American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-075. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-527. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill in Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977). Caption: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo.
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-528. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
West-German postcard by Filmwelt Berlin, Bad Münder, no. SW 4.039, 1995. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Harrison Ford in Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-059. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
A message for a certain Kenobi
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (original title: Star Wars) is chronologically the fourth instalment in the Star Wars series, but it is the first made Star Wars film. The film was produced by Gary Kurtz and directed by George Lucas from his own screenplay. The film is set in a fictional, distant galaxy. For 19 years, the dictatorial Empire has ruled the entire galaxy with an iron hand. A resistance group manages to steal the blueprint for the Death Star, a huge space station capable of destroying entire planets. This group passed data to the Rebel Alliance, which succeeds led by Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). The ship carrying Leia is intercepted by Imperial forces led by Darth Vader. She is just able to send droid R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and the humanoid robot C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) to the desert planet Tatooine with a message of help for a Jedi Master and an old friend of Leia's father, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness).
But on Tatooine, C-3PO and R2-D2 are captured by the Jawas, a gang of junk dealers. The Jawas sell the two droids to moisture farmer Owen Lars (Phil Brown) and his nephew Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). R2-D2, following Princess Leia's instructions, sets out to find Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke does know a certain 'Kenobi' who lives as a hermit close to the mountains. Following R2D2, Luke is ambushed by Sand People, the local desert dwellers, and is eventually rescued by Obi-Wan Kenobi, whom he has only known as Ben Kenobi. In his dwelling, Obi-Wan tells Luke that he was once a Jedi but went into exile when the Sith seized power. He knows the Imperial forces will soon come looking for the droids. Luke fears for his uncle and aunt's safety, but when he gets to his house, it is already too late: the Stormtroopers have already been there and destroyed everything. His uncle and his wife, Luke's aunt Beru (Shelagh Fraser), have perished.
When Luke learns that his father was also a Jedi, he decides to go with Obi-Wan. Kenobi gives Luke the lightsaber that once belonged to his father. The two will go to Alderaan, Leia's home planet, to show the construction plans to Leia's adoptive father, hoping that the latter can discover a weakness of the Death Star. In a bar, Obi-Wan enlists the help of smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his first mate Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), a Wookiee. Han, who urgently needs money to pay off a debt, agrees to take Luke, Obi-Wan and the droids to Alderaan on his ship, the Millennium Falcon, which he claims is the fastest spaceship in the galaxy.
Meanwhile, Leia is trapped in the Death Star. Leia is interrogated by Darth Vader with the help of a torture droid to learn the location of the rebel base, but she does not reveal it. Grandmoff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), the commander of the Death Star, decides to force her to tell where the Rebels are by blowing up Alderaan with the Death Star. She gives a base, but Grand Moff Tarkin has her home planet destroyed anyway to demonstrate its firepower to the galaxy. But the specified base has long been abandoned, so the Grand Moff orders her death. On the way to Alderaan, Obi-Wan teaches Luke how to wield a lightsaber. Once the group arrives at Alderaan, they find only the debris left from the newly destroyed planet. The Death Star is also still there, and the Millennium Falcon is brought aboard via a tractor beam.
The Falcon's occupants use the secret hatches where Han hides his contraband to hide, and then disguise themselves as Stormtroopers to explore the Death Star unseen. Obi-Wan goes in search of the tractor-beam generator. Han, Luke and the droids discover that Leia is trapped in the Death Star. Luke and Han disguise themselves as Imperial stormtroopers, Chewbacca plays a prisoner to get into the detention block and free the princess. When the group wants to escape, Darth Vader (David Prowse, with the voice of James Earl Jones) intervenes. He and Obi-Wan fight each other in a lightsaber duel. When Obi-Wan sees Luke, he deliberately allows Darth Vader to kill him. As Luke, shocked by the old master's death, fires furiously at the stormtroopers present, he suddenly hears Obi-Wan's voice ordering him to flee.
The others manage to escape safely in the Falcon and rush back to Rebel headquarters. There the Rebels discover a weakness in the Death Star. Han Solo, not wanting to get further involved in this conflict, collects his earned money and leaves, while Luke attacks the Death Star with the other Rebels. For a moment, Darth Vader threatens to destroy Luke with his ship, but then Han (who apparently regretted his decision) intervenes with the Falcon. This allows Luke to successfully fire two torpedoes at a small ventilation hatch. The torpedoes cause a chain reaction in the Death Star, and the huge space station explodes. Han, Luke and Darth Vader escape the explosion with their ships, but Tarkin and the others, who were still inside the space station, die. In the final scene, Luke and Han are decorated by Princess Leia and the rest of the Rebel Alliance.
West-German postcard by Filmwelt Berlin, Bad Münder, no. SW 4.082, 1997. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Harrison Ford and Peter Mayhew in Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-521. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd, 1997. Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-530. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-519. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-062. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and Kenny Baker as R2-D2 in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
New faces
The first concrete thoughts about a fantasy space film were developed by director and screenwriter George Lucas after the completion of his debut film THX 1138 (1971). Originally, he planned to secure the rights for a film adaptation of the comic book series 'Flash Gordon', which had fascinated him since childhood. Lucas entered into a partnership with United Artists that would guarantee him the production of two films. One was American Graffiti (1973), and the other was a space film based on 'Flash Gordon'. When Lucas was unable to obtain the rights for it, he decided to develop his own 'space opera'. In May 1973, he wrote a 14-page story for a total of six films. Because the story was set in space, it was mainly seen as a Science Fiction story. This genre was not very popular at the time, so United Artists and other studios rejected Lucas's idea. It was Alan Ladd Jr., the president of 20th Century Fox, who finally agreed.
In collaboration with Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, Lucas wrote a full screenplay for the film in May 1974. While writing the screenplay, the initially conceived scenarios and characters changed drastically. Luke Skywalker was originally supposed to be a middle-aged general, and Han Solo was not a human but a green humanoid alien in the original screenplay. 20th Century Fox agreed to a budget of $8.25 million, while Lucas also secured the rights to any sequels, as well as control over possible merchandising. In 1975, Lucas founded the company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for special effects.
The cast was not known yet, except for Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin. For the lead roles, Lucas chose new faces. Mark Hamill had previously only appeared in a few episodes of US television series. Equally unknown was the then 19-year-old Carrie Fisher, who had shortly before made a convincing cameo appearance as Loma in Shampoo. Actually not part of the actual audition was Harrison Ford, whose task was merely to serve as a dialogue partner for the auditioning actors and explain the respective dialogue passages to them. Lucas, however, was so convinced by Ford's sometimes arrogant and listless performance that he chose him for the role of the swashbuckling and self-confident Han Solo. Ford had already worked successfully with Lucas for American Graffiti (1973). Star Wars was in many ways Ford's stepping stone to becoming one of the most successful film actors in the world, having previously appeared mostly in supporting roles.
Filming began on 22 March 1976 in the Tunisian desert for the scenes on Tatooine. For the scenes for the moisture farm where Luke lives, filming took place in Matmata. The project faced several problems, with Lucas falling behind schedule after only a week. Props in particular often refused service. After filming in Tunisia was finished, they left for Elstree Studios in England for the rest of the film. Filming also took place at the Mayan ruin Tikal in Guatemala for the scenes of Yavin IV. Due to the many problems during filming, there was a lot of pressure on Lucas' shoulders to get the film finished on time. This eventually went so far that doctors had to advise him to reduce his stress. The film was scheduled for Christmas 1976, but due to delays, it did not materialise until the summer of 1977. When Lucas showed a trial version of the film to some friends, including directors Brian De Palma, John Milius and Steven Spielberg, their reactions were disappointing. In contrast, 20th Century Fox's crew was enthusiastic about the result. Although the film went over its $8 million budget due to numerous delays, it was the cheapest of the Star Wars films at $11 million.
Star Wars premiered on 25 May 1977 in 32 cinemas. Contrary to expectations, it broke all records. It grossed over $550 million during its initial run and was nominated for dozens of awards, eventually winning 54 of which 5 Oscars (Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best film editing, Best Music and Best Sound). Today, the film is often regarded as one of the first true blockbusters and is still known as one of the most financially successful films ever. Even crew members like the model makers were asked for autographs by people who had seen the film. In terms of revenue, the film was the most successful film of 1977 and replaced Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) as the most financially successful film in history at the time. It remained the most successful film ever until E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982) broke this record.
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-074. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
French postcard by Studio Erving, Paris, no. 696. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Harrison Ford in Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-507. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd, 1997. Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
German postcard by Filmwelt Berlin, Bad Münder, no SW 4.081. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Peter Cushing in Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
Belgian postcard by Joepie / Raider Bounty. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and Kenny Baker as R2-D2 in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
Small West-German collectors card by Topps, no. 31. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977). Caption: Luke shatters the door opener.
Small West-German collectors card by Topps, no. 87. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977). Caption: Luke and R2-D2 arrive.
West-German postcard by Filmwelt Berlin, Bad Münder, no. SW 0.0226, 1997. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Harrison Ford in Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
German postcard by Filmwelt Berlin, Bad Münder, no. SW 4.078. Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977).
Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.
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