It was still playing on HBO in May of '83 ... because one morning when my buddy and I came back to our apartment for our morning shower after sleeping on the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulveard where we had been living for the better part of a week in front of the Egyptian Theater waiting for the premier of Return of the Jedi ... lo and behold, Star Wars was playing on cable TV to our complete freaking delight.

We had barely missed the first few minutes, and stayed away from the line longer than we should have so that we could watch the whole movie. We were living in StarWarsian frenzy that week, so ... even though it was on TV, it was one of the best viewings of Star Wars ever.

Later that week, the night before the show, we brought our TV and VCR to the parking lot behind the Egyptian Theater, and screened Star Wars and Empire between midnight and 4:30 a.m. for hundreds of rabid fans too excited to sleep the night before Jedi opened ... and, even though those showings were also on a tiny TV ... they were two of the best StarWars movie screenings I have ever attended.

(Little did I know it was the start of a night-before-opening tradition that would continue till 2005!)