The film that invented hype as we know it

Rating: 3/10 (20 April 2005)

This film with its campaign of spin-off toys, T-shirts, mugs etc created hype as we know it and set the pattern for the hype surrounding Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles and He-Man. No wonder Mel Brooks spoofed it in Spaceballs ("Spaceballs, the flame thrower"!) It's one of the most overrated films ever made. It came top in Channel 4's list of the 100 greatest films but frankly Star Wars coming top in that poll and The Godfather coming No2 is a bit like Joe Dolce's Shaddapayourface beating Ultravox's Vienna to No1 in the UK music charts in 1981. It is not that great a film and the people who let it take over their lives and boast about having seen it tens of thousands of times are very sad. As Carrie Fisher says "It's a great movie, but get a life". George Lucas said he was wanting to recreate the spirit of the old Flash Gordon serials and he did to a degree succeed. Looking at it now, it looks as dated as Flash Gordon. The art deco spaceships in Flash Gordon exude the air of the 1930s and there are some hairstyles and clothes in this film that are very reminiscent of the awful fashions of the 1970s.The scene where Luke and Han Solo are shooting at the enemy spaceships has the look of a 1970s arcade game. Like Flash Gordon a lot of the dialogue is very corny (in fact it dismayed Harrison Ford when he read the script). The cheesiest line has to be when Luke Skywalker sees the hologram of Princess Leia and says "Who is she? She's beautiful.".It is so overpoweringly cheesy it is like having your nose shoved in Stilton. OK, there's no denying Carrie Fisher is a very nice looking woman but "beautiful" is a bit extreme. Mind you I think if the film was being made nowadays Luke would say "Who is she? She's hot". Sir Alec Guinness didn't like this film either despite receiving a sizeable chunk of the profits. He would discard any fan letters he received that made mention of Star Wars. There must have been lorryloads of discarded letters leaving his house every day when the film first came out1