| Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope | |
|---|---|
 "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." | |
| Directed By | George Lucas |
| Written By | George Lucas |
| Cast | Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness |
| Produced By | Gary Kurtz |
| Cinematography By | Gilbert Taylor |
| Film Editing By | Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas, Richard Chew |
| Music By | John Williams |
| Studio | Lucasfilm |
| Distributed By | 20th Century Fox |
| Franchise | Star Wars Franchise |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Release Date | May 25, 1977 |
| Runtime | 121 Minutes |
| Rating | PG |
| Budget | $11,000,000 |
| Gross | $775,398,007 |
Overview[]
Star Wars, later retitled as Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope is a 1977 American produced science fiction fantasy-adventure film starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, David Prowse, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Peter Mayhew with James Earl Jones as a principal voice actor. It was directed by George Lucas.
Despite its misleading title, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope was the first film in the original trilogy of Star Wars films and was responsible for inspiring all of the later films, TV shows, specials, toys, and the like in the epic Star Wars Franchise as well. A separate film, Rogue One was released in 2016 which expands the earlier backstory of A New Hope as well and functions as a prequel.
Plot[]
A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away; the Galactic Empire has overthrown the Old Republic and has completed the construction of their ultimate terror weapon, a mighty space station known as "The Death Star" which contains a super-laser capable of annihilating an entire planet. But the Rebellion has secretly smuggled plans of the Death Star to Princess Leia of Alderaan who hopes that the detailed schematics contain an exploitable flaw.
Leia gives the Death Star Plans to R2-D2
Her ship is intercepted by Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith and the right hand of the Emperor himself and Princess Leia has barely enough time to transfer the data into a R2-D2 Astromech Droid Unit with orders to find a legendary General Obi-Wan Kenobi who is an old family friend and entrust the plans to him. The R2-D2 Droid accompanied by a C-3PO Protocol Droid use a life pod to escape and land on the nearby desert planet of Tatooine where they ultimately fall into the hands of Owen Lars, a moisture farmer and the uncle of an adventurous headstrong teenager, Luke Skywalker who dreams of becoming a starfighter pilot and fighting the Empire alongside the noble Rebellion.
R2-D2 flees to find Kenobi and Skywalker and C-3PO track down the lost droid and encounter Kenobi who reveals that he was once a member of the Order of the Jedi Knights who were great warriors and peacekeepers during the days of the Old Republic and were hunted down and destroyed by the Empire, particularly through the villainous Darth Vader who also betrayed and murdered Luke's father.
Returning home, Luke discovers that Imperial Stormtroopers have tracked down the droids to his uncle and aunt and slaughtered them. Distraught, he agrees to accompany Kenobi and become a Jedi Knight. Kenobi agrees to train the young man in the Force which is the source of the Jedi's powers.
Launching the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo and Chewbacca
The quartet hire a mercenary smuggler, Han Solo and his co-pilot Chewbacca as passengers to Alderaan only to discover that the entire planet was destroyed by the merciless Grand Moff Tarkin to intimidate Princess Leia into revealing the location of the Rebel Base. Their ship, the Millennium Falcon is captured and brought aboard the Death Star so that the crew can be questioned. Skywalker, Kenobi, Solo, Chewbacca, and the two droids manage to escape imprisonment thanks to special smuggling compartments built into the Falcon and the group plot to disable the tractor beams to allow the ship to leave.
While Kenobi is attempting to disable the tractor beam, Skywalker discovers that Princess Leia is being held in the detention center and impulsively seeks to liberate her as well. Although successful, Kenobi is intercepted by Darth Vader and the pair engage in a fierce duel that results in Kenobi's death but after a series of misadventures and harrowing escapes, the others are able to flee to Yavin IV, the current Rebel Base.
There, Rebel technicians are able to locate a critical flaw in the Death Star; an unshielded exhaust port that feeds directly to the main reactor. If a proton torpedo were to hit it directly, it could cause a cataclysmic chain reaction. Meanwhile, the Death Star has been tracking the Falcon and has located the Rebel Base. Skywalker decides to join the Rebel starfighter assault team while Solo is eager to collect his reward and flee.
TIE Fighters Attack!
As the Rebel starfighters are forced to desperately penetrate the Death Star's layered defenses resulting in heavy causalities, Darth Vader himself leads a group of Imperial TIE Fighters to wipe out scores of pilots. Even as Luke Skywalker attempts a final attack run on the exhaust port, he is being stalked by Vader himself when Solo returns to assist, crippling Vader's craft and enabling Skywalker to use the Force to help guide his proton torpedo to strike the exhaust port and resulting in the destruction of the Death Star.
Afterwards, the entire Rebellion celebrates their victory over the Empire and honors Skywalker and Solo for their heroism and that they have restored hope to the galaxy.
Cast[]
- Mark Hamil as Luke Skywalker
- Harrison Ford as Han Solo
- Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia
- Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin
- Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi
- Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
- Kenny Baker as R2-D2
- Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca
- James Earl Jones as Darth Vader (voice)
- David Prowse as Darth Vader
- Phil Brown as Uncle Owen Lars
- Shelagh Fraser as Aunt Beru
- Jack Purvis as Chief Jawa, Kitik Keed'kak, Power Droid
- Alex McCrindle as General Jan Dodonna
- Eddie Byrne as General Vanden Willard
- Drewe Hemley as Garven Dreis
- Denis Lawson as Wedge Antilles
- Garick Hagon as Biggs Darklighter
- Jack Klaff as John D. Branon
- William Hootins as Jek Tono Porkins
- Angus Mcinnis as Jon "Dutch" Vander
- Jeremy Sinden as Tiree
- Graham Ashely as Pops
- Don Henderson as General Cassio Tagge
- Richard LeParmentier as General Conan Antonio Motti
- Leslie Schofield as Chief Bast
- Lightning Bear as Stormtrooper
- Jon Berg as Momaw Nadon, Tech Mo'r, Duro
- Mark Austin as Boba Fett (special edition)
- Paul Blake as Greedo
- Janice Burchette as Nabrun Leids
- Ted Burnett as Wuher
- John Chapman as Drifter
- Tim Condren as Stormtrooper
- Barry Copping as Wioslea
- Alfie Curtis as Dr. Evazan
- Maria De Aragon as Greedo
- Robert A. Denham as Hrchek Kal Fas
- Frazer Diamond as Jawa
- Peter Diamond as Stormtrooper, URoRRuR'R'R, Corporal Prescott, Garouf Lafoe
- Warwick Diamond as Jawa
- Sadie Eden as Garindan
- Kim Falkinburg as Djas Puhr
- Harry Fielder as Corporal Grenwick
- Ted Gagliano as Stormtrooper
- Barry Gnome as Kabe
- Rusty Goffe as Kabe, Jawa, GONK Droid
- Nelson Hall as Stormtrooper (special edition)
- Reg Harding as Stormtrooper
- Frank Henson as Stormtrooper
- Christine Hewett as Shada D'ukal
- Arthur Howell as Stormtrooper
- Tommy Ilsley as Ponda Baba
- Joe Johnston as Imperial Gunner, Stormtrooper
- Annette Jones as Mosep
- Linda Jones as Chall Bekan
- Joe Kaye as Solomohal
- Colin Michael Kitchens as Stormtrooper
- Melissa Kurtz as Jawa
- Tiffany L. Kurtz as Jawa
- Al Lampert as Daine Jir
- Anthony Lang as BoShek
- Laine Liska as Muftak, Hem Dazon
- Derek Lyons as Voren Na'al
- Alf Mangan as Takeel
- Rick McCallum as Stormtrooper (special edition)
- Grant McCune as Imperial Gunner
- Mandy Morton as Swilla Corey
- Marcus Powell as Rycar Ryjerd
- Pam Rose as Leesub Sirln
- George Roubicek as Cmdr. Praji
- Erica Simmons as Tawss Khaa
- Angela Staines as Karoly D'ulin
- Peter Sturgeon as Sai'torr Kal Fas
- Peter Sumner as Lt. Pol Treidum
- Malcolm Tierney as Lt. Shann Childsen
- Burnell Tucker as Del Goren
- Morgan Upton as Stormtrooper (voice)
- Jerry Walter as Stormtrooper (voice)
- Hal Wamsley as Jawa
- Larry Ward as Greedo (voice)
- Diana Sadley Way as Thuku
- Harold Weed as Ketwol, Melas
- Bill Weston as Stormtrooper
Production[]
A long time fan of serials, George Lucas was particularly enthralled with Flash Gordon as a child. As an adult, he recognized that the Flash Gordon serials were rather limited and wondered what they would look like if they were done really well. Following the success of his first film, THX 1138; Lucas was granted a deal to produce two films with United Artists. The first of these films was American Graffiti which was released in 1973 and became highly acclaimed. Lucas' intended to pursue an modernized adaptation of his beloved Flash Gordon serials for his second film but failed to acquire the rights. Disheartened, Lucas decided that he would have to create his own and began writing the backstory of the original Star Wars saga. He tried to attract United Artists, Universal Pictures, and even Disney Studios into backing his space opera epic but all passed.
However Lucas' success in American Graffiti was able to secure $5 million in funding and support by Alan Ladd, Jr. at 20th Century Fox for his idea. Reputedly, Ladd was not convinced due to the fact that the genre was often unpopular at the box office but was sold because he believed that Lucas was a talented director and that he "invested in Lucas instead of the film" in 1973.
Lucas' first drafts contained many elements of the future Star Wars movies from a legendary Jedi commando known as Mace Windy but was told it was simply too difficult to understand; he scrapped it and rewrote the script with a heavy influence of Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress in 1974. Originally the script was titled "The Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Starkiller" in early 1975. However shooting the film was delayed until March 22, 1976 due to unforeseen delays as Lucas was forced to actually create his own special effects company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) after 20th Century Fox's special effects department was disbanded leaving him with no way to create the special effects for his movie. Lucas continued to make small tweaks to the script over the ensuing years; altering the main character to Luke Skywalker and the film's title to simply "The Star Wars" and later to simply "Star Wars".
Unlike the sci-fi serials of yesteryear and films of today, Lucas demanded gritty realism in his "universe". He proclaimed that he wanted everything to look like it was "used" and the various sets and locations to look aged and dirty with much of the vehicles and technologies to look "cobbled" together and "old" rather than sleek and futuristic. Lucas was forced to use much of his own money to build sets and props due to the limited budget and his special effect people often improvised recycled scrap thrown and/or wielded together.
Early shooting in Tunisia for the Tatooine desert scenes was complicated by a freak rainstorm, the first major rainstorm in over 50 years. Then, they were plagued with equipment failure, the extreme heat, and Lucas was also asked to move his "sandcrawler" when the neighboring country of Libya became concerned of the possibility of a major military mobilization due to a massive 'war machine' being spotted near the border and had to find a new location to shoot at. Then, there was a massive sandstorm which wiped out most of the sets forcing them to rebuild and resulting in significant delays to the shooting schedule.
Star Wars was plagued with significant problems for the rest of it's shooting, casting difficulties, and personality clashes between George Lucas and the cinematographer, Gilbert Taylor and rushing the special effects sequences through to fit the schedule. The ILM special effects team pioneered digital motion control photography via small models with slow moving cameras.
Alternative Movie Titles[]
- Star Wars
- The Star Wars
- Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
- Star Wars: Episode IV
- A New Hope
- Star Wars: A New Hope
- The War of the World (Thailand)
Additional/Alternate Movie Taglines[]
- Coming to your galaxy this summer.
- Somewhere, in space, this could all be happening right now.
- A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
- The Force will be with you
Reception[]
Debuting on May 25, 1977 in less than 40 theaters, Star Wars was not expected to be a major success at all. In fact, 20th Century Fox had such low expectations that other summer movies such as Smokey and the Bandit would completely overwhelm it; they deliberately moved the film's release date to avoid potential competition and bargained with theaters that if they ordered the film that they would receive the first run of The Other Side of Midnight which was a film adaptation of a critically acclaimed novel that was anticipated to be a huge success.
Instead, Star Wars broke all box office records with an overall weekend gross of $1,554,475 on its first week; shooting all the way up to number one top ranking movie. Star Wars continued to dominate at the box offices over the next 44 weeks of its box office run, playing at 1,750 theaters at its height and consecutively remained in the top ranking slot for most of 44 weeks. It's huge popularity even had 60 theaters continuing to show the film for well over a year after its debut. Overall, it is earned over $220,000,000 domestically and $314,400,000 from foreign markets.
Star Wars literally exploded in popularity as the second highest grossing film of all time and received almost universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike. The Rotten Tomatoes website gave it a 93% "Certified Fresh" approval rating with Metacritic scored it with a "90 out of 100" indicating it had received Universal Acclaim.
It quickly became a cultural phenomena and one of the first gigantic blockbuster films, surpassing even Jaws. The film also made all of the cast members of the film into instant celebrities and cemented George Lucas' career as a filmmaker. It remains one of the most financially successful films and media franchises of all time with only the James Bond Franchise and Harry Potter Franchise surpassing it.
It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won 6; including Best Art Direction, Costume Design, Film Editing, Original Score, Sound and Visual Effects and a Special Achievement for Sound Effects Editing.
George Lucas has re-released Star Wars on several occasions; in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, and 1997 with minor edits including retitling it as "Episode IV: A New Hope", additional sound effects and dialogue, remixed soundtracks, additional footage, and re-edited shots as Lucas felt that the original version was lacking in certain parts or was left undone due to the original rushed production schedule. Overall, these re-releases have further increased its cumulative nationwide gross $320,000,000 and $207,000,000 from foreign markets.
When the Library of Congress created the National Film Registry in 1989 to preserve "culturally, historically, and ascetically significant films", Star Wars was among the first nominated and was also the youngest film to be chosen with the rest being nearly 30 to 70 years older.
Star Wars IV: A New Hope was subsequently released in Betamax, Video 2000, Laserdisc, VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray. Versions of it has also been digitally remastered and 3D enhanced.
It also resulted in a 1978 made-for-television special, Star Wars Holiday Special and two sequels, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi in 1983 which completed the original Star Wars trilogy. Furthermore, it inspired several spin-off cartoon series and made-for-television movies as well as a number of multimedia projects including several novels, video games, comic strips, and comic books and has been spoofed and lampooned on various series as well as several parody fan-based series has been created and released over the decades as well. Popularity remained high enough that a second Star Wars trilogy Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace; Star Wars Episode II: The Attack of the Clones; and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith; were created as a prequel set.
A separate film, Rogue One was released in 2016 which expands the backstory of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope as well and functions as a prequel.
A third sequel film trilogy series is in the midst of being released at this current time including Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens; Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi; with the as-of-yet untitled Star Wars Episode IX is planned to be released in 2019.
Trivia[]
- James Earl Jones who provided the menacing voice of Darth Vader originally declined to be credited in the film (as well as in the sequel, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back) as he believed that his role was too small and that it fell more under "special effects" rather than as acting.
- The infamous voice of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones has never met David Prowse who served as the body of Darth Vader.
Associated Pages[]
Objects[]
Weapons[]
Vehicles[]
Teams & Groups[]
Races[]
Locations[]
Concepts[]
External Links[]
Trailer[]
Star Wars - Episode IV - Trailer (original 1977)