A moisture farmer must help save a princess who was caught smuggling secret information that could help end an interplanetary conflict. The Imperial Empire has built an enormous battle station known as the Death Star to bring the rebel alliance to its knees. Rebel princess Leia Organa is taken prisoner by Imperial Lord Darth Vader as she tries to smuggle the technical readouts of the Death Star to the rebels. She has loaded the information into robot R2D2, who escapes with his robot companion C3PO to the desert world of Tattooine.
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The robots are sold by desert creatures called Jawas to moisture farmer Owen Lars. His "nephew," Luke Skywalker, stumbles on the information in R2 while cleaning him up. R2 claims to belong to Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Jedi kept order in the past but were decimated by the Empire.
R2 takes off to find Kenobi, and C3PO search for him. They find Obi-Wan, and find a trail of destruction leading from the Jawas to Luke's homestead. Now alone, he agrees to go to Leia's homeworld of Alderaan with Obi-Wan. They hire star pilot Han Solo and his huge, furry first mate, a Wookie named Chewbacca, to take them to Alderaan. They barely escape Imperial Stomrtroopers, but are captured by the Empire, who have used the Death Star to destroy Alderaan.
Luke and Han disguise as Stormtroopers and pretend Chewbacca is their prisoner. Obi-Wan goes to shut off the tractor beam. Once they get the princess out of her cell, they have to shoot it out with Stormtroopers at every turn.
The princess, Luke and Han hide in a trash compactor, which activates. The walls converge as Luke radios the robots and has them shut down the trash compactors just in the nick of time.
Darth Vader confronts Obi-Wan, and they duel with their light sabers. Just as Luke, Han, the princess and the robots make it to Han's ship, the Millennium Falcon, Luke sees Obi-Wan struck down by Vader. Everyone boards the Falcon, and TIE fighters from the Death Star try unsuccessfully to destroy the Falcon.
The Falcon makes it to Yavin 4, where there's a hidden rebel base. No one knows there's a homing beacon hidden aboard the Falcon, so the Death Star knows where the rebel base is.
The technical readouts reveal a flaw in the Death Star's design. The rebel alliance sends a fleet of X-wing fighters to fire proton torpedoes into an open hatch in the Death Star's equator, but TIE fighters attack them. Just as Lord Vader's TIE fighter lasers seriously damage R2, Han, who was against helping the cause, swoops down in the Falcon and shoots down one of Vader's wingmen. Luke blows up the Death Star, and he, Han, the princess, C3PO and a fully-repaired R2 are awarded in a vast thrown room on Yavin 4.
Best part of story, including ending:
I liked how well the galaxy far, far away where it took place was realized. I liked the simple, heroic story, the moments of humor, and the overall unpretentiousness of it all.
Best scene in story:
The battle over the Death Star. I've never seen anything quite like it. The Death Star is huge, and the trench is richly detailed. There was even some suspense as to who was going to survive and who wasn't. The TIE fighters and the X-wing fighters have it out at incredible speed.
Opinion about the main character:
Luke Skywalker was a bit of a whiner, but he was noble and cared about the rebel cause because he knew the Empire was wrong.
The Galactic Empire is readying a terrifying new weapon, a moon-sized Death Star capable of destroying planets, when young Princess Leia (Fisher) steals the plans and loads them into a small robot named R2-D2 for transport to the rebel forces in hopes of identifying a way to destroy it. The squat robot and a partner, quirky translator android C-3PO, escape to the desert-like planet of Tatooine, and come into the possession of the farming family of a restless teen named Luke Skywalker (Hamill). The robots and Skywalker link up with old retired Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Guinness), who hires a hotshot free-lance pilot named Han Solo (Ford) to take them to the rebel outpost. They rescue the princess and have many close shaves before reaching the rebel base and preparing to take on the Death Star -- headed by powerful, black-helmeted Darth Vader -- in battle. This 1977 tribute to movie serials and Samurai warriors (Toshiro Mifune was considered for the role of Obi-Wan) was written and directed by George Lucas at the age of 34 on a budget of $11 million. Twentieth Century Fox was so sure it would be a disaster that it made plans to cut out much of the special effects and turn it into a TV special, and almost sold its stake in the film as a tax shelter; instead, the film made more than half a billion dollars on its original worldwide release (singlehandedly pulling the studio back from the brink of bankruptcy), another half a billion in its 1997 USA rerelease, and nearly a billion in video rentals and sales -- and spawned a gigantic franchise. It wears quite well after a quarter century, sporting a rough-and-ready heart and sense of humor (not to mention the humanity of both human characters AND 'droids) that have been almost entirely leeched from some of its later sequels/prequels.
The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
A great movie a head of its time!
The review of this Movie prepared by Kyle
Luke Skywalker, a naive farmboy, becomes involved in the desperate rebellion against the evil Galactic Empire, and discovers that he has Jedi powers. A classic of modern film with boundless energy and a simple, powerful appeal.
The review of this Movie prepared by Artemis
A young farmboy named Luke Skywalker is pulled into the events of the Galactic Civil War after dicovering a message from a distressed princess.
The review of this Movie prepared by Steph Swanger
Luke Skywalker joins forces with Obi Wan Kenobi to fight the dreaded Death Star. ALong the way he hooks up with Han Solo, Princess Leia, and to robots; c3po and r2d2.
The review of this Movie prepared by kaity loder
The Rebel Alliance tries to destroy the Empire's evil Death Star, and succeeds. Luke Skywalker, a moisture farmer on Tatooine, losese his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and helps destroy the Death Star. Princess Leia and Han Solo are supporting characters.
The review of this Movie prepared by Samuel Anandan
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” there lived this princess....well, you get the drift. But “Star Wars” is no ordinary fairy tale--it's no ordinary tale at all. Written and directed by George Lucas, this movie certainly made history, launching perhaps the largest cinematic project ever--Lucas has set his own eyes on the stars, as the magnitude of his series is mind-boggling and spell-binding! As the movie opens, Princess Leia (Carrie
Fisher) is a hostage to the evil Empire, yet she has managed to send out a message for help, and this message falls into the hands of young Luke Skywalker. Luke ( Mark Hamill),combined with other circumstances, undertakes this mission to rescue her and to work toward the overthrow of the Empire (lead by Darth Vader, among others). With mentor
Obi Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and two droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, Luke takes off in one of the most spectacular sci-fi episodes extant!
The review of this Movie prepared by Bill Hobbs
Luke Skywalker (Hamill) must rescue Princess Leia (Fisher) from evil Darth Vader (David Prowse w/ voice of James Earl Jones) with help from Han Solo (Ford), and learning from Obi Won Kenobi (Sir Alec Guiness) the ways of the force. An ominous space station called the Death Star is capable of destroying whole planets and the Princess has stolen secret plans that will destroy it before it is too late. May The Force Be With You!
The review of this Movie prepared by Alan
