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Star Wars (1977)

MielR

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Title: Star Wars (1977)

Tagline: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Genre: Adventure, Action, Science Fiction

Director: George Lucas

Release: 1977-05-25

Runtime: 121

Plot: Princess Leia is captured and held hostage by the evil Imperial forces in their effort to take over the galactic Empire. Venturesome Luke Skywalker and dashing captain Han Solo team together with the loveable robot duo R2-D2 and C-3PO to rescue the beautiful princess and restore peace and justice in the Empire.




For those who missed them, there were 2 free screenings of a rare British Technicolor (dye-transfer) print of the original 1977* Star Wars at the Senator Theatre in Baltimore, which has gone into foreclosure.

Theater event page:

http://friendsofthesenatortheatre.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/senator-theatre-free-farewell-to-kiefaber-screenings-of-rare-star-wars-1977-print-on-july-21/


News report of the event:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/videobeta/?watchId=6152dbd4-ae00-4fee-988d-2e3f9f05a3f7



Photos of the event & screen shots (from Peter Gaultney):

http://petergaultney.smugmug.com/Movies/historic/Star-Wars-at-The-Senator/13089279_nXePV#948662138_wuqj9


EDIT: *NEW* Video of the screening from Peter Gaultney:


http://photos.petergaultney.com/Movies/historic/Star-Wars-at-The-Senator/13089279_chpNjq#948713561_WKZxo



YouTube clip with comments from former theater owner (includes shots of film):

 
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Jason Charlton

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SO BUMMED that I missed that. Had no idea it was happening.


I'm hopeful that the Senator will be revived at some point in the not-too-distant future. It's a real gem of a theater - a throwback to theaters of old and a fantastic Baltimore landmark.


Thanks for posting!
 

MielR

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Yeah, I wish I could have gone, too. I'm nowhere near Maryland, but if I had been able to go, it would have been a good-enough excuse for a road trip! :)
 

Simon Massey

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I think they could do it because it was a free screening is that right ? Technically I dont think they can but there hasnt been any financial gain or loss to Lucasfilm so I suppose they are ok


So it does still exist
 

MielR

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Originally Posted by MatthewA

Star Wars.


The original version.


In Technicolor.


How did Fox/Lucas agree to that?

They didn't agree to it. ;-) The theater owner says something in the YouTube clip about people asking if Lucasfilm had henchmen lurking around to confiscate the print. Fortunately, they didn't, but I don't think they could have legally anyway. The print is privately owned and like the others mentioned, there was no charge for the event
 

Patrick H.

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I grew up in Baltimore, and went to the Senator pretty often. It's a fantastic, classic venue that's survived the years in quite good shape, although at the time the neighborhood around it was getting kinda iffy. However, I went back on a recent trip, and was surprised to see the block has been revitalized nicely. Hopefully the theater will find some caring new owners and be brought back to life as well...


My own Star Wars story there happened in the early 90s, when the theater arranged (with Lucasfilm's approval) a charity screening over three consecutive weekends of the original, unaltered trilogy. I knew the projectionist there at the time, and he told me he was amazed when the cans arrived from California with prints that were brand spankin' new! Needless to say, the screenings were chock full with psyched, appreciative fans, and the experience was spectacular. I remember being dazzled that all the flaws you could see in the films on home video (mattes, dirt, etc.) seemed to all magically disappear up on the big (and it's BIG) screen, and with the fan-involvement, the whole saga was just totally immersive. A great childhood memory, and one of the great cinematic experiences of my life so far...
 

MielR

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Video of the screening, also by Peter Gaultney: http://photos.petergaultney.com/Movies/historic/Star-Wars-at-The-Senator/13089279_chpNjq#948713561_WKZxo
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Ahead of The Rise of Skywalker on Thursday, I'm attempting to re-watch all of the previous live action Star Wars movies in chronological order.
I've wanted to do a Rogue One / Star Wars double feature for a long time, but today was the first time I've cleared a day for it.

How well does one flow into the other? In terms of chronology and production design, incredibly well. The Rogue One creative team did an amazing job of reverse engineering the early scenes of this movie so that when Darth Vader and Captain Antilles are talking, they're referencing specific plot points from the end of Rogue One.

The flip side of that is that it really highlights the difference that four decades in visual effects innovations make, since we're seeing the same ships in very similar shots, but the effects in even the special edition of Star Wars are so much more dated. Given all of the things that Lucas futzed around with in 1997 and since, it's amazing that they didn't spend more time cleaning up the compositing and fixing some of the rougher edges. (I watched the 2015 Blu-ray, after hearing complaints about even more changes in the 4K streaming version on Disney+. I don't know if some of my complaints in this paragraph have been addressed in that version.)

The first fifteen or twenty minutes or so of this movie are masterclass in how to start a blockbuster. It's just one domino falling after another, each beat propelling the audience into the next one. Once the droids land on Tatooine, things slow down for a while.

The droids' trip through the desert provided another opportunity to think about how much filmmaking has changed since this movie came out. Grain is highly variable, going from nearly overwhelming in one shot to practically nonexistent in the next shot. There are certain lighting anomalies, especially the lens flares from the light reflecting off C-3PO, that you would never see with today's lenses, unless the filmmaker deliberately wanted it.

The scenes with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, and the first few scenes with Obi-Wan Kenobi in his hermit's building, hint at a much more extensive relationship than I'd previously assumed. I think in my head, Obi-Wan dropped baby Luke off with Owen and Beru at the end of Revenge of the Sith and then watched from afar ever afterward. But, given Owen's hostility when the name Obi-Wan Kenobi is mentioned, and what Obi-Wan told Luke in the scene where he gives him Anakin's lightsaber, it sounds like Obi-Wan wanted to start training Luke much earlier and Owen forbade it. This could be interesting territory to explore in the upcoming Obi-Wan series on Disney+.

One thing that really stood out to me this time around is how Obi-Wan Kenobi is basically the only competent good guy for the first half of the movie. Everybody else is flying by the seat of their pants, but everything goes more or less how Obi-Wan intends it to -- from Luke's arrival with the droid all the way through to Obi-Wan becoming one with the Force after dueling with Darth Vader so that the other have an opportunity to escape.

Speaking of that escape: I found it kind of hilarious that Princess Leia points out that the Empire is almost certainly tracking the Falcon, but then they proceed to go directly to main rebel base on Yavin IV anyway.

I also found it kind of hilarious that Luke's way more upset about Obi-Wan's bloodless demise -- an old hermit that he talked to maybe half a dozen times in his entire life -- than horrible gruesome murders of the man and woman who raised him. You can tell that they didn't have a PG-13 rating when this came out, because the burned bodies of Owen and Beru alone probably would have done it.

The other thing that's weird: Even after they succeed in destroying the Death Star, the Empire still knows about their base on Yavin IV. You'd think their immediate priority would have been to begin evacuation before the Star Destroyers start to arrive. Instead, they apparently have time for an elaborate medal ceremony -- where the Wookie gets screwed.
 

Tommy R

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I started with The Phantom Menace back in October and have been doing one a week, usually Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. Watching The Last Jedi tonight. It’s been lots of fun watching them all chronologically!
 

Osato

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I’m going out I’d prefer. Watching last Jedi tonight.

77, empire and force awakens before that.
 

TravisR

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The other thing that's weird: Even after they succeed in destroying the Death Star, the Empire still knows about their base on Yavin IV. You'd think their immediate priority would have been to begin evacuation before the Star Destroyers start to arrive. Instead, they apparently have time for an elaborate medal ceremony -- where the Wookie gets screwed.
I think in terms of looking at solely the first movie, the Empire was dealt a huge blow by losing the Death Star and that gave the Alliance time to celebrate their victory. Once you put all of the other movies, cartoons, comics, books, etc. in play, it doesn't make much sense because the Empire is insanely large and insanely powerful. An hour later, the Imperials would have had enough Star Destroyers at Yavin to wipe out all of the moons in the system just to make sure they got every Rebel.
 

Josh Steinberg

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Which, incidentally, is what we see in TLJ. The Force Awakens ends with the resistance blowing up the First Order’s Death Star-like base, and then The Last Jedi resumes apparently moments later with the resistance abandoning their base and being almost completely obliterated by the First Order.
 

RobertR

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I also found it kind of hilarious that Luke's way more upset about Obi-Wan's bloodless demise -- an old hermit that he talked to maybe half a dozen times in his entire life -- than horrible gruesome murders of the man and woman who raised him.

I completely disagree. Luke has a look of utter shock and horror at the sight of their burned bodies, certainly not "way less" than his "No!" when he sees Ben disappear. And when he says to Ben with great sadness "there's nothing here for me now", it's certainly not "way less" than him saying "can't believe he's gone". Nothing the least bit hilarious about any of it.

I found it kind of hilarious that Princess Leia points out that the Empire is almost certainly tracking the Falcon, but then they proceed to go directly to main rebel base on Yavin IV anyway.

The alternative would have been to not bother to analyze the plans which so may rebels died to obtain, plans which were seen as the only way to defeat the Death Star. Again, I don't see that as "hilarious".
 

Josh Steinberg

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Well, not really, the alternative is to analyze the plans somewhere other than the main base and not to take a wanted vehicle with a APB out on it to your secret lair.
 

RobertR

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Well, not really, the alternative is to analyze the plans somewhere other than the main base and not to take a wanted vehicle with a APB out on it to your secret lair.
That assumes there was another base capable of analyzing the plans AND being able to act on the results, and it also assumes that the Falcon could have transferred R2D2 to another "not wanted" vehicle while being tracked. I very much doubt that the Empire wouldn't bother to track the other vehicle after such a rendezvous, or allow the rendezvous in the first place.
 

TravisR

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In reality, it's not the best move but I think the idea in the movie is that Princess Leia didn't mind if they did track the Falcon because she felt that the Death Star needed to be defeated as soon as possible. Waiting a few days or weeks or months would have lost the Alliance support because many of the rebellious systems would have fallen in line with the Empire after seeing what happened to Alderaan (and Jedha if you want to bring Rogue One into it) so if they immediately fought the Death Star and lost, the outcome likely would have been the same if they waited to challenge the Death Star with even less support.
 
Movie information in first post provided by The Movie Database

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