Mielr said:

I understand that TIME and Newsweek gave SW favorable reviews, I don't know off-hand about the opinions of any popular reviewers of the day, such as Gene Shalit or Rex Reed (though I'm guessing Shalit's was positive based on the group interview he conducted with Hamill, Ford and Fisher in '77).

Sorry to derail this slightly, but has that group interview been preserved anywhere around here? The Today Show re-ran it during the SE hype. I taped many things back then, but missed that one, although I saw it (it caught me by surprise).