logo Sign In

Pre-Star Wars, Post-Star Wars

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Has anyone ever seen films that were Pre- Star Wars and/or Post-Star Wars? Two movies in mind is The Hidden Fortress and Willow. The Hidden Fortress is a Japanese Samurai film that became the key plot to the First Star Wars aka A New Hope. Willow is a movie with characters that are based on The Star Wars characters. Just some fun facts to get into in case anyone has never known or heard of.

Author
Time

If you count movies made in the immediate wake of Star Wars’ success, I’ve seen quite a few.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

Author
Time
 (Edited)

^ me too and there those who believe that life here , began out there, far across the universe , with tribes of humans ,who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians ,or the Toltecs or the Mayans .Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive, somewhere beyond the heavens …

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

Author
Time

I just saw The Hidden Fortress for the first time last week. And I have to say, it had almost nothing to with SW. If people hadn’t been saying it from the beginning, I wouldn’t even have made the connection myself. Pretty much the only thing is bickering soldiers that resemble R2 and 3PO (which is an insult to the droids as these people are just immoral scum to the very end), and there is one scene that is almost exactly the same in SW than in THF. Other than that, I don’t see any other similarities other than some ideas like there being a general and a princess, but you can find similar architypes from many movies. The plot is completely different and so are the characters. Comparing it to SW took me out of the movie a bit since I kept waiting “is there going to be this and this scene next” and there never was.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

Author
Time

LexX said:

I just saw The Hidden Fortress for the first time last week. And I have to say, it had almost nothing to with SW. If people hadn’t been saying it from the beginning, I wouldn’t even have made the connection myself. Pretty much the only thing is bickering soldiers that resemble R2 and 3PO (which is an insult to the droids as these people are just immoral scum to the very end), and there is one scene that is almost exactly the same in SW than in THF. Other than that, I don’t see any other similarities other than some ideas like there being a general and a princess, but you can find similar architypes from many movies. The plot is completely different and so are the characters. Comparing it to SW took me out of the movie a bit since I kept waiting “is there going to be this and this scene next” and there never was.

I don’t think anyone is saying Lucas copied the plot, just the bickering peasants bit.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

Author
Time

NeverarGreat said:

LexX said:

I just saw The Hidden Fortress for the first time last week. And I have to say, it had almost nothing to with SW. If people hadn’t been saying it from the beginning, I wouldn’t even have made the connection myself. Pretty much the only thing is bickering soldiers that resemble R2 and 3PO (which is an insult to the droids as these people are just immoral scum to the very end), and there is one scene that is almost exactly the same in SW than in THF. Other than that, I don’t see any other similarities other than some ideas like there being a general and a princess, but you can find similar architypes from many movies. The plot is completely different and so are the characters. Comparing it to SW took me out of the movie a bit since I kept waiting “is there going to be this and this scene next” and there never was.

I don’t think anyone is saying Lucas copied the plot, just the bickering peasants bit.

You can only write hidden fortress in Google and the first suggestion is star wars after that. Just saying that the relation is way too much advertised and takes off from the film itself.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

Author
Time

LexX said:

I just saw The Hidden Fortress for the first time last week. And I have to say, it had almost nothing to with SW. If people hadn’t been saying it from the beginning, I wouldn’t even have made the connection myself. Pretty much the only thing is bickering soldiers that resemble R2 and 3PO (which is an insult to the droids as these people are just immoral scum to the very end), and there is one scene that is almost exactly the same in SW than in THF. Other than that, I don’t see any other similarities other than some ideas like there being a general and a princess, but you can find similar architypes from many movies. The plot is completely different and so are the characters. Comparing it to SW took me out of the movie a bit since I kept waiting “is there going to be this and this scene next” and there never was.

One of the early drafts of the script was pretty much a rewrite of Hidden Fortress. It changed considerably before reaching the final shooting script.

Author
Time

I don’t have many favorites in the decade prior to Star Wars. I prefer older or newer movies. That time was kind of a dry spell for really good film. At least for me. I have done some marathons of all the SF films that appeared right after. Some really good one. Even the cheesy Battle Beyond the Stars is pretty good (a Seven Samurai remake). Outside the Star Wars films and the SF offshoots, I like Popeye, Grease, Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Really? SW isn’t even my favourite film of 1977. The rest of the decade is a goldmine.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Mocata said:

Really? SW isn’t even my favourite film of 1977. The rest of the decade is a goldmine.

Agreed that the 70s were an insanely good time for film, possibly the best ever. “Dry spell” is a baffling description.

Though Star Wars is still easily my favorite.

Author
Time

Oh I dunno it’s up against Hausu and Sorcerer. Maybe Suspiria too…

Author
Time

I just realized Eraserhead came out in '77.

Author
Time

Mocata said:

Oh I dunno it’s up against Hausu and Sorcerer. Maybe Suspiria too…

I mean, it’s my all time favorite movie of any year. So I’m not going to agree.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

One can argue there was a dry spell of fantasy and space based sc-fi in the early to mid 70’s. There was only one Ray Harryhausen film in this period, The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad in 1973.
Most science fiction films before 1977 were of the future dystopian variety, Soylent Green, and even Logan’s Run. Not sure if Flesh Gordon counts as an sci-fi film. In the same year as Star Wars, Fox was giving us post-apocalyptic tales like Wizards and Damnation Alley.

I have to give Toho studios credit for cranking out The War In Space and getting it into theaters in Japan before Star Wars even opened there. The story goes some Toho executives saw Star Wars playing at Mann’s Chinese Theater while on a visit to Hollywood that summer, and were hatching plans on the plane ride back home.

Seriously, how did Fox not sue over this guy? 😛

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?