Sci-fi landmark that changed Hollywood cinema forever

Rating: 9/10 (10 August 2014)

I wasn't around to see this in 1977 but it must have been quite something for audiences to witness at the time on the big screen. It's become so iconic and immersed in pop culture that it's sometimes hard to just focus and enjoy the movie itself and not see it as a part of a huge phenomenon.
All it's status and fan base aside, I try to do just that when I watch it and still enjoy it for what it is. For all it's imagination, the plot is nice and simple, basically a good guys VS bad guys western in space, leaving you to not think too hard about anything but just enjoy the many weird and wonderful locations and the characters.
Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is a farm boy who wants to leave his home and fight the dark imperial forces led by the sinister Darth Vader, and it isn't long before he's thrust into an adventure after he meets the ageing Obi Won Kenobi (Alec Guiness). Hamill does fine as Skywalker but he is outshone by the much more interesting Guiness, and Harrison Ford, in one of his earliest roles as cocky pilot Han Solo, who finds himself reluctantly embroiled in their mission. Ford not only gets to play the most likable character but he has the confidence and screen charisma to be much more memorable than the protagonist.
Even so, all the other characters are great too. The droids R2-D2, and C3P0, Han Solo's hairy sidekick - the Wookie, Chewbacca, and the feisty Princess Leia, (Carrie Fisher) who doesn't fit into the typical Hollywood damsel in distress category at the time.
Some of the dialogue may now seem a bit corny, and some of the acting mediocre but it doesn't matter because there's a light, campy tone to the movie anyway, so it doesn't ruin the enjoyment. In fact adds to it for me.
Lucas' genius was mixing Samurai and western elements with Sci-fi and using what he had with the budget to create a bizarre and memorable universe. Seen now, compared to the pace of modern Sci-fi movies, the movie's first half actually moves along quite slow, which is no bad thing in my view. It allows you to be pulled into it's world, and he cleverly uses the droid characters to take you on the journey, from the opening sequence right until the end. A revolutionary idea for the time. But then there's so many things about Star Wars that's revolutionary.
Lucas has since tinkered about with the original trilogy and has ruined the franchise for many not only by doing this but with his prequel trilogy too. In some ways I agree but it doesn't take anything away from what he achieved with this in 1977. A movie that opened up audiences' imaginations and still holds up as not just as an influential classic but an entertaining fantasy adventure in it's own right.