Spoiler Alert: The one without Yoda, this is.

Movie: Star Wars

Rank: 13

Year: 1977

Director: George Lucas

Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

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A long time ago in a theater far, far away…

George Lucas released his space opera that would go on to not only create sequels, prequels and spinoffs, but establish tropes the entertainment industry and this sometimes blogger imitate out of admiration or, possibly more accurately, laziness.

While it is often believed sequels aren’t better than the original, a notion I butt up against often, there is a strong contingent of viewers who think Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back eclipses its predecessor. However, originality often wins the admiration of critics and for the sake of this list, it better meets its criteria of popularity over time, historical significance and cultural impact.

So, I set off to watch “Star Wars (1977)” as AFI had it listed. Could they just not be bothered with the rest of the title? Do they just expect everyone to have memorized movie release dates? Did they forget there are many, many movies under the Star Wars umbrella? I can appreciate it was a retroactive renaming, taking place in 1981 for the theatrical re-release, but given the decades between the title change and ranking on “AFI’s 100 Greatest American Films of All Time,” they could have helped out a film buff.

This is not the first time I have watched this movie, but as the minutes passed, I realized it had been a rather warm, maybe even hot, minute. No gold bikinis, carbonite casts or paternal admissions in sight. Not even a little green alien with peculiar syntax.

"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

- Princess Leia, Star Wars

What I did see was a captive Princess Leia storing a message in the droid, R2-D2, meant for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Leia has the plans for the Death Star, the Galactic Empire’s space station capable of blowing up planets, and needs them delivered to her father for analysis. R2-D2, accompanied by the golden droid C-3PO, was captured and sold to a moisture farmer and his nephew, Luke Skywalker. Luke discovers the message and puts together that this Obi-Wan must be the local, “Old Ben.” After discovering his aunt and uncle were killed by Imperial Stormtroopers, Luke joins Obi-Wan on his quest to teach him the ways of the Force and fulfill Leia’s wishes. The Force is the energy field from which the Jedi and the Empire’s leader, Darth Vader, derive their power. Obi-Wan reveals he used to fight alongside Luke’s dad.

Soon, the droids, Luke and Obi-Wan join forces with Han Solo and his Wookie companion, Chewbacca, aboard his ship, the Millennium Falcon. In route to Leia’s home planet, which has now been destroyed, the Death Star’s beam pulls them aboard. Following the rescue mission of Leia, they are able to escape on the ship after Obi-Wan sacrifices himself in a lightsaber battle. Luke goes on to join Leia and the Rebel movement in their mission to set off a chain explosion in the Death Star based off the schematics Leia discovered. Despite originally taking his money and going, Han comes back to help save the day. After the Death Star exploded, even though Darth Vader got away, Luke and Han are awarded medals for their bravery.

Phew. Did that all make sense? Even if it didn’t, I don’t know how much I care. I typically try to summarize these movies, but there’s a particular difficulty when a movie exists in a world wholly fictionalized and unlike ours.

Here is my warning, if the title of this blog didn’t suffice, that what is coming includes spoilers. Since a spoiler from a later movie is relevant, we're charting off just this film. In the event you are just now lifting the rock you live under and somehow missed one of the biggest reveals in all of cinematic history, then bail. Bail, bail, bail.

"Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"

- Princess Leia, Star Wars

You’re still here? Well then, let’s just rip the Band-Aid. Luke and Leia are twins born to a now-deceased mother and a father driven to darkness. You may know him; he uses the moniker “Darth Vader.”

Is your mind blown? If so, how did you even find this blog if you are so far removed from popular culture? Welcome, I guess.

Now that we have that reveal out of the way, we can talk about my biggest pet peeve with this movie and trilogy: Luke’s obvious jonesing for Leia and their eventual kiss. The only thing working in their favor is Luke and Leia being unaware of this genetic connection, causing Mark Hamill, who portrayed Luke, to include “#Innocestuous” in a tweet addressing the topic. There are some theories that George Lucas didn’t have a master plan in place, but you would think the romantic entanglements would have played a factor when later deciding to insert this familial bond.

If you can get past the mild incest, which people seemingly have given the size of the franchise, then you will find a quality movie marred by edits to various rereleases.

"The Force is strong with this one"

- Darth Vader, Star Wars

Supposedly, George Lucas didn’t have the time or budget to make the movie exactly as envisioned so he included modifications in subsequent versions to get to his desired goal. However, these edits are at a juxtaposition to the overall integrity of the movie and its 1970’s flair.

When we first meet Han Solo in the Mos Eisley cantina, Han is confronted by Greedo, a bounty hunter, and shoots him under the table. In the 1997 release, Greedo shoots first, but misses with Han’s head digitally altered to move. George Lucas claims to have always intended for Greedo to shoot first, citing Han as a John Wayne type who wouldn’t shoot unprovoked. In the 2004 release, Greedo and Han shoot at the same time. In the 2019 version, a close-up shot of Greedo is included and the visuals are updated.

No matter where you stand on the issue, the multiple sequencing and visual effect changes have resulted in a controversy often referred to as “Han shot first.”

In another scene, originally cut from the theatrical release, Han is speaking with Jabba the Hutt. When it was originally filmed, Jabba was played by a burly man in a fur vest who was supposed to be later replaced by stop motion. Given various constraints, the stop motion replacement never came to fruition, but was digitally altered and reinserted in the 1997 release. However, Han stepped too close to the man so they had to make some edits of him stepping on Jabba’s tail to use as a work around. He was later edited again in 2004 to make his look more in keeping with the Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Both versions are at clear odds with the effects shown in the film and with what was capable during its initial release.

These edits were wholly unnecessary, with various arguments about shifts in character morality or film pacing, but overall, I don’t like the way it looks. The special effects haven’t aged well and distract from a film deemed worthy of this list. It plays against the clear 1970’s haircuts, film quality and scene transitions indicative of the time.

With all of the controversies and edits, I think what we can all assuredly agree upon is that Harrison Ford really knew how to pick a franchise unlike anyone else, other than maybe Orlando Bloom.