It was 32 years ago today... With immense respect for McCartney & Lennon, it wasn't Sgt. Pepper who taught the band to play, at least today.
It was George Lucas.
May 25, 1977. On this very date, Star Wars made its debut in theatres. And changed the face of cinema forever.
Cut to a conversation on a "play date" with several families at a private beach club several weeks later My friend Rachel and I and a couple of other girls whose names escape me at the moment were bobbing in the water, trying to stay away from our pesky younger brothers and talking about the things 12-year-old girls talk about.
Boys.
Boys.
Boys.
The conversation turned to what movies we had seen or were going to see or didn't want to see. In those days, before the advent of cable telly and the internet and such, going to the movies was THE big thing to do. Actually, it was pretty much the only thing to do that didn't involve sweating outside (putt-putt golf or the local pool.) Hanging out at the mall wasn't what my crowd did in those days -- that was considered tacky. Why I don't know. But there you are.
Of course, we'd all seen Star Wars. Multiple times (again, something that was the "thing" to do.) And while my galpals were all swooning over Mark Hamil and how "dreamy" he was, I was more concerned with the considerable charms and swagger of Harrison Ford. Which included his chest hair.
Leave it to me to be the odd woman out in that discussion.
But I digress.
I'm a self-proclaimed Not a Geek. Especially in the sci-fi area of pop culture. But even I have been bewitched by the myth and message of Star Wars. The original three, anyway.
Good versus evil.
Coming of age.
Teamwork.
A strong female role model.
And a damn good story.
All there. It still holds up. Even after all these years. And it's still bewitching generations of wide-eyed movie watchers. One of my Choir Urchins, age 6, is one of the biggest Star Wars fans I know. Right down to his dancing like Darth Vader during Freeze Dance time and saying a Star Wars prayer before we ate our end-of-the-year cupcakes.
I'm gonna see if I can find a showing of it on the telly today -- shouldn't be too difficult, since it seems like it's shown constantly on some channel or the other. Constantly. Won't have quite the same effect as seeing it on the big screen, but you know, that really doesn't matter. The story's the thing. As well as Harrison Ford's tight pants. And chest hair.May the Force be with y'all.
6 comments:
Very nice, janey.
Rupe - huge SW fan that he is and always will be - doesn't remember if he viewed the original on the day it came out or not. Rupe does remember seeing it ... just not certain if it was at a first showing.
All the others? Oh, yeah. Rupe was there in line like nobody's business.
Thanks for the memories, janey. Rupe's smilin' wide .....
............ XOXOXOXO
I saw Star Wars at the drive in with my parents and brother. A dude dressed as Darth Vader scared the bajeebus out of me when he knocked on the back passenger side window of our Chevy Nova.
I never saw any Star Wars movie in the theatres with the exception of Return of the Sith because my daughter wanted to see it when it came out. I have seen them all just on VHS and DVD. Time flies doesn't it?
The first SW movie I saw in the theater was Return of the Jedi and I wanted a gold bikini sooooooo much. You're not alone, I was all about Han Solo, Luke was too wimpy for me!
I most definitely preferred Harrison Ford back in those early teen years. I though Mark Hamill was a bit wussy. Thanks for that lovely chesty photos. I need me a fan! Or is that just a pre-menopausal glow?
Wow, brought back memories. I saw Star Wars (most of it anyway) at a drive in with a boyfriend. I'm not usually a sci-fi fan, but Star Wars, along with a few others, have remained exceptions :)
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