Star Wars (1977)

Mike says Star Wars has long been a part of my life (the picture is my 4th birthday party; I'm opening a Slave 1 toy, and I had an R2-D2 cake!), and, aside from the teasing that comes with growing up a geek, I've always been glad for it.

A game I like to play with people is to ask them "What image first comes to mind when I say this movie title?" The most illuminating, perhaps, is when I say "Star Wars." For me, the first image that comes to mind, and always will come to mind, I think, is Luke and Vader crossing green and red sabres in the throne room. Being born in '79, Jedi was the first of the series I was old enough to really enjoy. For others, their image may be Luke shooting the Death Star, or Han gutting the tauntaun. What's so revealing about this question is basically discovering which Star Wars is YOUR Star Wars. In other words, what era are you from?

The next image that comes to mind is always Wicket. Not just because of Return of the Jedi but also because I remember sitting eagerly in front of the TV with my parents for the Ewok Adventure movies to start. So, unfortunately, I grew to love Star Wars long after it had traded great film-making for insane money-making. Yeah, I agree, not the strongest foundation for fanhood, but I made do. The Star Wars films come in and out of my memories of my childhood. They were always there, and I loved them. I remember buying the special editions in high school and seeing one of them in the theater. It was AWESOME!

And now, well, I'm really glad we watched the original theatrical release of Star Wars.

In college, I watched it in a film class as an example of the power of editing, and it truly is a great example! I've also seen a lot of documentaries on the making of the movies and that gave me even more appreciation for just how much Lucas owes the editor of the first film. Star Wars was originally shot almost as a documentary. There are countless horror stories about the first cut!

But the editor (whose name escapes me) came in and completely re-hauled the film, even creating some of the film's most memorable moments in the cutting room, such as the climatic attack on the Death Star while the Death Star is attacking the rebel base, and the Tuskan shaking his staff above Luke (achieved by rolling the film forward and back a couple times and looping the audio!).

For me, the original film will always pale next to Empire Strikes Back. It's sad but true. People were shocked when the prequels came out and, well, sucked. With flat acting and lame plots, the prequels are just worth forgetting. But when you go back to Star Wars, you see the warning signs there. It truly is the same director and writer of the prequels . . . Han's flat and encyclopedic explanation of light speed during a tense moment more than proves this.

What saves the film, and keeps it worth loving and watching to this day is the simplicity of both the plot and the effects. The effects aren't that dated and still are very impressive. The plot and story are phenomenal, but again, I'm more likely to credit the editor than the screen writer (sorry, George). The speed and pace of the film really compensate for a lot.

While I do think the performances pale a bit to the later two films, I'm more likely to blame the director than the actors. Each of them became iconic in their roles, and they really sell it in the first film despite some awkward lines. In the end, the movie really is an amazing feat of film making and is just plain fun to watch.

One of the great things about this film is that it's the perfect example of how setting and plot don't have to be bound to one another. While this is certainly a sci-fi setting, the story is straight swords-and-sorcery fantasy. From being given the sword of his father to facing the black knight, Luke is the hero in training who is taught the magical arts by the old wizard. And it's brilliant.

I've always been hesitant to get into any sort of argument deciding the better series between Star Wars and Star Trek because for me, they're not really comparable. Star Trek will always and forever be science first, and fiction second. The entire plot of Star Trek revolves around Man and his interaction with technology. Most Trek stories would be hard pressed to work in any other setting.

Star Wars, on the other hand, can be easily moved from one setting to another with almost no alteration to the plot. There's an artist, Siloff (pics are from his page; please check it out!), whose web page I love to visit. He's a toy hobbyist, and has created toys of Star Wars in settings from Steam Punk to WWII. And It Works! In the end, the story is so strong that the setting and visuals can be divorced completely from the story and be affected only moderately.

I hate to admit it, but George deserves some credit. He fed countless examples of pop culture into his brain and churned out a something truly special, something that honored what came before while being shaped into something bold and new. While I've been a bit disillusioned with Star Wars in the last few years, I still love the original films, and I always will. I suppose that I owe Lucas a little gratitude for that.

Kate says it is hard to imagine that either Mike or I will say anything terribly negative in our reviews of this specific movie, so I decided to begin my review with a little personal history.

I saw Star Wars: A New Hope when it came out in 1977. My family went to see it first. Once it was approved as kid-acceptable, we all went to see it again. This is back in the day when people WENT to movie theaters (this is slightly before VHS and definitely before DVD; yup, I can hear my joints creaking). The movie--this was not even the opening night--was sold out.

Of course, this scarred me for life. Ever since then, I have insisted on getting to theaters 45 minutes or more before a movie starts. This has, naturally, caused much confusion amongst my friends ("Why are we going to see The King's Speech more than an hour early a month after its release?").

But once I saw Star Wars IV, I was hooked. I was Luke one Halloween; the next Halloween, I was Princess Leia. One Christmas, I asked for a light-saber (you can see it in the picture; I was disappointed that it wasn't real!); the next, for a Princess Leia doll. A few years later, I read Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Series because the edition I saw had a Luke-looking person on the cover.

I went to see Empire Strikes Back with my sister Ann and spent the entire movie perched on the edge of my seat. I have never been so scared! Or enjoyed myself so much.

And then Return of the Jedi happened and the Ewoks, and I was a teen (War Games came out in 1983; behold, the teenager girl's brain), and for me, the magic faded. Mike with his Boba Fett action figure and Plinkett have brought much of that magic back. I can now re-appreciate what an amazing universe Lucas ushered the world into, even if he proved an unreliable guide.

Watching 1977 Star Wars IV confirms (almost) everything Plinkett argues in his reviews. In this original, fresh film, Luke isn't the secret son-of-a-Dark-Lord; Leia isn't his sister; R2D2 and C3PO weren't built especially for the hero. The story is truly one of extraordinary things happening to an ordinary person rather than some soap opera tale of dysfunctional rich people.

And despite the stilted dialog from the extras, the movie has a strong professional tone. The main actors are believable, taking their characters and interactions seriously. First, well, Alec Guinness: need I say more. Harrison Ford is dead-on as sardonic rogue. Anthony Daniels is hilarious. Peter Cushing is coldly reptilian. Carrie Fisher is sweetly regal and regally smart-mouthed. Even Mark Hamill is plausible. He doesn't have to be as subtle as the others since the whole point of the movie is his youthful naivety.

Oh, and the Leia-Han Solo sexual tension is already there.

The camera work is also professional. The scenes on Tatooine are downright majestic and so uncluttered! Especially compared to Star Wars I, II, and III! Really, Lucas shouldn't be let out unchaperoned. Not to mention, the cutting on Star Wars (1977) is so clean, it takes your breath away. The movie really moves, and the problems linking the scenes are clearly defined. Leia to R2D2 to Luke to Obi-Wan . . . Plus, the background explanations don't get in the way of the story. It's basically the Roman Empire versus the Gauls. Rather than a cliché, I prefer to think of this background as classic. After all, with so much human history to draw from, why reinvent the wheel?

Despite the cliché/classic motifs, the bad guys are refreshingly low-key. There's none of that so-evil-one-can-hardly-stand-it stuff. No twirling mustaches. No hideous laughter. I don't mean they aren't bad. Blowing up billions of people on a planet is BAD! But they aren't noticeably bad. They are efficient, tunnel-visioned, and coldly rational; Vader--in his insistence on the Force and on the political value of Leia's life--comes off as both more archaic and more human, in a totally sociopathic way, than the generals.

Likewise, the rebellion isn't some chest-beating exercise. It is smart warriors trying to think through a military problem (more American than French Revolution).

Yeah, the cackling emperor in Return of the Jedi really ruined things for me, and I'm afraid I think Lucas's downward spiral started there. Empire Strikes Back has its problems, but it is a still a tight story with decent pay-offs. Non-military Ewoks and over-the-top evil makes Return rather wearisome--though I would agree with reviewers that the final confrontation between Luke and his father is powerful (and created some awesome moments in Toy Story 2).

Leaving I, II, III, V, and VI alone, although I've always loved Star Wars IV in a nostalgic way, rewatching it made me appreciate how much it is worth loving for itself. This is a truly great film!

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Mike says this was my first experience with this movie, and I was surprised upon watching it that I really HAD never seen it, heard of it, seen clips of it, Nothing! The movie was a complete surprise, from beginning to end. Which is rare for a geek with a computer in today's world.

Other than being a bit dated, this is a very cute movie. I think what surprised me the most about it was the humor: subtle, quick and clever.

I also really enjoyed Mr. Jordan. As a God stand-in, he is completely believable. The utter disbelief of the guide is also quite funny.

The film is full of cliches and classic sports/back-from-the-dead motifs, But here it's forgivable, because I think it may have been the source instead of another copy. However, I can still picture The Rock starring in a remake of this film a little TOO easily.

I will admit a little bit of confusion at the end. While I agree that letting Joe keep his memories would have been bad, I can't seem to come up with an alternative that would help the ending make sense to me. If Joe can't remember the struggle he went through, then what was the point? By erasing Joe's memories and personality (evidenced by his no longer playing the sax), doesn't this equate to killing the man that existed before? And if Joe no longer exists, why turn Joe into Jarrett, when they could have just taken Joe, kept Jarrett alive, and had the same outcome?

And, if Joe doesn't remember his role as the Millionaire, then what was the point of going through it?

I'm afraid that while a very cute a fun movie, it left me scratching my head as to what the exact moral was. I guess the loss of the sax could represent maturity... but I think it's a bit of a stretch.

I think I ended the movie feeling like Joe's coach friend... our Joe is gone. How could he have defeated death twice to only now be erased?

I did like the small detail, though, that we didn't see the "real" face of any of Joe's bodies until he was in them!


Kate says I LOVE this movie. When I was young, I loved the humor. Now that I'm older, I love the sweet melancholy plus the humor.

The movie has everything--as the grandfather says in Princess Bride, "Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles . . ."

Well, okay, maybe no literal giants or monsters. Or fencing.

But it does have a murder mystery!

More than the plot, however, I love the characters from the fundamentally kind Joe Pendleton to the gently authoritative James Mason. This is one of those movies where I notice and remember the little things: Joe learning all the servants' names. Mrs. Farnsworth getting startled by Joe at dinner. The tuna speech at the board meeting. The conversations in the closet. The discussions over cocoa. The escort's flabbergasted reaction to Joe's desire to stay in Mr. Farnsworth's body. Mr. Jordan saying, "Joe" and holding out his hands.

Between James Mason and James Earl Jones as "God," I have to say . . . it's a tie.

And of course, Charles Grodin in his deadpan, laconic, ironic way is completely hilarious. I love the line (about nuclear power plants destroying California), "I think you would have to define 'destroy.'"

To return to the plot, I guess I must have loved cohesive plots even as a kid because one thing that has always struck me about this movie (more so as I grow older and become increasingly exposed to Hollywood's idea of "good") is how much the movie doesn't stray off course. Now-a-days, Joe would make it to the Superbowl AND save the company from evil entrepreneurs. But saving the company isn't the point. Joe does what he can, but he isn't really a businessman. He has a distinct personality, being something of a loner, a health nut, a romantic, and a guy with a simple, all-consuming dream. (I apologize for describing being a quarter-back for the Rams as simple. I just mean, Joe wants one thing in life--two after he meets Betty.)

The fascinating thing here is that his new body--Jarrett--is subtly different. The differences are lightly touched on, but it is implied that Jarrett was slightly more sophisticated and urban as well as a tad more social than Joe. But it is also implied that the two men's personalities are close enough that changes in Jarrett's character will be attributed to maturity (and his new girlfriend).

Lastly, I love the sweet melancholy that threads through the movie. Everything that James Mason says in that deep, gentle voice can be describe this way. However, one of my favorite sweet lines is Joe's to Max: "They don't have a football team in heaven, Max, so God couldn't make me first string." And the line "It's alright. There's nothing to be afraid of," for all its cliched simplicity, is used mostly effectively.

I never get tired of this movie despite the dated feel. A true classic in my mind!