Star Wars (1977)

Director: George Lucas

Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness

Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire’s world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.

In a galaxy far away a civil war rages. Rebels managed to steal secret plans to the evil Galactic Empire’s powerful weapon, The Death Star – a huge space station with the power to destroy planets. Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) is the leader of the Rebels, and is being pursued by the Empire’s agents.

When she is captured, the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 escape in a pod and crashes on a nearby planet. There, they are sold to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)’s uncle. When Luke cleans R2-D2, the droid projects a message from Princess Leia requesting help from Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness). Luke sets out to find Obi-Wan, and together they must save Princess Leia and her people.

In need of transport to her planet, they team up with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his copilot Chewbacca, a humanoid alien covered in hair. What follows, is plenty of action and adventure and many interesting characters along the way. The antagonist is Darth Vader, a masked villain wearing a black cloak, and since we never see his face we don’t know whether he is human or alien.

There are many iconic moments in the film. The costumes and production design are fantastic, and the outstanding visual effects were groundbreaking for its time. The visuals actually still hold so well by today’s standard. It’s no surprise the film won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The film also boasts an incredible amount of stunning practical effects. It’s hard to believe this film was made almost five decades ago! This amazing production has CLASSIC written all over it. Back in 1977, ‘Star Wars’ was way ahead of its time! This is undoubtedly one of the greatest films of all time.

‘Star Wars’ was a huge success, raking in nearly $776 million on a budget of $11 million. It received 97 award nominations, winning 66 including Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Original Score, and off course Best Visual Effects.

‘Star Wars’ spawned several sequels, prequels, spinoffs, and TV series, which still continues to this day.

Would I watch it again? Yes.