
I was also born in 1973. I can't remember much, but I can clearly remember watching the scene when the stormtroopers board Princess Leia's ship, and those troopers impressed me so much that when our parents offered to buy each of us (my brothers and me) one of the Kenner figures, I asked for a stormtrooper. Later in life I got my own piece of stormtrooper armor, and got into the 501st Legion. The only other movie that was as special as this one was probably The Matrix.
I was 14 in 1977. Both my older sisters had seen it. I had begged my Dad to take me. I had the Marvel comics adaptation and the John Williams soundtrack. I would listen to it while reading my comic book over and over. Finally late that summer Dad took me to see it. It was glorious! What a time it was.
Fox were so mad they signed away the merchandise rights to Lucas when it became clear the movie was a major hit. Yet before its release they were threatening to axe the budget, shut down production and driving Lucas into a nervous wreak.
“I think it’s going to be a science fiction classic” and after 47 years later, it’s the best science fiction ever created 💯 I’m Captain Rex and I approve this message 🫡
Unless you were there, you'll never really know what it was like. A space in time that rarely happens. Glad I was a 9 yo kid who was able to be part of it. Magic.
Growing up in a small town in So. Calif. during the 77’s are the best memories ever! Star Wars was showing at the movie theater in the next county. Me and my high school boyfriend went to see it. I walked out of the movie theater so confused, I couldn’t keep up, him on the hand, thought it was the most amazing ever made! 🤣😂🤣😂
Indeed, the 70's were magical. I grew up in Tustin, So.Calif. I remember the Santa Ana winds, orange groves, no traffic, biking all day, everywhere, great weather for Halloween, SPACE...when Calif. was KING! Sigh. No longer. 😢
I didn’t get to see this in the theater but I watched over a 100 times before Empire came out. My parents called me off school to see Empire on opening day.
Star Wars in 1977 was a singular event in cinema history. I was 7yo and remember driving past the movie theater in town and seeing the ridiculously long lines of people waiting to buy tickets. It was like that every day, for every showing, for weeks. I remember because my parents refused to wait in the long lines so we had to wait for the excitement to die down before they took me to see it.
And to think after 46 years this franchise is still going! Star Wars became a part of world culture for decades after its initial release. None of us could have predicted this at the time. We thought it was one of a kind…then there was the Empire Strikes Back and we knew that this story had legs to span years!
My husband and I saw it when it opened in Queens New York in 1977. I remember wishing the movie wouldn’t end because I was so engrossed in it. It was a big deal back then to see it because it was so popular.
Star Wars 1977 along with 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Godfather, Jaws, Alien, The Shining, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Blade Runner, Scarface, The Terminator, and Full Metal Jacket are my top 12 all time favorite films and I really love Star Wars with a passion. Star Wars 1977 is my absolute favorite Star Wars film, George Lucas's direction for the film was great, and the Tie Fighter attack scene was absolutely brilliant. The music score by John Williams was excellent, the acting from Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Alec Guinness were all stellar, and Darth Vader is the best sci-fi villain of all time. George Lucas as well as Stanley Kubrick are both my all time favorite film directors, George Lucas did a very good job with American Graffiti, and I loved Stanley Kubrick's work on 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket.
You really aint lying most of the time I'd say you are just a typical person believing your time is the best era confusing with nostalgia. But not in this case . I was born in 89 and I feel the 90s was the end of quality movies. We still get some these days .. but today movies also aren't as popular due to the fact of more options of entertainment . Back then all you had was tv and movies and music , sports which was on tv . So there was more passion put into the movies. But sometimes when I watch an old movie like star wars I'm fascinated at how In 77 its seems almost as if star wars was real and they were in a different galaxy .. it's amazing how they were able to bring that world to life by execution of all the things you listed before, absolutly incredible powerful music that created intense emotion, acting, Direction, characters , character attachments, Darth vapor , the screen play and the picture was beautiful and most of all this incredible story of a completely made up reality. Everything combined brought it to life in a magnificent way. (Also i find it funny how bad guy is basically the goverment, the Empire . Cause its the same in our reality unfortunately people cant see that but they put truth in plain sight. )
@@islandboy4445 That's the perfect name for a new weed or nicotine flavored vape or a vape company name.... "Darth Vapor Vapes." Make the vapes so they sound like Darth Vader when you puff on it. 😂
I was in the audience during the first week's release. EVERYBODY in the theater was flabbergasted with the first 5 minutes. We all knew this movie was something speacial.
i was a 7 years old kid ... i went to the cinema with my parents ...and we managed to arrive late... saw 2 robots wandering in the desert ... took years before i knew how it began !! but i loved all the rest of it :p
I was eight years old and saw the film in theaters three times that year. The toys started coming not long after that. It was a great time to be a kid.
McDonald's Theatre in Eugene, Oregon. On campus. Right across the street from "The Animal House." We waited down the block. Then, we entered the theater and I remember words. Lots of words. You had to pay attention and read. Like so many movies of the 70's it involved more than one scene out in the desert.
I was seven years old when I saw Star Wars in the theater. I didn’t know anything about it, my father just said it was a “space movie.” So I expected a documentary showing astronauts bouncing around on the Moon or something. Then the movie opened with the star destroyer passing overhead. Holy crap. I’ll never forget it. Nowadays, you see big epic sci-fi movies all the time. (Largely because of the success of Star Wars.) But nobody was used to seeing that in 1977. It was like 2001 a Space Odyssey combined with The Wizard of Oz.
I went to the re-release back in the 2000s and I was super excited and brought my light saber. I can’t imagine how exciting it would be to see when it came out for the first time and the excitement in waiting for the second installment.
"Great film, I just hope one day we get to have a scene of Luke drinking milk straight from a weird alien's titty rather than a pitcher. Also, I hope we get a movie that shows Darth Vader as a little kid and I hope he turns out to be space jesus and they explain the force in a scientific way" "Wait, you want to see the mysterious, cloaked in black, dark lord as a little kid?" "Absolutely, and I hope he has cheeky one liners too, I really think that's what we need to flesh out this universe"
Fun Fact: Charlie Chaplin was still alive when the original Star Wars came out. Whether or not he got to see it is another story, but it's crazy to think that such a pioneer of film and cinema lived in the same era as this.
was a senior in high school when i saw it in 1977 at a movie theater. havn't missed another one since. I'm 64 now and still hooked and remember the first star wars like it was yesterday.
I remember going to Star Wars in the theater as a kid. Lines stretched around the block all day, people just waiting for the next showing. Theater so full that people were sitting on the floor in the front and down the aisles (would never be allowed today). People would get out of the movie and immediately get back in line and stand for hours to see it again. It was nuts. People think their silly Marvel movies are popular today. 🤣 1975-1985 is possibly the greatest decade in cinema, and I got to see it all.
I was there and I remember waiting in line! I was 12, and between lunch boxes and bed sheets, Star Wars was everywhere. I also remember going to see "Knock Off Movies" that couldn't hold a candle to Star Wars. One movie my father asked for our money back.
![Alien [1979] movie opening interview with moviegoers](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_zrxkUxAcsI/mqdefault.jpg)
"I think it's gonna be a science fiction classic"... Couldn't have been more right, my dude!
Not really science-fiction though.
Yeah, I know right? It's a true story.
@@zordock It happened a long time ago though.
@@solvapydoom8077 It's more like a history movie right?
@@solvapydoom8077 my dude please
In '77 the first 10 minutes screen time already amazed me, I felt like I was IN the movie. We didn't know anything like such special effects before Star Wars.
Thank Industrial Light & Magic for creating the special effects, and also Ben Burtt and Skywalker Sound for creating the sound effects, I really recommend documentaries like Empire of Dreams, which narrates how George Lucas struggled to get the films made, and also Light & Magic, behind the special effects of Star Wars and other movies.
Yes...11 years old....i was in other world in the first 10 minutes...that dark sky...sounds....Battle space ships....😮😮😮
@@jesustovar2549 According to the documentary I watched in that decade, Lucas began work on Star Wars in '74. I imagine the engineers had to build the production technology from scratch at the time.
@@jesustovar2549 Empire of Dreams, thank you. I will find it.
You knew something like it from 2001
One of my teachers watched it when it first came out. He told me, "When that music and the crawl came out, I knew I found something awe-inspiring."
I was 5 when it came out. Because it was released around my birthday and various relatives visited at different times, along with my dad being in the Air Force (and Air Force bases showing movies at later dates), I was able to see the movie 11 times in theaters. It was a great time to be a kid!
@@grondhero I was 12 when it came out, one of my friends two doors down saw it over 20 times in the theater.
@@kenlompart9905 I remember when it came to television for the first time. It was a huge event. Recorded it on the VCR. Watched it another 55 times (for a total of 66) before the VHS tape was gone. When it finally came out on HBO, I stopped counting after my 100th viewing. 😁
@@grondhero Wow, now that's what I call a fan.
@@grondhero your VCR went full "execute Order 66!"
Imagine being able to say today “I watched the original Star Wars in cinemas”
Going tonight for my birthday and seeing ROTJ. I was born way after the Original trilogy so this will have to do lol
Was 19 when it came out!
I was 13 when this movie came out and did see it in the movie theater.
Saw it with my dad on my 11th birthday, July 7, 1977. Dad and I dragged my mother out to see it the following night.
@@barneyevans6940 you were the same age as Luke. It must have resonated with you greatly!
I was only five when it came out, so I only saw it once in the theater. I saw Empire at least five times, and then by Return of the Jedi I was old enough to ride to the mall and use paper route money to buy my own tickets. Saw it at least eight times in the theater. Star Wars toys and discussions pretty much defined my entire childhood.
I think it did for a lot of children
As a huge Star Wars fan this is awesome i showed this video to my family member they said vcrs were expensive at the time looks like it’s film no way it can be vhs❤
I was 6 when ROTJ came out. Only saw at once, but had the audio cassette version of the movie to listen to repeatedly at home. The cassettes are also the first way I was able to experience ANH and ESB. ROTJ was definitely a phenomenon in and of itself that went beyond simply watching the movie. Me and the other kids all had toy and merchandise collections we worked on and played with for the next couple of years, and we of course thought about and talked about the movies often.
Sounds like you lived a good life my man 👌
Like you I saw Star Wars 1 rime as I was five years old and ran out everytime Darth Vader was on screen.
My friends and I saw TESB and ROTJ at least 4 times each. My parents bought us the action figures, ships and records. Millennials today don't realize what a freaking big event each movie was and how the space battles were like nothing anyone say before. Glad to have been born to see both Star Wars and Indiana Jones in the theatre.
I remember Raiders as being the most fun theatre experience ever. People were whopping, clapping and generally having a good time during it. Innocent times.
My dad has said that he has never been more excited for a movie then when he saw empire strikes back.
His reaction finding out Vader was Luke's father?
I was super excited. Family was on a road trip and we were going to see it but when we showed up to the theatre it wouldn't start for another three hours and my parents bailed. 😢 eventually saw it on VHS...
It was definitely up there for me, same with Terminator 2. Luckily Empire Strikes back was actually a really good sequel, unlike Terminator 2.
@@11C1P my hot take detector just vibrated off the table
@@11C1Pi’m sorry what 💀 Did you really just say that Terminator 2 is bad?
I was 7 years old. We saw it in the theater. I remember there was a collective "ahh!" from the audience when the Star Destroyer first flies overhead in the opening sequence. No one had seen anything like that before. It definitely had a magical quality.
I was 7 when my family went to see it as well. Star Wars then shaped my childhood playtime, as well as all of my friends. Every birthday party involved going to see it, and my count was 13 times on the big screen. I don't recall the excitement for Empire at all, except some about the Boba Fett action figure.
I remember thinking that Star Destroyer was going to go on forever as it passed over the camera. It seemed enormous.
I was 8. It was incredible.
Born in 1970 so was right there with you friend only i seen it at the drive in when smokey and the bandit was playing on the screen behind us.
I was seven as well. It was mesmerizing. I went back every week for weeks that it was in the theater. Some days we stayed and watched it twice back to back. I had Star Wars sheets, curtains, and pajamas.....lol
Not just a sci-fi classic, but a redefinition of how all movies are made.
Uh... No
@@grsdsrg430 Yes, it did. Star Wars invented the Summer Blockbuster. It showed the viability of big budget, effects-driven movies.
I think "Star Wars" (1977) effected that sci-fi movies weren't treated as small budget B-movies like before and film studios were ready to invest more money to them. The 1979 "Alien" movie was also a big success mixing science fiction and horror elements.
@@Mark73dude, I love star wars, but c'mon. It didn't invent the wheel, let's put it that way lmao. Its narrative structure is based on models/rules that have existed for literally thousands of years. Like, from the epic of Gilgamesh, to Romeo and Juliet, etc.
@@surfboardjoker6299 we're talking about the technical aspects of film making here, not the storytelling aspects of it. Star Wars reinvented how big budget films are created.
was was 12 yrs old when it came. Nothing like it had been on the screen before, lightyears ahead in special effects technology, no one could do what Lucas envisioned, so he started his own special effects group to invent the technology.
My mother told me that the ONLY time a movie made the audience audibly gasp was the Wizard if Oz, when Dorothy opened the door to a technicloor world from black and white in 1939.
To this day I can still get goosebumps.... it was so cool to see that big rebel ship come into screen flying over Tatooine, but when the Imperial Battle Cruiser came into screen...and came on... and kept coming and coming and coming did you realize how HUGE that thing was! It gives me goosebumps just typing right now!
And when Darth Vader first appears.... there were gasps and then boos from the crowd!?
If you were there in 1977, in a big theater.... we didnt WATCh the movie... we were brought INTO it!
When Luke hit the exhaust port and blew up the Death Star... the applausde was like a football game!
Had to be there.
This is a great telling of what it would have actually been like. Thanks so much for posting this. ♥
makes me smile still. Thanks for reply
I would absolutely love to have the experience of a bunch of strangers being in theater, all clapping together at the scene!
Toto, I have a feeling we're not on Dune anymore!
Amazing story about Wizard of Oz, thank you and May the Force be with you always
@@luketimewalker Thanks for the nice words. The Memory seems like yesterday!
Saw this in the theater with my father and brother. I was amazed. The most thrilling movie I’d ever seen. When Empire Strikes Back was released I was working at Burger King. They were offering a Star Wars drinking glass promotion which I thought was cool. Saw that film with my high school friends. And, when Return of the Jedi was released I was home on leave from the service to see that with my fiancé.
Best trilogy. Ever.
Great comment!1 Love it actually!
@@vampirerobot Thank you. Those highly entertaining films made a big impression on me.
I wonder what were your impressions about the prequel trilogy, and now with the sequel trilogy handled by Disney.
@@jesustovar2549 I myself will never see them.
@@armybeef68 Have you never seen any of the prequels? curious to know if you have ever been curious to? what about when first released?
Just realized that in 2027, Star Wars will achieve it's 50th year anniversary. Incredible.
You just realized math? Spoiler...in 2077 it will be the 100 year anniversary.
@@bbtb785 Calm down. Get the stick out of your ass.
@@bbtb785 Calm down. Get the stick out of your ass.
@bbtb785 Well excuse me I'm so smart. Go on with your life ma'am.
@@zerimar26I love the original trilogy. Do you like any outside the original trilogy?
“I think its going to be a Science fiction classic…” prophetic
It's actually space fantasy. There's no science in it.
In fairness, That’s not some incredible insight. It’s not like there were many science fiction films to choose from, and none with that level of technical achievement. The movie was instantly canonized.
@@sethwiseman1017 Perhaps. But its unequaled in any sense of the imagination. I thought it was cool when it came out. But I didn’t even have a sense there would be a sequel.
@@sethwiseman1017he has foresight because he has read hundreds of books of sci fi not because there were not many around
What an amazing time this was.
It was. I remeber getting the marvel super special Star wars comics and reading them over and over and over. My parents refused to take me to see it a second time. My dad thought he knew everything and claimed "itll be on tv in a month just like other movies" boy was he so wrong. 🙄
Yeah it was so great when only white people could see a movie.
Was 13 when my friends and I saw it at the Granada theatre in sherbrooke, Quebec. We were on the edge of our seats, and when Luke blew up the deathstar, the whole place stood up and cheered like it really happend!
What do you mean; "Like it really happened"??
I saw this in Toronto when I was 5. Are you telling me, it wasn't a "Historical Documentary"!!!
What about those poor people on Gilligan's Island??!!
(To anyone who stumbles across this and doesn't recognize the references. Turn off CZcams, right now, and go watch Galaxy Quest)
(Go on...)
"I think this is going to be a science fiction classic". The understatement of the century
Star Wars can’t even be narrowed down to mere science fiction. That’s just its superficial aesthetic. Speaking strictly about the first 6 movies, at least.
I saw it 4 times at the theater during its' original release. I was absolutely blown away. This is the movie that made me fall in love with movies.
5 times.
@@armybeef68 100 times
But do you have hundreds of science fiction books at home?
The opening scene with the massive Star Destroyer coming in overhead and hearing the oohs and wows eminating from everyone in the theater is my greatest memory from Age 7.
Thanks, Dad.
My godmother who was a huge sci-fi movie fan, insisted on taking me to see Star Wars in the theater when I was 7 years old, after she had already seen the film a dozen times with her various coworkers, family members and neighborhood friends. It was a fantastic experience. She's also took me to the theater to see Close Encounters. For me, it was the best of times for sure.!!!
I saw both movies at drive-in theatres, on massive outdoor screens, while sitting in a car.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind would have come out just before Star Wars, but the director wanted to fix up some parts of it before they released it, so they ended up waiting about a year before they released eventually the film.
@@jublywubly"the director"
@@jublywublyUm, Steven Spielberg.
As a 12 year old seeing this in New York, nothing had ever hit me so hard about the possible future we looked forward to. It changed my life.
Same for me. It was an extremely positive and uplifting film.
I attended the first Star Wars on opening day in Orange, California, in 1977, but it got off to a bad start. Somehow, the theater had oversold seats by over 100 people, maybe 150. Luckily, we got seated, but the people who had nowhere to go were extremely angry and yelling at theater staff. Also, they refused to leave the theater, many just standing in the aisles refusing to budge. Finally, after several minutes, bout 15 or more helmet-clad police carrying tactical batons arrived and ordered the people without seats to vacate the theater. The manager promised either refunds or seating for another showing. I can't recall how late the movie started but was around 30 to 40 minutes late because of the mixup. The movie, of course, was great.
I was 12 years old when Star Wars came out in 1977 and I will never forget the effect it had on me then. You never witnessed in film anything like this before... EVER!!!
Yep. These lines continued for over a year and tickets were sold out always until 1978. The movie kept playing in cinemas until 1984.
Lot of people don't even understand that at this point in time, once a movie left the theaters that was it. It's gone now. It might come on HBO if your family pays for it.
@@twelvecatsinatrenchcoat Umm, they did have VHS and rentals at this point in time.
@@acerimmer8338 in 1977 vhs and betamax were premium items. it wouldnt be until the mid 80s that they were widespread
I was eight years old and every time when I see and hear the intro I get goose bumbs. Thank you George for one of the best experiences in my childhood.
I cant imagine the awe these people must have felt
It was pretty awesome.
It was one of the few movies where you actually felt chills. "Aliens" with James Cameron was another.
At that time, there was nothing to compare it to. No other movie to that point had comparable special effects. It was pretty cool watching it in the movie theater. Everyone was blown away.
@@vince7416 If most films at that time were at level 5, Star Wars suddenly appeared at an easy Level 10 and rocked everybody's world.
@@ingleringlet-snipps3rd449Alien is best.
All done with scale models and practical effects, and it blew my nine year old mind
One of my favorite fun facts about 2001 A Space Odyssey (1969) is that despite having no digital effects in the filmmaking itself, it did have ground breaking CGI... but only because the computers used in the movie have screens with Graphical User Interfaces. GUI's were science fiction at the time. Xerox wouldn't make a computer with a GUI for another 4 years.
You take it for granted watching it that Stanley Kubrick is just casually predicting the future of computer screens.
I remember watching a documentary on the special effects and how they did them, and how each effects department was so compartmentalized that they never got to see how their own work fit into the movie as a whole. When they were able to finally see the movie, even they were astounded, with one technician joking "is THIS what we were working on?"
I think that says everything about how Lucas' vision was so far beyond anything that had come before, that even the people working on it were shocked by the final product.
oh wow TheUsher, I never knew that, thanks
"The theater manager has yet released the exact amount of profits." I'll BET. lol
He probably made like a WOPPING $10k or something lol. It's 1977, the tickets are $3.50 lol.
Zero if it worked like modern distribution deals, Star Wars movies demand 100% of ticket price from the cinema for at least the first two weeks.
1:11 He wasn't wrong!
With that shirt and moustache, that guy must have been chasing ladies away with a stick.
@@texaswunderkind man knew his star wars tho
@@texaswunderkind He was a part time porn star.
He was kinda wrong; it’s a bit more fantasy than science fiction, but that’s definitely more than ok with me.
CHAD.
My dad had a driver. His driver got us three tickets to see Star Wars during its first week of release. My brother, my best friend and myself felt like freaking kings as we were shown to our seats. Still one of the best memories of my life! RIP dad !
I went to go see it with friends in late July or early August '77. None of us had any clue what it was about or what it was going to be like. It was a pivotal point in our 9-year-old minds. We left the theater changed, to say the least.
Yep. I was a little kid too and it blew me away! I’ve been a die hard fan ever since. I even enjoyed the prequels everyone bitches about just because I’ll take any Star Wars I can get.
@@Scripner what about the sequels?
@@Mr.Goodkat Sequels were good, but my classmate spoiled it for us by opening his big mouth and bragging that Darth Vader was Luke's father. Return of the Jedi for me was even better than Empire Strikes Back, because it ended with the rebels winning....just like in Episode IV.
This was actually the first movie I ever saw in a movie theater. Me and my older brother have been obsessed with everything Star Wars ever since.
I was 9 years old. I went with my mom and my friend Danny. It was absolutely magical. Completely awestruck. We went and saw the movie in the theatres about 4 times at least and saw it a number of times after that. We bought our first vhs just to watch Star Wars in 1982
Younger people will never know what a really huge event Star Wars was back then. I saw it when it came out in the cinemas and never since have I ever seen lines going around the block and people camping out in front of theaters just to see a movie. And this went on for weeks if not months. When the sequel Empire Strikes Back came out , it was almost the same.
ET had bigger lines where I grew up. Also Batman in 1989 had long lines. Nothing near Star Wars and ET however.
I think anyone born after stuff like cell phones & internet became huge (along with cheap big screen T.V.'s & home surround sound) won't understand what it was like back then where you had to coordinate with your friends ahead of time where & when to meet, then with parents or older siblings to pick you up at a certain time & place. Few people had truly big screen T.V.'s (50+ inch) let alone good surround sound to even approach the experience of quality theater viewing. Not to mention that if you didn't see it in the theater back then your only options to watch it after it left theaters was stuff like a drive in theater, VCR or laser disc.
Yep. It was amazing. So glad I grew up with the first three.
The Lord of the Rings had a similar effect on the crowds.
@@rovhalt6650 No, sorry it was not even close. But, let's not take away from Lord of the Rings. It was an amazing trilogy!
I was 9 years old when Star Wars came out. In my small town there was only one movie house with 2 theaters inside. In one theater, they played all the other movies that summer, in the other... they showed Star Wars non-stop. They even had to add new times slots for more showings... on the weekend, people would start lining up on a Friday night, camp out, while the line slowly creeped up every 2 or so hours, to finally see the movie on a Sunday... Yep. It was mayhem in my little town in the summer of 77!
Saw it at age 13 opening day with my big brother and a buddy of mine. We waited in line for around 4 hours and were close to the front of the line but ran once we got inside to get good seats. Nothing like it had ever been seen before - It was a cultural earthquake! So much fun and long, long lasting good memories.
I was a young kid when this came out. Saw it several times over the long period of time it was in theaters. It blew us away back then.
I was eight and, as I recall, it was the first movie my family saw twice in the theater. It was definitely something special.
Imagine people today having to wait in a long line like that without any cell phones to distract them
They would have to talk to other people in line what a concept
god shut up lol
Imagine any movie now being good enough to even have a line.
@@StarWarsObituaryNews what about The last jedi?
and everyone was paying with cash!
We went as a church group to see this movie in Shreveport, Louisiana . Someone brought cupcakes that had pot in them. I don't remember anything about the movie but the light show was incredible I think.
Gospel of Ganja
You sure it wasn't 2001: A Space Odyssey?
must've been incredible. I was huge into star wars as a kid from when I was 4-5. When phantom menace came out I begged my parents to go see it that summer. I absolutely loved it not realizing it was a massive step down in quality from the originals. I imagine that's how it felt seeing the original, im grateful I saw PM when I was 8 lol
I remember a friend thought Darth Vader should’ve been killed. I said that there would probably be a sequel.
You should have bet your friend at that time, wonder their reaction next, finding out Vader was Luke's father.
In 77 i was only 8 years old, my god how years goes so fast !
My dad said he watched the first Star Wars in theatres at least 5 times. His dad would give him money and told him to watch a different movie every time.
Watching Star Wars in 1977 was a Kennedy moment, you remember every detail of when, where and who you were with..
I was 11 when Jaws came out. Our local theater, in Culver City, CA, used to let us kids in to see R-rated movies unaccompanied by adults. Blockbusters like Jaws would either stay in theaters for months or get re-released periodically for the next couple of years. My friend and I went to see it by ourselves in 1976. I was afraid to get in the water for years after that. 😂
You're gonna need a bigger theatre. Lol 🤣
Jaws was rated PG.
@@wizardsuth: I know. I just happened to mention that my neighborhood theater let kids in to see R-rated films because I felt like it.
its sad that original movies of this scale and scope dont get made anymore. Not unless its based on some pre-existing book/comic book
The irony? You have Star Wars to thank for that.
I was 7 in 1977 I wasn’t and still am not a big Sci Fi fan..but this movie and the Empire Strikes Back are amazing
When I first saw it we got the last 2 seats in the house, middle of the front row and staring straight up. We didn’t care, it was great.
I watched it in the theater at least twelve times, but one of my high school buddies saw it at least 20. Every audience stood and applauded during the credit roll and would not stop until the projector was turned off.
I was 5 when I went with my dad and his dental school buddy. We stood in line, and I remember being terrified by somebody in a full Darth Vader costume, which only added to the impact of his first appearance in the movie. The rest of my childhood was dominated by Star Wars.
I think I silently cried in the theater, when the Jawas shot R2D2, and the droid collapsed, seemingly dead in my perceptions.
I was nine years old when my mom took me and my sister along with our friends and their parents!! Their was not one boring moment the first screen grabbed us and never let go. Whe Luke destroyed the Death Star the audience actually stood up and started high fiving each other.😊
In the MYC area THE theater to see Star Wars was the Loews Astor Plaza in Manhattan. With state of the art 70mm 6 track Dolby sound and 1440 seats, you had an experience...and then some. In the summer of 1977 I saw the movie 14 times, only one of which was with a date in a local house (only 35mm print). For $10 you could go by train to the city (round trip ticket), see the movie, and get a bite to eat with change left over.
By the way, the buildings on both sides of the gave the appearance of the Death Star trench...so guess what I imagined while walking...
Lucky you...that sounds so awesome Fred.
@@vampirerobot I would always sit through two showings of SW at the Loews (a ticket cost $4.50 then). And the walk back to Grand Central for the train home was a treat, for it went straight to the Pan Am building, now the Met Life, which I imagined as my making an attack on the Death Star. Then September arrived and suddenly it was last summer. The song "Suddenly Last Summer" by the Motels can take me back to those days, something like a last summer of innocence. Check out the movie 5/25/77, the plot of which is based upon the filmmaker's experiences.
I still remember walking home with friends afterward, we were blown away because there was nothing like it before that. All since never really left me as thrilled as I was in '77. I was 15 then. Ah, youth.
I was born in 1973 so I was too young to remember seeing it in the theater but my mom says she took me 5 times to see it because I would beg her over and over. By the time Empire came out I was a little older and I was all in.
Sounds like you were already all in, I can remember things I seen in the theatre when I was 4.
I was also born in 1973. I can't remember much, but I can clearly remember watching the scene when the stormtroopers board Princess Leia's ship, and those troopers impressed me so much that when our parents offered to buy each of us (my brothers and me) one of the Kenner figures, I asked for a stormtrooper. Later in life I got my own piece of stormtrooper armor, and got into the 501st Legion. The only other movie that was as special as this one was probably The Matrix.
I wae 7, saw it with my Dad
It was the biggest experience you could possibly imagine for a 7 year old.
3.75 for ticket in 1977. That’s how much the morning matinee cost back when I work at the theaters back
In 2009-2014
I seem to remember $5 being the standard ticket price throughout most of the 1980s.
$2.50 Tuesday!
I went to see dune2. 40cad for 1 ticket coke popcorn. Theatre 1/3 full. Only good thing is 19+ showing.
With inflation, that’s equal to almost $20 in 2025!
$3 for a movie ticket back then, now it's like freaking $20...
$3.75 in 1977 which is, according to a couple of inflation calculators, $19.20 in 2024 so not much difference in relative value.
Imagine not knowing about inflation.
I was 14 in 1977. Both my older sisters had seen it. I had begged my Dad to take me. I had the Marvel comics adaptation and the John Williams soundtrack. I would listen to it while reading my comic book over and over. Finally late that summer Dad took me to see it. It was glorious! What a time it was.
I agree! I was 14, also. 😁😉❤👍
Fox were so mad they signed away the merchandise rights to Lucas when it became clear the movie was a major hit. Yet before its release they were threatening to axe the budget, shut down production and driving Lucas into a nervous wreak.
“I think it’s going to be a science fiction classic” and after 47 years later, it’s the best science fiction ever created 💯
I’m Captain Rex and I approve this message 🫡
Unless you were there, you'll never really know what it was like. A space in time that rarely happens. Glad I was a 9 yo kid who was able to be part of it. Magic.
Growing up in a small town in So. Calif. during the 77’s are the best memories ever! Star Wars was showing at the movie theater in the next county. Me and my high school boyfriend went to see it. I walked out of the movie theater so confused, I couldn’t keep up, him on the hand, thought it was the most amazing ever made! 🤣😂🤣😂
Indeed, the 70's were magical. I grew up in Tustin, So.Calif. I remember the Santa Ana winds, orange groves, no traffic, biking all day, everywhere, great weather for Halloween, SPACE...when Calif. was KING! Sigh. No longer. 😢
I was 10 years old in 1977 , and walked out of the theater blown away ! Felt somehow, somewhere in the galaxy this world of Jedi existed.
Imagine having to wait in line all that time just to see a movie instead of just buying the tickets on your phone and sitting down.
It had it's charm. Inspite all the CGi, it was a more magical time for cinema.
Sounds depressing
Stars Wars ran in the theater for over a year in Louisville.
I didn’t get to see this in the theater but I watched over a 100 times before Empire came out. My parents called me off school to see Empire on opening day.
Star Wars in 1977 was a singular event in cinema history. I was 7yo and remember driving past the movie theater in town and seeing the ridiculously long lines of people waiting to buy tickets. It was like that every day, for every showing, for weeks. I remember because my parents refused to wait in the long lines so we had to wait for the excitement to die down before they took me to see it.
And to think after 46 years this franchise is still going! Star Wars became a part of world culture for decades after its initial release. None of us could have predicted this at the time. We thought it was one of a kind…then there was the Empire Strikes Back and we knew that this story had legs to span years!
Nah, there's only three, the others are just trying to capitalize on the only three .
Wow, first thing I notice is that people were smart those days.
People have never been smart.
And that escapist delight, enthusiasm, joy and sense of adventure is what Disney has taken out back, beaten unconscious then unceremoniously killed.
My husband and I saw it when it opened in Queens New York in 1977. I remember wishing the movie wouldn’t end because I was so engrossed in it. It was a big deal back then to see it because it was so popular.
I don't think anyone standing there could've realized how influential and big the franchise would grow to. Cool footage
Star Wars 1977 along with 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Godfather, Jaws, Alien, The Shining, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Blade Runner, Scarface, The Terminator, and Full Metal Jacket are my top 12 all time favorite films and I really love Star Wars with a passion. Star Wars 1977 is my absolute favorite Star Wars film, George Lucas's direction for the film was great, and the Tie Fighter attack scene was absolutely brilliant. The music score by John Williams was excellent, the acting from Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Alec Guinness were all stellar, and Darth Vader is the best sci-fi villain of all time.
George Lucas as well as Stanley Kubrick are both my all time favorite film directors, George Lucas did a very good job with American Graffiti, and I loved Stanley Kubrick's work on 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket.
All those films blow modern films out the water
You really aint lying most of the time I'd say you are just a typical person believing your time is the best era confusing with nostalgia. But not in this case . I was born in 89 and I feel the 90s was the end of quality movies. We still get some these days .. but today movies also aren't as popular due to the fact of more options of entertainment . Back then all you had was tv and movies and music , sports which was on tv . So there was more passion put into the movies. But sometimes when I watch an old movie like star wars I'm fascinated at how In 77 its seems almost as if star wars was real and they were in a different galaxy .. it's amazing how they were able to bring that world to life by execution of all the things you listed before, absolutly incredible powerful music that created intense emotion, acting, Direction, characters , character attachments, Darth vapor , the screen play and the picture was beautiful and most of all this incredible story of a completely made up reality. Everything combined brought it to life in a magnificent way.
(Also i find it funny how bad guy is basically the goverment, the Empire . Cause its the same in our reality unfortunately people cant see that but they put truth in plain sight. )
@@pryingopenmythirdeye1830 Darth Vapor has to be one of my new favorite autocorrects 😂
Film bro list
@@islandboy4445 That's the perfect name for a new weed or nicotine flavored vape or a vape company name.... "Darth Vapor Vapes." Make the vapes so they sound like Darth Vader when you puff on it. 😂
For over a thousand generations, the fans were excited for Star Wars films. Before the dark times, before Disney.
Cry baby fanboys. Glad to see you guys falling off
Not as clumsy or random as a Disney production... An elegant film for a more civilized age.
u mean before disney ruined the star wars franchise
When I saw it again (re-released) in the 90's I hated the added digital effects.
A thousand generations since 1977. I think you need to go back to school.
I was in the audience during the first week's release. EVERYBODY in the theater was flabbergasted with the first 5 minutes. We all knew this movie was something speacial.
My Dad was 7 years old when the first movie released. He loved it as a kid & now he's over 50.
Star Wars will turn 50 years old in 2027.
The fact this one movie spawned an dozens of more shows and films and other art afterwards showcases how great the world George Lucas created is.
And all Disney had to do is not fuck it up.
Well they managed to completely fuck it up…and then some.
i was a 7 years old kid ... i went to the cinema with my parents ...and we managed to arrive late... saw 2 robots wandering in the desert ... took years before i knew how it began !! but i loved all the rest of it :p
I did! I was in awe watching the opening scene of the little rebel ship being chased by the gigantic imperial destroyer. I still love that shot.
I remember going to see this with my dad when I was 4 years old. Star Wars still going strong!
Man I miss long lines, that usually ment there was something really good to see
Mother took me to watch this movie when I was 10 God rest her soul. It was the greatest movie I ever seen
I was eight years old and saw the film in theaters three times that year. The toys started coming not long after that. It was a great time to be a kid.
McDonald's Theatre in Eugene, Oregon. On campus. Right across the street from "The Animal House." We waited down the block. Then, we entered the theater and I remember words. Lots of words. You had to pay attention and read. Like so many movies of the 70's it involved more than one scene out in the desert.
So cool to see footage like this!!!
I was 14 when SW came out. It was incredible. I fell in love with R2D2 😂🤣 I miss those days!
I was seven years old when I saw Star Wars in the theater. I didn’t know anything about it, my father just said it was a “space movie.” So I expected a documentary showing astronauts bouncing around on the Moon or something. Then the movie opened with the star destroyer passing overhead. Holy crap. I’ll never forget it. Nowadays, you see big epic sci-fi movies all the time. (Largely because of the success of Star Wars.) But nobody was used to seeing that in 1977. It was like 2001 a Space Odyssey combined with The Wizard of Oz.
45 years when Jamie Marchi picked up a pencil, the Bandit drove away from Buford, and this majestic mishap.
My fiancés dads first ever movie experience and color movie experience was a new hope.. oh how I envy how that would’ve been
That must have been incredible!
I saw this in a theater about a week after it was released. I was 12 years old. What an experience.
I went to the re-release back in the 2000s and I was super excited and brought my light saber. I can’t imagine how exciting it would be to see when it came out for the first time and the excitement in waiting for the second installment.
"Great film, I just hope one day we get to have a scene of Luke drinking milk straight from a weird alien's titty rather than a pitcher. Also, I hope we get a movie that shows Darth Vader as a little kid and I hope he turns out to be space jesus and they explain the force in a scientific way"
"Wait, you want to see the mysterious, cloaked in black, dark lord as a little kid?"
"Absolutely, and I hope he has cheeky one liners too, I really think that's what we need to flesh out this universe"
And just 5 years later "The Thing" was released. The greatest horror movie of all time.
@ExeCute-ti9hn I was 6 at the time. I saw ET in the theater. I saw The Thing at a sitter's house. Gave me nightmares for months!
Fun Fact: Charlie Chaplin was still alive when the original Star Wars came out. Whether or not he got to see it is another story, but it's crazy to think that such a pioneer of film and cinema lived in the same era as this.
was a senior in high school when i saw it in 1977 at a movie theater. havn't missed another one since. I'm 64 now and still hooked and remember the first star wars like it was yesterday.
The movie that changed the industry, for better or worse.
I remember going to Star Wars in the theater as a kid. Lines stretched around the block all day, people just waiting for the next showing. Theater so full that people were sitting on the floor in the front and down the aisles (would never be allowed today). People would get out of the movie and immediately get back in line and stand for hours to see it again. It was nuts. People think their silly Marvel movies are popular today. 🤣 1975-1985 is possibly the greatest decade in cinema, and I got to see it all.
I was there and I remember waiting in line! I was 12, and between lunch boxes and bed sheets, Star Wars was everywhere. I also remember going to see "Knock Off Movies" that couldn't hold a candle to Star Wars. One movie my father asked for our money back.
This video is better than anything Star Wars Disney has made.