Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as simply
Star Wars, is a
1977 science fantasy film written and directed by
George Lucas. It was the first film to be released in the
Star Wars saga, and the fourth in terms of internal chronology. Among fans, the title is commonly abbreviated as "
ANH".
Nineteen years after the formation of the
Galactic Empire, development has been completed on a weapon capable of destroying an entire planet, the
Death Star. After the
Rebel Alliance, led by
Princess Leia, steals the plans in the hope of finding a weakness, they are captured and forced aboard the Death Star.
Luke Skywalker meets
Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has lived in seclusion for years on the desert planet of
Tatooine. When Luke's home is destroyed, Obi-Wan begins Luke's
Jedi training as they travel on a daring mission to rescue the Princess from the clutches of the evil Empire.
Produced with a budget of $11 million, the film was released on
May 25,
1977, and went on to become one of the most successful films of all time, earning $798 million worldwide during its original theatrical release. It was re-released several times, sometimes
with significant changes in its later releases. Most notable were the 1997 Special Edition theatrical re-release and the 2004
DVD version, which were modified with
CGI effects and re-done scenes.
Shooting began on
March 22,
1976 and ended on
July 16, 1976.
Darth Vader's breathing is a recording of sound designer
Ben Burtt breathing from a
scuba respirator.
The
Tusken Raider (played by
stuntman Peter Diamond) who attacks Luke was filmed raising his weapon over his head only once. Editors
Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew moved the reel back and forth in editing so the Raider raised his weapon several times.
There were many problems during the film's production. For instance, one day into filming in
Tunisia, the country had its first major rainstorm in fifty years. The storm ruined the salt flats where the Lars farm scenes were filmed. ILM was in chaos from trying to achieve new special effects and 20th Century Fox kept pressuring Lucas. The project became so stressful that Lucas nearly suffered a
heart attack from trying to deliver the film on time.
George Lucas never intended to use the voice of
David Prowse, who portrayed Darth Vader in costume, because of Prowse's west country British accent. He originally wanted
Orson Welles to provide
Darth Vader's voice. However, he felt that Welles' voice would be too recognizable, so he cast
James Earl Jones, who was not as well known. Prowse was not pleased.
Initially, Lucas did not allow Harrison Ford to audition for the part of Han Solo because he wanted to use unknown actors for the roles of Solo, Luke and Leia, and Ford had already worked with Lucas in
American Graffiti. Other actors who auditioned for Solo's part included
Kurt Russell and
Perry King, who was eventually cast in the role for the
National Public Radio adaptations (see below). For the role of Leia, Lucas seriously considered
Cindy Williams (who also starred in
Graffiti), as well as
Terri Nunn, the lead singer of the dance-pop group
Berlin. However, Ford was brought into the casting auditions to help by reading Solo's lines opposite other actors, and eventually Lucas decided that it was Ford's performance who best fit his idea for the character (Ford's reaction to Nunn's interpretation of Leia elicited a roll of his eyes). Lucas' decision to use unknown actors also went against the advice of his friend, director
Francis Ford Coppola.
The
opening crawl reveals that
the galaxy is in a state of
civil war. The
Rebel Alliance has stolen secret plans to the
Galactic Empire's secret weapon, the
Death Star, an extremely powerful
space station capable of annihilating entire planets. In a series of transmissions, the plans were beamed to the rebel blockade runner
Tantive IV, a ship in the service of
Princess Leia Organa of
Alderaan.
Stormtroopers take control of the ship, and
Darth Vader arrives to assess the damage. While hiding on the ship, Leia taken as a prisoner. However, before being transferred to Vader's
Star Destroyer, Princess Leia is able to record a
holographic message and give it to
R2-D2. Vader orders a command be sent to the
Imperial Senate that the ship was destroyed, with everyone on board killed. The
droids R2-D2 and
C-3PO use an escape pod which brings them to the planet
Tatooine.
On Tatooine, the droids are captured by
Jawas while wandering the desert. They come into the possession of
Owen Lars and his nephew,
Luke Skywalker. Luke accidentally triggers part of the holographic message, causing him to suspect that the R2-D2 may have been stolen, and that it really belongs to an "
Obi-Wan Kenobi." Returning to his garage before nightfall, Luke discovers that R2-D2 has escaped. After finding him, Luke and C-3PO are attacked by
Sandpeople, but rescued by the arrival of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke and the droids are brought to Obi-Wan's hut, where Obi-Wan tells of his days as a
Jedi Knight and reveals to Luke that his father was a Jedi as well. When Luke asks how his father died, Obi-Wan replies that he was "betrayed and murdered" by Darth Vader. He then instructs on a mysterious energy field called the
Force. Finally, Obi-Wan and Luke see the holographic message from Princess Leia, who asks for Obi-Wan's assistance to take the droid and the plans to the planet Alderaan. Obi-Wan invites Luke to come with him to Alderaan, but Luke refuses, citing his responsibilities at home. After returning home, Luke discovers his family murdered and his home destroyed by the Imperials looking for the droids. He returns to Obi-Wan and decides to go to Alderaan and become a Jedi. The group travel to
Mos Eisley Spaceport, where they encounter a smuggler named
Han Solo who agrees to transport them on his ship, the
Millennium Falcon. As the old Jedi and his companions make their way to the ship, they are attacked by Stormtroopers. They hastily board the
Millennium Falcon and make a speedy launch. After leaving the planet's surface and dodging attacks, the ship and its crew escape.
On the Death Star, Leia remains imprisoned and has resisted interrogation. However, when threatened with the destruction of her home planet of
Alderaan, she discloses that the Rebel Base is on
Dantooine.
Grand Moff Tarkin destroys Alderaan anyway, as a display of the Death Star's power. En route to Alderaan, Obi-Wan instructs Luke in the ways of the Force. When they arrive at where Alderaan should be, the crew discovers only a hail of debris and a moon-sized space station - the Death Star. A
tractor beam takes hold of the
Falcon and pulls it into the Death Star. Inside, Obi-Wan attempts to disable the tractor beam holding them there. The rest of the group learns that Leia is being held in a nearby
cell awaiting execution. They make their way through the station and rescue the Princess. After switching off the tractor beam, Kenobi encounters Vader, and a
lightsaber duel ensues. The duel distracts the guards long enough to allow Luke and his companions to board the
Falcon. Once he sees that they are safely near the ship, Obi-Wan allows himself to be struck down by Vader. Luke screams in horror, gaining the attention of the Stormtroopers, who attack Luke and his companions.
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Imperial TIE Fighters skirmish with Rebel X-Wings over the Death Star |
The group escapes, fighting off Imperial starfighters along the way. Unknown to them, the Empire allowed the escape in order to track their ship to the Rebel Base. They finally reach the Rebel hideout, on
Yavin IV where they pass the plans on to the Rebel leadership. The Rebels retrieve the Death Star plans from R2-D2 and make preparations to assault it. The tactic involves flying along a canyon-sized groove in the station's surface, then firing a torpedo down a narrow ventilation shaft. Luke and a group of Rebel fighters begin their assault on the approaching Death Star. Several squadrons of Rebel ships are destroyed by Imperial fighters and Luke's "Red" group begin their run down the canyon towards the ventilation port. As Luke makes his run down the canyon, he hears the voice of Kenobi, instructing him to use the Force. Vader closes in on Luke. Just as he is about to deliver a fatal blow on Luke's X-Wing, Han Solo and Chewbacca fly in, shooting and destroying one of Vader's wingmen. Panicked, the second wingman hits Vader's and sends it flying out of control into deep space. Luke, hearing Obi-Wan's voice, turns off his targeting computer of the Rebel fighter, and successfully launches torpedoes down the shaft, destroying the Death Star and scoring a huge victory for the Rebellion against the Empire. In a civil ceremony at the Massassi Temple rebel base on Yavin IV, Luke and Han are awarded medals by Leia for their valor in the battle.
When originally released in 1977, the film was released simply as
Star Wars, both on promotional material and during the opening crawl of the film itself. For this reason, this film, more often than its sequels, is often referred to as
Star Wars, instead of by the "Episode IV" number or the subtitle
A New Hope. In 1980, the sequel,
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, was released with the episode number and subtitle in the opening crawl. In a re-released version a year later,
Episode IV: A New Hope was added above the original opening crawl. The film became the fourth chronologically and first released in the series of six to date. While Lucas claims that only six films were ever planned, representatives of Lucasfilm mentioned in early interviews plans for nine or twelve possible films.
Theatrical re-releases of the film include the 1978, 1979, 1981, and 1982 releases. For all releases 1981 and later, the episode number and subtitle were added, but for the most part, the re-releases included only small differences compared to the 1977 release.
Special Edition
In 1997, the film was digitally remastered as the so-called
Special Edition, or
SE, for a 20th anniversary re-release. The Special Edition contains scenes not in the original release, most notably a conversation between
Han Solo and
Jabba the Hutt, as well as numerous other small changes and visual additions. Some of the added scenes were intended for the original version of the movie, but were not feasible without a bigger budget, more time for shooting, and newer advances in
special effects technology, particularly in the area of
computer generated imagery.
Further changes were made in 2004 for the film's debut on the
DVD format. With a few exceptions, most of these were minor or cosmetic in nature.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope remains one of the most financially successful films of all time. Adjusted for inflation, the US grosses are second only to
Gone with the Wind, and in terms of cumulative gross is second only to the movie
Titanic. Considering the distributor, and to some degree the producers, had little confidence in the potential of the film, it was a
word-of-mouth sleeper hit, having opened only on 37 movie screens in theaters that were persuaded to show it. However, there was immediate impressive business upon release that wildly surpassed the highest hopes of the producers. Furthermore, the revenue increased dramatically as 20th Century Fox acted to capitalize on the spectacular popularity and moved to make the film a profitable success. Some theaters showed the film continuously for over a year.
The
American Film Institute listed it 15th on a list of the top 100 films of the
20th century; in the UK, a poll created by
Channel Four named
A New Hope (together with its successor,
The Empire Strikes Back) the greatest film of all time. However, the film is not universally admired. Some blame it for accelerating a trend towards special-effects-driven movies targeting teenagers. Others claim that the trend is a natural consequence of economic and technological forces in the film industry.
Star Wars won many awards at the 1980 Academy Awards, including
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration which went to
John Barry, Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley and
Roger Christian. The
Best Costume Design went to John Mollo.
Best Film Editing went to
Paul Hirsch,
Marcia Lucas and Richard Chew.
Best Effects, Visual EffectsJohn Stears,
John Dykstra,
Richard Edlund, Grant McCune and Robert Blalack.
Best Music, Original Score went to
John Williams.
Best Sound Don MacDougall,
Ray West, Bob Minkler and Derek Ball.
Special Achievement for sound effects went to
Ben Burtt.
Star Wars was also nominated for several other awards which it did not win (which were, coincidentally, all major award nominations), such as
Best Actor in a Supporting Role for
Alec Guinness (which went to
Jason Robards for
Julia),
Best Picture (
Gary Kurtz as producer) (lost to
Annie Hall),
Best Director to
George Lucas (lost to
Woody Allen for
Annie Hall), and
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen also for
George Lucas (which was also lost to
Annie Hall). The film was nominated for four
Golden Globe awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (
Alec Guinness), and Best Score. It only won the award for Best Score. It received six
BAFTA nominations: Best Film, Best Editing, Best Costume, Best Production/Art Design, Best Sound, and Best Score. The film won in the last two categories.
John Williams' soundtrack album won the
Grammy award for Best Album of an original score for a motion picture or television program. The film won the
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.
In 1989, the
National Film Registry of the
Library of Congress selected this film for inclusion as a culturally and aesthetically important film. In
2006,
George Lucas' original screenplay was selected by the
Writers Guild of America as the 68th greatest screenplay of all time. The
American Film Institute has named
Star Wars or various elements of the film to several of its "top 100 lists" of American cinema, compiled as a part of the Institute's 100th anniversary celebration. These include the fifteenth greatest American film of all time, the twenty-seventh most thrilling American film of all-time, the thirty-ninth most inspirational American film of all-time.
Darth Vader as the third greatest film villain of all time.
Han Solo as the fourteenth greatest American film hero of all time.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was ranked thirty-seventh on this same list. The oft repeated line
May the Force be with you. was ranked as the 8th greatest quote in American film history.
John Williams' score was ranked as the greatest American film score of all time.
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Mark Hamill as
Luke Skywalker. Skywalker is a young man who lives with his aunt and uncle on a remote planet who dreams of something greater than his current position in life.
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Harrison Ford as
Han Solo. Solo is a self-centered smuggler who Obi-Wan and Luke meet in a cantina and later travel with. Solo, who owns the ship known as the
Millennium Falcon, is good friends with Chewbacca, who is the co-pilot of the ship.
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Carrie Fisher as
Princess Leia Organa. Organa is a member of the Imperial Senate and a primary member of the Rebel Alliance. After discovering the Death Star plans, she hopes to find its weakness.
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Alec Guinness as
Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi. Kenobi is an aging man who was once a Jedi Knight who served as a general in the
Clone Wars. Kenobi serves as a mentor to Luke in the ways of the Force.
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David Prowse as
Darth Vader. Vader is a prominent figure in the
Galactic Empire who was once the apprentice of Obi-Wan, but turned to the Dark Side of the Force. He is an evil individual who hopes to destroy the
Rebel Alliance.
James Earl Jones provided the voice.
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Anthony Daniels as
C-3PO. C-3PO is an interpreter droid who falls into the hands of Luke Skywalker. He is friends with fellow droid, R2-D2.
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Kenny Baker as
R2-D2. R2-D2 is a mechanic droid who also falls into the hands of Luke. He is carrying a secret message for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
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Peter Mayhew as
Chewbacca. Chewbacca is the
Wookiee co-pilot of the
Millennium Falcon and close friend with Han Solo.
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Peter Cushing as
Grand Moff Tarkin. Tarkin is Vader's superior in the Galactic Empire. He leads the search for the Rebel Base, in hopes of destroying it.
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Denis Lawson as
Wedge Antilles. Wedge is a starfighter pilot who fights alongside Luke in the
Battle of Yavin. In the ending credits, Lawson's first name is misspelled "Dennis."
The film drew inspiration from a number of sources. This was conscious and has been acknowledged by George Lucas in interviews. It is characteristic of much myth-building.
Lucas has stated that
Akira Kurosawa's
1958 film
The Hidden Fortress (USA release
1962) was a strong influence. The resemblance between the two buffoon farmers in
The Hidden Fortress and the two talkative droids in
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is apparent. Indeed, when the droids find themselves alone on Tatooine, even the music and the style of "wipe" cuts are a clear homage to
Hidden Fortress.
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The throne room of the Massassi Temple in A New Hope. |
The climactic scene in which the Death Star is assaulted was modeled after the
1950s movie
The Dam Busters, in which
RAF Lancaster bombers fly along heavily defended reservoirs and aim "
bouncing bombs" at their manmade dams in a bid to cripple the heavy industry of the
Ruhr. Some of the dialogue in
The Dam Busters is repeated in the
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope climax and in fact
Gilbert Taylor also filmed the Special Effects sequences in
The Dam Busters. Scenes from the Death Star assault are also reminiscent of the film
Battle of Britain, particularly in showing the face of the pilot in the cockpit, and the radio dialogue between teams named after colours. Another inspiration comes from
Battle of Britain's long combat scene near the end of the movie which is presented without dialogue or sound effects, but with a classical movie background. The parallel between the use of classical-style music, rather than popular orchestral or even more recent rock, blues, swing, or jazz soundtracks, is notable.
The real-life battle provided inspiration also, with World War II providing a heavy influence on the look and feel of the films. While the dogfighting between the "Allied" X-wings and "Axis"
TIE Fighters, the ships were based more on the Pacific Theatre, with the larger and sturdier Rebel fighters based on the
United States Navy carrier-borne aircraft, and the smaller and more fragile but faster and more manoeuvrable enemy TIEs based on the famous
Japanese Zero. The costumes of the pilots reflect this, with the characteristic orange flight suits of the rebels, which are very similar to the flight suits worn by American fighter pilots in the Pacific War. The cockpit design of the
Millennium Falcon and the TIE fighters are also heavily based on the design used in the famous
B-29 Superfortress, such as the
Enola Gay. The helmets worn by the TIE Fighter pilots are reminiscent to those of the Japanese during the Pacific campaign, though this is not as blatant as the "Samurai style" helmet of
Darth Vader. Lastly, the uniforms of the Imperial officers are quite similar to those worn by the Germans in World War II.
Inspired by the
World War II battles, many of the space battles depicted in
A New Hope were edited together based on spliced together film of World War II
dog fights. This spliced film was used as an early form of pre-visualization. In the finished film, the British and German aircraft were substituted with
Star Wars spacecraft. Lucas has made mention of the film "
633 Squadron" directed by
Walter Grauman when citing movies that inspired themes or elements in
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The "trench run" in
A New Hope wherein Luke flies his X-wing through a "trench" on the Death Star and destroys the ship was inspired, at least in small part, by the finale of
633 Squadron, which involves several Royal Air Force planes flying at low level up a fjord against heavy, ground-based anti-aircraft fire, to attack a factory located at the base of a cliff at the canyon's end.
The planet
Tatooine is similar to
Arrakis from
Frank Herbert's book
Dune, although desert worlds were not original to Herbert. The planet
Mongo from the
Flash Gordon comics was also a desert world. In general, the
Star Wars movies have followed the convention, common in
space opera, in which planets stand in for regions of the Earth, so that there would be a desert planet, a jungle planet, and so on.
In addition, the planet
Arrakis is the only known source of a hallucinatory drug called the
Spice Melange. In
A New Hope,
Han Solo is a spice smuggler. The original treatment for the film submitted by Lucas dealt heavily with the transport of spice, though the nature of the material remained unexplored. Furthermore, in the conversation at Obi-Wan Kenobi's home between Obi-Wan and Luke, Luke expresses a belief that his father was a navigator on a spice freighter. In the
Dune world, Navigators are mutated beings with the special ability of being able to "fold space" allowing for interstellar travel.
The scene where Princess Leia gives Han and Luke medals is very reminiscent of a long scene in
Leni Riefenstahl's 1934 film
Triumph of the Will. Both scenes have large and enthusiastic crowds seated in a shallow
amphitheatre bounded by columns, with a low dais where the leader stands. (Of course, in
Triumph Of The Will,
Adolf Hitler was the leader in question.)
The opening shot of
A New Hope, which shows an intricately detailed spaceship filling the screen overhead, is a nod to the scene introducing the interplanetary spacecraft
Discovery One in
Stanley Kubrick's seminal
1968 film
2001: A Space Odyssey (in the original version of the film, the first scene shows the flight of the Star Destroyer during about one minute; newer versions reduce this scene to a few seconds). The earlier big-budget science fiction film inspired the look of
A New Hope in many other ways, including the use of
EVA pods, hexagonal corridors and primitive computer graphics; although
2001 generally presented a more "antiseptic" look. Also, the orbiting space station in
2001 has a docking bay eerily reminiscent of the one on the Death Star.
A New Hope was originally presented in monaural sound in many theatres, though the first-run
70mm prints were some of the earliest wide-release examples of surround sound — something not seen in the commercial cinema since the
Cinerama and
Cinemascope experiments of the early 50's. Lucas wanted a grand musical sound for
Star Wars, with
leitmotifs where distinction was necessary. This approach was effective in, among others, the operas of
Richard Wagner. Lucas therefore compiled a set of classical pieces for composer
John Williams' review to convey the styles he desired. Their influence over the final score is particularly evident in several cases. The music associated to the opening capture of the blockade runner is very similar to "Mars", from
Holst's The Planets. In the liner notes to the original sound track recording, Williams implicitly acknowledged the connection by explaining why he didn't simply use Holst's
The Planets. He said that he felt he could give the music a more unified feel if he wrote it all himself. The "
Force Theme" (or "Ben's Theme") has been compared to parts of the
ballet Swan Lake. The music for the awards ceremony at the end of the movie begins with the Force/Ben's Theme, and then transitions into a theme that, in the liner notes, Williams says is reminiscent of "The Coronation", which probably refers to
Edward Elgar's, or, more likely,
William Walton's Coronation March. The opening title (the "theme from
Star Wars", or "Luke's Theme") has been said to resemble the theme from
Born Free, but has a similar facade to the opening strains of the 1942 film,
King's Row, scored by
Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The music for C-3PO's and R2-D2's arrival on Tatooine is very similar to the beginning of the second part titled
The Sacrifice of
Igor Stravinsky's
The Rite of Spring.
The novelization of the film was published in December 1976, six months before the film was released. The credited author was George Lucas himself, but the book was later revealed to have been
ghostwritten by
Alan Dean Foster, who went on to write the first
Expanded Universe novel,
Splinter of the Mind's Eye. Certain scenes deleted from the film (and later restored or archived in DVD bonus features) were present in the novel, such as Luke at Tosche Station with Biggs and the encounter between Han and Jabba in Docking Bay 94. Also, some scenes from the movie were included in a photo insert added to later printings which never made the original film (such as a close-up of a stormtrooper riding on a
Dewback). Some of the material was omitted from the film by Lucas to maintain a linear narrative.
A
radio drama adaptation of the film was written by
Brian Daley and was produced for and broadcast on the
National Public Radio in
1981. With the longer format no longer imposing an economy of storytelling, a great deal more backstory was presented. It was adapted with the full cooperation of
George Lucas who sold the rights to the radio drama for one dollar. In terms of
Star Wars canon, it is given the highest rated section, G-canon.
A New Hope was released on
DVD in September
2004 in a box set with
The Empire Strikes Back and
Return of the Jedi along with a bonus disc of supplemental material. It was digitally restored and remastered, with more changes made by George Lucas, detailed in
List of changes in Star Wars re-releases. The bonus disc included, according to the official site, "all-new bonus features, including the most comprehensive feature-length documentary ever produced on the Star Wars saga, and never-before-seen footage from the making of all three films."
The DVD features a commentary track from George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher. The bonus disc contains the documentary
Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy and the featurettes:
The Legendary Creatures of Star Wars,
The Birth of the Lightsaber,
The Legacy of Star Wars. Much of the Star Wars media is included, such as the teaser and theatrical trailers, TV spots, and still galleries. A playable
Xbox demo of the new Lucasarts game
Star Wars Battlefront and a "Making Of" documentary on the
Episode III videogame is featured. And an exclusive preview of
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
The set was reissued in December 2005 as part of a three-disc "limited edition" boxed set that did
not feature the bonus disc. The entire trilogy will be re-released on separate 2-disc Limited Edition DVD sets in September 2006, this time with the original, unaltered versions of the films as bonus material.
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Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope at
StarWars.com
