- Post
- #240268
- Topic
- What it was like to experience Star Wars for the first time in 1977.
- Link
- https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/240268/action/topic#240268
- Time
I was very young when I saw Star Wars, only four and a half, but I remember it as vividly as though it happened this evening. Now, I had had absolutely no knowledge that a movie called Star Wars even existed and had expressed no desire to see it. I just remember my mother telling me that when my father got home from work that he was going to take me to the movies after dinner. That was a big deal for me in and of itself. I adored going to the movies, especially at the old, but beautiful theater where my parents usually took me for Disney features and the like. I just knew that I was going to the movies, and that was excitement enough.
I imagine that this must have been towards the end of the summer as the theater was nearly empty on the night that my father took me to see it. Very few people. I remember that it was a very hot and muggy night, and how good it felt to walk into that air conditioned theater smelling of popcorn and licorice. I remember seeing the words "Star Wars" on the large neon marquis outside the theater. But, again...those words meant nothing to me.
I don't recall my reaction to every moment of the film. But moments did burn themselves into my brain and I think I burned my knees from propping myself up on the upholstered theater seats. I remember being absolutely transfixed, spellbound. Once the movie started, it was all over. Taking me to that movie was a decision that my father would regret for decades.
The assault on the Blockade Runner was almost overload for me, but it all stuck with me. The images of the stormtroopers and of Darth Vader were powerful ones that simply burned themselves into my mind, and were always the characters with which I was most fascinated, perhaps because they were the first ones that I saw. When I saw the film again in re-release a few years later, I was amazed by how much I had remembered and how many little details stuck with me.
The Jawa canyon scene I remember slightly scaring me, with those hooded figures peering from behind the rocks. That sequence to this day recalls that sense of mystery and uncertainty in me as a four year old. It's weird how your brain retains those things.
The other scene from the first half that captivated me...of course, the presentation of Luke's Lightsaber. It was hypnotic...the site, the musical sound. I mistakenly called it a "lifesaver" for a few years, and I ached for a real one the way that grown men ache for true love, throughout my childhood. I made them out of anything that looked like it could be a lightsaber.
Obi-wan's death stuck with me, as well. Because he was this gentle, old man, much like my grandfather, it bothered me to see him die. It didn't scar me, but I think I cried when he was killed. I can't remember for sure. And even though he killed him, I LOVED Darth Vader. Who didn't?
I don't remember the final battle in detail. Again, I think it was overload for me. I just remember leaving the theater, after waking my father up, wanting my own lightsaber, a friendly little R2-D2 of my own, and a Wookie. Ah, the memories.
