This will be a film long remembered

Rating: 10/10 (14 September 2007)

"Star Wars" is not only in the upper echelon of Science Fiction films, but of all films. This original installment of the "Star Wars" films and the rest of the original trilogy created a magic unmatched by the prequel trilogy. It is well known that "Star Wars" has had a profound impact on moviegoers and has spawned an unprecedented amount of merchandise in the form of books, toys, computer games, etc.
"Star Wars" has sets and special effects that are seamless and compare well to other Science Fiction movies and television shows of the time as well as the prequel trilogy. In fact, I found the models in this film were more seamless than the CGI effects used for the prequels. The special effects were used well to create fantastic space battles, aided by John Williams' unforgettable score. Many people know the premise behind the film: a young farm boy becomes untangled in a galactic civil war between a desperate rebellion and an oppressive empire. With this premise, the film's story develops engagingly from start to finish.
Every character in the film is appropriately cast. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford give great performances in the lead roles. Alec Guinness brings his experience to bear in his performance which makes "the Force", which might otherwise seem silly, a legitimate concept. James Earl Jones was the perfect choice to provide the booming voice of Darth Vader to aid David Prowse's physical performance. Peter Cushing creates a memorable character in the arrogant Grand Moff Tarkin with aristocratic airs. In short, every performance in this film is memorable and the dialogue is high quality and quotable.
Several editions of "Star Wars" have been released since the film's initial release in 1977. A "Special Edition" was released in 1997 with added and altered scenes and a special DVD edition in 2004 with more changed. Personally I found that the added and altered scenes never improved on the original film and some of them were even detrimental (see at: Greedo shoots first). For me, the best version remains the original, available now on limited edition DVDs.