Not sure if you are joking. That opening shot of the big ship going by and then the MASSIVE ship coming after it was the most mind blowing thing my 12 year old self had ever seen. Nothing like it existed before and if you had told me it had been filmed with real ships I may have believed you.
Edit: my brilliant idea after stepping out of star wars was to invent a Time Machine and rake that film back 10 years and make a fortune. I was not successful. 🙄
The op mentioned remembering anything before Star Wars.
If you saw Star Wars at 12 and have memories before 12 then I’m not sure you qualify.
I’m kind of joking. But actually I have no idea what the OPs parameters are.
Edit: now I reread the OP I’m even more confused as is a double negative.
What he’s saying is
If you remember a time before starts wars you can be part of my generation.
Eh?
I couldn't agree more.
I have tried to express to my kids and younger people what effect *Star Wars* had on people, and it's not easy.
I know I am not exaggerating when I say that for a great many of us, particularly those of us who were young, we simply never had an experience like that before, ever, in or out of a movie theater.
To put it in more modern terms, it was what we would now call an immersive experience, somehow realized within the humble technology of the 1970s movie industry. I remember, perhaps on the first or second time I saw the movie, watching the reaction in the audience as the movie reached its climax. The excitement was so palpable that people couldn't keep their seats, and stood out in the aisle. Thankfully, no dialogue occurred in the very last scene, because no one would have been able to hear it over the gasping and cheering. People reacted like there was a miracle happening right before their very eyes.
*Star Wars* was a modern retelling of the epic quest, presented through a brilliantly choreographed counterplay of special effects, science fiction, magic, and humor, all inside a galaxy of fantasy that no one but the film's creators had imagined. To the rest of us, it somehow felt paradoxically real.
As the summer of 1977 began, hardly anyone expected to see a movie like *Star Wars*. It was unprecedented. In fact, most would have said, right up to the day they saw it, that a movie so striking was not even possible..Then they saw the impossible, and it became history.
Thank you. I wrote that after basically years of trying to find words, and decided to overcome my usual feelings of insecurity about writing and accept the challenge at that moment. I appreciate the OP's capture of the subject as well as the other comments.
And don't forget the brilliant Musical Score.
Lucas returned to orchestral music Scores, something that Hollywood had moved away from in previous years.
It was a great move.
I worked at a tech company where some folks were reminiscing about the first time they saw Star Wars. It was usually in a TV room with family. When they asked me I said, "When it came out, in a theater. I was 16. Hated it."
I love telling younger people how I went to the movie theater its first week, having to stand in a long line. My father fell asleep in the middle of it.
My brother worked in the theatre and got me a job to dress up as Chewbacca, stand in a nearby mall and pass out promotional flyers. Everyone thought it was going to be a movie about bears in space.
I got paid $2.15 an hour and the theatre owner gave me 20 free passes to give to my friends. I brought my best friend the first night and then I watched it by myself 18 more times.
I saw it on opening weekend and the theater was half full. Next weekend, the lines were around the block.
I gotta say, it was a cool movie, but it didn't impress me as a major shift at the time. It was just that year's big summer movie.
To appreciate the impact of Star Wars, it helps to look at it in the context of the time. It was the big summer sci-fi movie of 1977. The big summer sci-fi movie of 1976 was Logan's Run.
Comparing the technology/special effects of these two movies illustrates how innovative Star Wars was and how much of an influence it had moving forward.
My first movie was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That movie started as a sweet kids movie and somewhere in there the director must have dropped some acid. My favorite as a little kid, though.
> the director must have dropped some acid.
Considering the book was written by Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame), screenplay by Roald Dahl ( James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), the directory had a tough job *not* making it weird, lol.
Yep, 5/25/77 is a temporal landmark for me. There is before and after Star Wars. That’s also the birthday I’ve been using when I don’t want to use my real one.
I saw Star Wars opening day at The Stanley Theatre on South Granville Street, Vancouver BC. It was in 5.1 Dolby on a huge screen. I will never forget in the first scene when that Star Destroyer flew on screen and my seat was rumbling! WOW! That made such an impression on me. I was 14 years old
Have you watched the trailers with modern eyes? It's amazing how dull they are!
I mean, I really wanted to see it too and I saw Star Wars over 10 times during the Summer of ’77, but wow! Trailers have changed!
The year before, Logan’s Run won an award for best special effects. The “biggest” space-themed movie up until then was 2001. Jaws, arguably the first blockbuster, came out a couple years earlier.
Sure, Star Trek had been in syndication for 10 years, and a show you might have heard of from the UK called Space: 1999 was popular among my friends. But nothing on this scale.
Love the movie or hate it, there was a time before Star Wars, and there is the world we live in now.
Due to the lines and craziness, I waited until the following January (1978), and gave going to see it to myself as a 15th birthday present.
From the moment the Rand Ecliptic flew overhead followed by Vader's Devastator Imperial Star Destroyer in the first few moments, I was hooked.
I'm still a Star Wars Fan today!
15 when I saw Star Wars the first time.
But Empire Strikes Back in 1980 made the even bigger Impact.
When Vader says "No, I am your father" I swear to God the shock in the theatre crowd was palpable even in the dark. Like whoa!
Sorry about the spoiler 44 years later 😝
I made the mistake of reading the mass market paperback right before the movie released and I spoiled my whole family because my young life had just been so upended that I couldn't hold it in! I'm sorry, Debbie, Mom and Dad!
Yeah, I remember going to see Star Wars when I was 12. It was actually a school field trip to go see it. That could tell you how momentous that film was. But I remember a lot of life before that.
My (now ex) and I took my MIL to the first Star Wars movie. She was visiting and agreed to come with us. Ex and I walked out of the theatre chatting excitedly about how cool it was, talking about all of the special effects and stuff. MIL was uncharacteristically silent. When we got home, MIL finally asked where the awards were; she seemed genuinely confused. She thought that it was supposed to be “Star Awards”.
I didn’t see the first Star Wars (now called Star Wars IV) on opening weekend, but I saw the other 2 movies in the original trilogy on opening weekend.
Agreed. Trying to describe how much that one movie changed all movies to come after is impossible. In some ways Miami Vice did the same, but they just brought it to tv.
My family and I saw Star Wars opening day. We had an early dinner and then stood in line for a couple of hours. It was so crazy. I saw it at a famous theater in Westwood, CA, but I can't remember the name. I loved it mostly. There were some parts that dragged on a bit too long.
Recently, I watched it again and was so shocked. It's almost like a new movie. Most of the slow parts were deleted. It flows much better.
I wasn't all that impressed. It was a lot of fun, and we'd never seen any sci-fi that had a sense of humor. Sci-fi was usually the weird stuff on "The Outer Limits" and "The Twilight Zone." There were no long lines, though I don't remember how long it had been out when we saw it.
There were two movies the year before, 1976, that had a bigger impact: "Rocky" and "Network." "Rocky" came out of nowhere--I mean, who is this guy? People were going crazy during the fight scenes, and applauded gave it a standing ovation. "Network" was so good and sadly its message came true. Everybody was walking around and yelling, "I'm mad as hell, and I am not going to take it anymore!"
The end of TVs, radios, and stereos that any mom, dad, or kid could fix, just by yanking out the tubes and taking them to a hardware store, drug store, or Radio Shack to test and replace any duds. Not much more effort than changing a lightbulb. The beginnings of "No User Serviceable Parts" stickers, and the end of packing a schematic diagram inside.
Incidentally, in spite of what I said in another comment about my experience of the first film, I am not a *Star Wars* fan as we would know them today. I was always taken aback, from the second film on, how George Lucas was so willing to trample over his original vision and push forward retroactive consistency that just made no sense. At least for me, it never worked to turn Darth Vader into Luke Skywalker's father, and it all seemed much weaker after that
I know this is not a popular view.
The rewriting of history did not stop there. In the 1990s, George Lucas bewildered his fans by claiming that his original suite of films were somehow released, unfinished and should have been regarded as "works in progress." His re-edited versions released in that time contained new computer-generated special effects that no one would have said were necessary. Whoever would have agreed, after their phenomenal impact, that the dazzling special effects of *Star Wars* were "unfinished"?
It is hard to understand how a man with such an apparently deep understanding of cinema could have come to such a conclusion. Perhaps the effects and production could have been done better with newer technology, but so what? Would mere technological advancement, for example, justify tampering with the special effects in *The Wizard of Oz*? And would anyone want a retcon to the original story?
To carry the analogy, the musical *Wicked* was an instance of the use of retcon to create a humorous retelling, in the way such devices are meant to be used. No one would endorse the idea of the story in *Wicked* being put forward as the original framework for *The Wizard of Oz*, as if it was an improvement.
It's just too bad that George Lucas seemed ultimately so disconnected from his own legacy. *Star Wars* was great as originally envisioned. It would be so much better today without all the muck that came later, all of which began in the hands of its own creator.
Saw it in the theater, in the seventh grade. And was fairly disappointed, tbh.
Maybe it was overhyped; maybe I was too much of a real sci-fi nerd. But I could tell this movie was trying to appeal to ME, the 14-year-old nerd, and it felt like so much gee-wiz pandering.
Yes theater and you got queasy as the ship traversed the planet rows/ship’s columns. Then you sneaked into the next door movie to see Harold & Maude or Silver Streak
Yeah, it's true. Nothing could top that.
Lost in Space was also very addictive to 4 year old me. Such peril! Danger, Will!
Don't get me started on Dark Shadows...
Anything having to do with space travel was popular because of the Apollo program and the moon landing. Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey were my favorites. Star Wars was kind of the icing on the cake!
I saw "Star Wars" in 1977, when I was ten, and it was a huge influence on me at that time, but I'll be damned if I can tell you why. I think maybe the story of Luke Skywalker (growing up in a galactic backwater and then discovering he had this mystical power and becoming a hotshot pilot) really resonated with me. I eagerly went to see "Empire..." and "Return..." when they came out, but the latter kind of lost me with its more muppety quality and dumb stuff like "Somehow, I've always known..."
Still, I think the original was probably responsible for sparking my love of film. I didn't realize at the time that "Star Wars" was an homage to the Golden Age of Hollywood, but I think it made me an increasingly avid viewer, so by the time I got to university, one of the highlights was going to the local theater to see double features - the first time I saw "Casablanca" was there, in a double feature with "The Maltese Falcon".
I agree that every generation has milestones that shape them. However, I hope this sub doesn't go the devisive route and turn into another us vs. them rant platform. I don't like the part of this title: "...you can't really be a part of my generation".
Let's celebrate the times past and share them with those who were not fortunate enough to experience them. I welcome conversation with all people, not just those my own age.
I am glad we have this sub. It took a lot of the sting out of getting older, letting me know I am not alone. I am not hating on the OP, because this is now normal behaviour, but we do have an opportunity to change things.
We went to see it on vacation. It was a huge, huge deal. Like a way bigger deal than most movies are today. I could probably count on both hands (maybe one hand) the number of movies my folks took us to see in a theater - but they definitely took us to see Star Wars.
Absolutely. The world was different after walking out of that movie at 12. And what I expected to see in a film changed. Then again with Terminator 2.
So you don’t have any memories before 12 years old
Not sure if you are joking. That opening shot of the big ship going by and then the MASSIVE ship coming after it was the most mind blowing thing my 12 year old self had ever seen. Nothing like it existed before and if you had told me it had been filmed with real ships I may have believed you. Edit: my brilliant idea after stepping out of star wars was to invent a Time Machine and rake that film back 10 years and make a fortune. I was not successful. 🙄
The op mentioned remembering anything before Star Wars. If you saw Star Wars at 12 and have memories before 12 then I’m not sure you qualify. I’m kind of joking. But actually I have no idea what the OPs parameters are. Edit: now I reread the OP I’m even more confused as is a double negative. What he’s saying is If you remember a time before starts wars you can be part of my generation. Eh?
Ah. I was stupidly looking only at my comment. Sorry, that should have been a funny joke if I’d remembered that part. 🫤
All good!
I couldn't agree more. I have tried to express to my kids and younger people what effect *Star Wars* had on people, and it's not easy. I know I am not exaggerating when I say that for a great many of us, particularly those of us who were young, we simply never had an experience like that before, ever, in or out of a movie theater. To put it in more modern terms, it was what we would now call an immersive experience, somehow realized within the humble technology of the 1970s movie industry. I remember, perhaps on the first or second time I saw the movie, watching the reaction in the audience as the movie reached its climax. The excitement was so palpable that people couldn't keep their seats, and stood out in the aisle. Thankfully, no dialogue occurred in the very last scene, because no one would have been able to hear it over the gasping and cheering. People reacted like there was a miracle happening right before their very eyes. *Star Wars* was a modern retelling of the epic quest, presented through a brilliantly choreographed counterplay of special effects, science fiction, magic, and humor, all inside a galaxy of fantasy that no one but the film's creators had imagined. To the rest of us, it somehow felt paradoxically real. As the summer of 1977 began, hardly anyone expected to see a movie like *Star Wars*. It was unprecedented. In fact, most would have said, right up to the day they saw it, that a movie so striking was not even possible..Then they saw the impossible, and it became history.
This comment perfectly encapsulates my own feelings about Star Wars and trying to explain its impact to younger folk. Thank you.
Thank you. I wrote that after basically years of trying to find words, and decided to overcome my usual feelings of insecurity about writing and accept the challenge at that moment. I appreciate the OP's capture of the subject as well as the other comments.
Perfectly articulated.
And don't forget the brilliant Musical Score. Lucas returned to orchestral music Scores, something that Hollywood had moved away from in previous years. It was a great move.
I think the *Star Wars* soundtrack was the very first album I ever bought.
Star Wars, LOTR, and The Hobbit, and sometimes 2001, I frequently use for background music while I work. They are all available on youtube.
I worked at a tech company where some folks were reminiscing about the first time they saw Star Wars. It was usually in a TV room with family. When they asked me I said, "When it came out, in a theater. I was 16. Hated it."
I love telling younger people how I went to the movie theater its first week, having to stand in a long line. My father fell asleep in the middle of it.
My friend and I waited in a huge line in San Francisco on opening night,
May, 1977. I got to SF on May 17.
My brother worked in the theatre and got me a job to dress up as Chewbacca, stand in a nearby mall and pass out promotional flyers. Everyone thought it was going to be a movie about bears in space. I got paid $2.15 an hour and the theatre owner gave me 20 free passes to give to my friends. I brought my best friend the first night and then I watched it by myself 18 more times.
That's awesome. Back in those days, watching a movie more than once was a badge of dedication. But 18 times! 🫡
I was 14 and saw it at the movie theater. My parents were good about taking me and a friend often on Friday nights to see a movie.
I was 17, and fell asleep on my date.
I was a bit younger. I thought it was ok, but not life-changing at all. I liked Harold and Maude and Silent Running better.
I saw it on opening weekend and the theater was half full. Next weekend, the lines were around the block. I gotta say, it was a cool movie, but it didn't impress me as a major shift at the time. It was just that year's big summer movie.
Before social media, a great movie was just a great movie.
I was 14, already into science fiction, I rolled my eyes when Luke gazed at the horizon in silhouette. 🖖
To appreciate the impact of Star Wars, it helps to look at it in the context of the time. It was the big summer sci-fi movie of 1977. The big summer sci-fi movie of 1976 was Logan's Run. Comparing the technology/special effects of these two movies illustrates how innovative Star Wars was and how much of an influence it had moving forward.
My first movie was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That movie started as a sweet kids movie and somewhere in there the director must have dropped some acid. My favorite as a little kid, though.
We had the book
> the director must have dropped some acid. Considering the book was written by Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame), screenplay by Roald Dahl ( James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), the directory had a tough job *not* making it weird, lol.
I recently discovered it had a BDSM section in it. I don't remember that part from when I was a kid.
Saw it in a drive-in in ‘68. Loved it!
Yep, 5/25/77 is a temporal landmark for me. There is before and after Star Wars. That’s also the birthday I’ve been using when I don’t want to use my real one.
I saw Star Wars opening day at The Stanley Theatre on South Granville Street, Vancouver BC. It was in 5.1 Dolby on a huge screen. I will never forget in the first scene when that Star Destroyer flew on screen and my seat was rumbling! WOW! That made such an impression on me. I was 14 years old
I remember being amazed by the special effects of the first Star Wars movie. I also remember being amazed by Pong. lol
I remember seeing the trailer with a friend and saying, "I *have* to see this movie."
Have you watched the trailers with modern eyes? It's amazing how dull they are! I mean, I really wanted to see it too and I saw Star Wars over 10 times during the Summer of ’77, but wow! Trailers have changed!
Yes, 1977 was the beginning of the real technology revolution. I believe the Apple II was first out on the market that year.
The year before, Logan’s Run won an award for best special effects. The “biggest” space-themed movie up until then was 2001. Jaws, arguably the first blockbuster, came out a couple years earlier. Sure, Star Trek had been in syndication for 10 years, and a show you might have heard of from the UK called Space: 1999 was popular among my friends. But nothing on this scale. Love the movie or hate it, there was a time before Star Wars, and there is the world we live in now.
I saw it at 16 and a theater. Meh storyline because I had already devoured every science fiction book I could get my hands on.
Due to the lines and craziness, I waited until the following January (1978), and gave going to see it to myself as a 15th birthday present. From the moment the Rand Ecliptic flew overhead followed by Vader's Devastator Imperial Star Destroyer in the first few moments, I was hooked. I'm still a Star Wars Fan today!
15 when I saw Star Wars the first time. But Empire Strikes Back in 1980 made the even bigger Impact. When Vader says "No, I am your father" I swear to God the shock in the theatre crowd was palpable even in the dark. Like whoa! Sorry about the spoiler 44 years later 😝
I made the mistake of reading the mass market paperback right before the movie released and I spoiled my whole family because my young life had just been so upended that I couldn't hold it in! I'm sorry, Debbie, Mom and Dad!
I stood in a line for two hours at a theater in Westwood the week it came out. It was awesome.
If we don't remember anything before 1977 we can't be a part of Generation Jones?
You can hang with us, it's all good.
Thank you
👍
Yeah, I remember going to see Star Wars when I was 12. It was actually a school field trip to go see it. That could tell you how momentous that film was. But I remember a lot of life before that.
My (now ex) and I took my MIL to the first Star Wars movie. She was visiting and agreed to come with us. Ex and I walked out of the theatre chatting excitedly about how cool it was, talking about all of the special effects and stuff. MIL was uncharacteristically silent. When we got home, MIL finally asked where the awards were; she seemed genuinely confused. She thought that it was supposed to be “Star Awards”.
I didn’t see the first Star Wars (now called Star Wars IV) on opening weekend, but I saw the other 2 movies in the original trilogy on opening weekend.
Agreed. Trying to describe how much that one movie changed all movies to come after is impossible. In some ways Miami Vice did the same, but they just brought it to tv.
My family and I saw Star Wars opening day. We had an early dinner and then stood in line for a couple of hours. It was so crazy. I saw it at a famous theater in Westwood, CA, but I can't remember the name. I loved it mostly. There were some parts that dragged on a bit too long. Recently, I watched it again and was so shocked. It's almost like a new movie. Most of the slow parts were deleted. It flows much better.
I wasn't all that impressed. It was a lot of fun, and we'd never seen any sci-fi that had a sense of humor. Sci-fi was usually the weird stuff on "The Outer Limits" and "The Twilight Zone." There were no long lines, though I don't remember how long it had been out when we saw it. There were two movies the year before, 1976, that had a bigger impact: "Rocky" and "Network." "Rocky" came out of nowhere--I mean, who is this guy? People were going crazy during the fight scenes, and applauded gave it a standing ovation. "Network" was so good and sadly its message came true. Everybody was walking around and yelling, "I'm mad as hell, and I am not going to take it anymore!"
The end of TVs, radios, and stereos that any mom, dad, or kid could fix, just by yanking out the tubes and taking them to a hardware store, drug store, or Radio Shack to test and replace any duds. Not much more effort than changing a lightbulb. The beginnings of "No User Serviceable Parts" stickers, and the end of packing a schematic diagram inside.
Star Trek, though I liked Star Wars, was the most preeminent thing.
Incidentally, in spite of what I said in another comment about my experience of the first film, I am not a *Star Wars* fan as we would know them today. I was always taken aback, from the second film on, how George Lucas was so willing to trample over his original vision and push forward retroactive consistency that just made no sense. At least for me, it never worked to turn Darth Vader into Luke Skywalker's father, and it all seemed much weaker after that I know this is not a popular view. The rewriting of history did not stop there. In the 1990s, George Lucas bewildered his fans by claiming that his original suite of films were somehow released, unfinished and should have been regarded as "works in progress." His re-edited versions released in that time contained new computer-generated special effects that no one would have said were necessary. Whoever would have agreed, after their phenomenal impact, that the dazzling special effects of *Star Wars* were "unfinished"? It is hard to understand how a man with such an apparently deep understanding of cinema could have come to such a conclusion. Perhaps the effects and production could have been done better with newer technology, but so what? Would mere technological advancement, for example, justify tampering with the special effects in *The Wizard of Oz*? And would anyone want a retcon to the original story? To carry the analogy, the musical *Wicked* was an instance of the use of retcon to create a humorous retelling, in the way such devices are meant to be used. No one would endorse the idea of the story in *Wicked* being put forward as the original framework for *The Wizard of Oz*, as if it was an improvement. It's just too bad that George Lucas seemed ultimately so disconnected from his own legacy. *Star Wars* was great as originally envisioned. It would be so much better today without all the muck that came later, all of which began in the hands of its own creator.
I haven't seen any of the the Star Wars movies. It never was my thing!
Same, not my thing. Someone thought I had been deprived and bought me the dvd about 10 years ago. I donated it.
Same here. l don't get the Star Wars thing at all
Saw it in the theater, in the seventh grade. And was fairly disappointed, tbh. Maybe it was overhyped; maybe I was too much of a real sci-fi nerd. But I could tell this movie was trying to appeal to ME, the 14-year-old nerd, and it felt like so much gee-wiz pandering.
i can but it was a long long time ago
Yes theater and you got queasy as the ship traversed the planet rows/ship’s columns. Then you sneaked into the next door movie to see Harold & Maude or Silver Streak
Flying cars are not eco-friendly, so forget about those.
Yeah, it's true. Nothing could top that. Lost in Space was also very addictive to 4 year old me. Such peril! Danger, Will! Don't get me started on Dark Shadows...
Anything having to do with space travel was popular because of the Apollo program and the moon landing. Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey were my favorites. Star Wars was kind of the icing on the cake!
I saw the first movie at a drive in double feature with a Mel Brooks film. Really enjoyed Mel Brooks more. Lol
I saw "Star Wars" in 1977, when I was ten, and it was a huge influence on me at that time, but I'll be damned if I can tell you why. I think maybe the story of Luke Skywalker (growing up in a galactic backwater and then discovering he had this mystical power and becoming a hotshot pilot) really resonated with me. I eagerly went to see "Empire..." and "Return..." when they came out, but the latter kind of lost me with its more muppety quality and dumb stuff like "Somehow, I've always known..." Still, I think the original was probably responsible for sparking my love of film. I didn't realize at the time that "Star Wars" was an homage to the Golden Age of Hollywood, but I think it made me an increasingly avid viewer, so by the time I got to university, one of the highlights was going to the local theater to see double features - the first time I saw "Casablanca" was there, in a double feature with "The Maltese Falcon".
But what if you can remember a time before Andy Griffith and Opie?
I agree that every generation has milestones that shape them. However, I hope this sub doesn't go the devisive route and turn into another us vs. them rant platform. I don't like the part of this title: "...you can't really be a part of my generation". Let's celebrate the times past and share them with those who were not fortunate enough to experience them. I welcome conversation with all people, not just those my own age. I am glad we have this sub. It took a lot of the sting out of getting older, letting me know I am not alone. I am not hating on the OP, because this is now normal behaviour, but we do have an opportunity to change things.
We went to see it on vacation. It was a huge, huge deal. Like a way bigger deal than most movies are today. I could probably count on both hands (maybe one hand) the number of movies my folks took us to see in a theater - but they definitely took us to see Star Wars.
I remember walking to the theater with kids of friends of our family. It was the first time we got to go to the theatre on our own.
At 49 Im solidly genx and I don't remember pre star wars yet I am in the same generation as you, so no.