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1977 science fiction movie, known as "Episode IV: A New Hope", first release of the series
Star Wars

Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope) is a 1977 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first film in the original Star Wars trilogy and the beginning of the Star Wars franchise. Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker and Peter Mayhew, the film focuses on the Rebel Alliance, led by Princess Leia (Fisher), and its attempt to destroy the Galactic Empire's space station, the Death Star.

Cast and Crew

Harrison FordHan Solo
Alec GuinnessBen Obi-Wan Kenobi
George Lucasdirector

Video Products

Star Wars Trilogy, 21 Sep 2004
4 disc boxed set, includes Episodes IV, V and VI, bonus disc, commentary by George Lucas, and preview of Episode III

Articles

Freedom's Flicks: The 20 Best Libertarian Movies of all Time, Nov 1999
The Orange County Register picks movies for "freedom lovers"
18. Star Wars (1977), plus sequels. Aided by cute droids, Luke, Princess Leia, and smuggler Han rebel against the ultimate Evil Empire.
How Star Wars Can Lead America Off the Dark Path, by Dan Sanchez, 4 May 2017
Examines the first two Star Wars trilogies, drawing parallels to 20th and 21st century U.S. and world history, and draws lessons from the films that could help the United States from "giving in to the dark side"
May the 4th (be with you) has become a day to celebrate Star Wars, the cinematic saga of an interplanetary civilization's struggles with galactic war and tyranny ... The story of how the Galactic Empire arose is told in the prequels trilogy. The whole process is orchestrated from within the Galactic Republic by Palpatine ... When Anakin is brought before Yoda as a child, the Jedi Master senses much fear in the boy: specifically fear of losing his mother ... Throughout the original ... trilogy, Luke faces challenges similar to those of his father.

Reviews

Star Wars (1977, 1980, 1983, 1999, 2002, 2005), by Stephen W. Carson
The ambitious Star Wars films tell of the rise, fall into evil & ultimate redemption of Anakin Skywalker through his son Luke. Set against the decline of the Old Republic into an evil Galactic Empire and the rebellion against that Empire, this tale has profound relevance for our time.

Interviews

Doug Casey on the Silver Screen, by Doug Casey, Louis James, 17 Feb 2010
Brief reviews of many movies and some TV series
L: ... I found the original Star Wars movies uplifting and even philosophically useful. I liked that Han Solo was an unabashed capitalist and black-marketer. George Lucas' first movie ... THX 1138 ... was slow and rather boring. I always thought that some older hand must have taken Lucas under his wing and said, "George, that was great–really important stuff. But people won't get it. There were no explosions, no villain in black, no jet fighters. Try throwing in a princess that needs rescuing, next time. Maybe some funny robots ..."
Doug: [Laughs] Well ... most SF movies ... tend to be sound.

Cartoons and Comic Strips

Dick Cheney's been compared to Darth Vader ..., by Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 30 Jan 2007

Videos


Eddie Izzard - Death Star Canteen, 30 Jun 2007
Lego animation of comedian Eddie Izzard imagining Darth Vader making a visit to the canteen of the Death Star

Star Wars Original Trailer (Restored) - 1976, 1976

What's So Bad About The Galactic Empire?, by Sean Malone, 4 May 2017
Analyzes the various Star Wars movies and attempts to answer the title question and conversely what is good about the Rebel Alliance
Everyone familiar with Star Wars knows that the Empire is bad, and the Rebellion is good. But, why? Seriously. What makes life under Emperor Palpatine so unbearable, and what would make life under the New Republic so much better, for the ordinary citizens of the galaxy? ... [H]ere's what we do know. First, there's a lot of smuggling in the Star Wars universe. And that probably means that there are a lot of laws and regulations making various goods and services costly or illegal ... Citizens of the Empire aren't secure in their possessions and property.

The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Star Wars (film)" as of 9 Oct 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.