CT Death Star tractor beam?

I was watching A New Hope and an interesting thought came over me during the final battle... Why didn't any of the rebel ships just get pulled into the tractor beam? I mean, it can't be too hard to pull them in considering the size of the planet. A friend of mine made the argument about how Obi-wan turned the tractor beam off, but I have two issues with that. Firstly, I doubt that a device that small is in control of a single tractor beam that covers the entire Death Star. And if that is the case, as stated in the movie, the Empire allowed the crew to escape on the Millennium Falcon, which means that they know they let them turn the tractor beam off. They easily would have gone over and turned it back on by the time the x-wings and y-wings arrived. Maybe there is an explanation for this, but I can't think of one.

 

I think the simple answer is that Tarkin didn't consider them a threat and figured the turbolaser batteries would take care of them.

 

Probably too small and agile to be nailing with a tractor beam.

 

Hmm well the Falcon was certainly agile enough to turn and burn with starfighters in ESB and ROTJ...

 

yep

 

Obi-wan turned off the tractor beams for the whole station. The movie said so, period. You do raise a good point about them not turning them back on though after the Falcon escapes. Probably just a blunder on Lucas's part. Had they made Obi-wan screw them up a little bit so that they needed a repair instead of just switching them off then we wouldn't be having this discussion, but oh well.

 

Sure, but she was flying in practically a straight line when the Death Star tractor beam nabbed her. The fighters are all over the place in contrast during the Trench Run battle. Not at all similar.