What Made STAR WARS So Popular When It Opened In 1977?

Obi Quiet,

i really liked ur observation of John William's fantasy style music vs. the usual sci-fi music, and yes, i agree that the music complimented the movie perfectly

 

Really, i don't think that there was anything that MADE Star Wars popular. It just looked like a really cool space sci-fi adventure. What made The Matrix, The Fast and the Furious, Star Trek(Ok, TV show, bu the same) or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon so popular.

 

Two words: Harrison Ford

The OT was great because of the acting ability and unprecedented appeal of one actor.

Han Solo is perhaps the best character of the entire saga. He's a good guy, but with some rough edges. He's a roguish hero. He lends credibility to the plot.

Ford/Solo is what the PT is lacking. The prequels have great special effects and epic storylines. But something is missing. That something is a character or actor in the mold of Han Solo or Harrison Ford. A protaganist who's not perfect. A cocky, humanistic good guy. Solo's character, with Ford's acting, offers the depth of character that makes the rest of the film take life.

It is no coincidence that for a long time, 6 of the 10 highest-grossing films of all time starred Harrison Ford. He's a huge draw. Guys like him because he's cool. Chicks dig him because he's handsome. When the history of movies is written, Harrison Ford will be revered as among the greatest box office draws in the history of tinsel town.

Try to picture ANH or ESB without Harrison Ford. Can you do it? It's barely possible for me, and even when I do, I don't like what I see.

Bottom line: Harrison Ford is what made the OT great.

 

Darth_Hawkeye,

i half agree with you.. i too think that Han Solo is one of the best parts about STAR WARS and has definitely added to its continuing popularity as well as its initial popularity, but i disagree with your thoughts about this popularity resting solely on Harrison Ford. He is a truely wonderful actor, but his name was not that famous before STAR WARS; in fact, none of the main actors' (excepting of course Alec Guiness) names were. I, therefore, disagree that it was Harrison Ford alone that made STAR WARS such a hit. I do believe that his excellent portrayal of Han Solo, however, is a key element to the chemistry among characters that makes STAR WARS so great. I certainly cannot see STAR WARS and Han Solo without Harrison Ford, but this is not because of his fame, for I can't see STAR WARS without Mark Hammil or Carrie Fisher either.

 

The following is an edited version of a post I made in Prophet_of_the_Sith's thread ANH is really lacking...:

A major portion of the intrigue of the 1977 STAR WARS are the questions raised by the tantalizing backstories we get about Vader, Obi-Wan, Luke's "father", Leia's "father", and the Clone Wars. Luke's own story is made more tangible by his own father's (brief) biography, and a sense of history and precedent of events is conferred in just a few fleeting minutes. All of this serves to stimulate the imagination and invoke questions in the viewer's mind, leading one to repeated viewings, during which one begins to understand that not only is the story exciting, not only is the music incredibly powerful, not only are the action sequences tightly edited and the film overall beautifully paced, but there actually is character development (especially by Luke and Han); there actually is backstory.

I am therefore deeply suspicious of anyone who says ANH is their least favorite of the Saga!

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!

 

What Made STAR WARS So Popular When It Opened In 1977

It kicked ass

That's what made it so popular

 

It was a good alternative to disco.

 

I agree with Vortigern99. It was hungely due to the brilliance of the storyline. Nobody knew anything about the Star Wars universe, yet you could follow evrythin. All characters were developed beautifully and without haste. The entire epic wasn't three seperate stories, but had a continuity and consistency that was unparalelled in movie history.

In fact, ANH might have been the best of all movies, but the fact that the sequels fit so amazingly well with it is what put Star Wars over the top and made the OT the greatest ever.

Lastly, sure, Ford acted well, but he didn't make Star Wars. His character was the glue that bound everything else together and he played that well. That is it. The other cast were also good. They just didn't make it as big as Ford, and I don't think that is any measuring post to that shows he lifted the saga to where it is.

 

The answer to this question has taken 25 years of books, tv and radio programmes being made on the subject.

Two words: Harrison Ford

The OT was great because of the acting ability and unprecedented appeal of one actor.

Han Solo is perhaps the best character of the entire saga. He's a good guy, but with some rough edges. He's a roguish hero. He lends credibility to the plot.

Ford/Solo is what the PT is lacking. The prequels have great special effects and epic storylines. But something is missing. That something is a character or actor in the mold of Han Solo or Harrison Ford. A protaganist who's not perfect. A cocky, humanistic good guy. Solo's character, with Ford's acting, offers the depth of character that makes the rest of the film take life.

It is no coincidence that for a long time, 6 of the 10 highest-grossing films of all time starred Harrison Ford. He's a huge draw. Guys like him because he's cool. Chicks dig him because he's handsome. When the history of movies is written, Harrison Ford will be revered as among the greatest box office draws in the history of tinsel town.

Try to picture ANH or ESB without Harrison Ford. Can you do it? It's barely possible for me, and even when I do, I don't like what I see.

Bottom line: Harrison Ford is what made the OT great.

WOAH!! I 2nd that! Harrison Ford is the coolest actor who ever lived. I love his Han Solo in Star Wars. You just want to be like him.

 

I still find it kind of hard to believe that Star Wars first opened in only four dozen theatres and the film industry at first did not notice it.

SW was not merely popular, it was phenomenal. I do not remember how SW expanded from that original 40 theatres, but I read that people were lining up for the film reels to arrive. One person called in on a talk radio show to explain the seemingly impossible feat of seeing SW four times in one day: after he left the auditorium, he got back in line. There are other neat stories out there.

SW was THE movie of my childhood. I considered it the ultimate film. Although I didn't realize just how popular it was; my attitude was mainly grassroots, locally, among my friends.

I was amazed some years later to read on the back of a VHS box that it was "the biggest box office hit in the history of motion pictures".

I agree that SW came along at the right time in American history.

It's just so hard to believe that SW was not expected to do anything when it first came out because of how big it got.

 

<<Two words: Harrison Ford

The OT was great because of the acting ability and unprecedented appeal of one actor.>>

Granted Han Solo was a good character, but there is no way Harrison Ford/Han Solo is the sole reason the OT is so great. I for one didn't care for Han Solo, but Darth Vader? He was the man. I can remember seeing the OT in late 77 and in the scene where Vader appears through the smoke in the corridor of the Tantive IV some people stood and cheered. He was such a great villain that the feelings one had about him were polar opposites. You either loved him or hated him.

I like the PT. I don't find the acting bad or the dialogue cheesy. The OT had cheesy dialogue. But what I think is missing is the villain to root against. You don't really hate Darth Sidious because you never see him do anything. Darth Maul was fun to watch but didn't present any memorable dialogue. Dooku was introduced too late in the film. Again I love the PTs and in fact I would rank AOTC 3rd after TESB and ANH. I don't need the films in the PT make me loathe or love the villain, I love the saga/story of Star Wars so much that I want to know the back story to the OT so I find the PT great.

 

AND it was a good alternative to disco.

 

I agree Harrison was good in SW, but so was Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. This has been said more than once, the three principle actors had a great relationship with one another. Richard Marquand (while making ROTJ) commented that "Mark, Harrison and Carrie form a great club. They're ace. They've known each other and worked with each other for so long in the previous movies, that they could solve problems for me on the spot. They knew precisely where the characters were coming from, and that's such an advantage."
I think that was one of the great things about Star Wars, it wasn't that it was a Harrison Ford movie, not one of the principle actors outshone the other. They worked that well with each other. It probably was a fluke in casting, and alot of luck, but it was one part of the success of SW.

For me it was the great story and the awesome effects, they just blew me away. The story never lagged and the next two were just as good, which was really unusual. It's very rare, even today, for a trilogy to maintain it's level of excellence in all 3 movies. So far there's only a few that have pulled it off...The Godfather and LOTR, to name a few (IMO of course.)

 

Good post, Naccha. I agree wholeheartedly that the OT was an ensemble piece, and that the acting on the part of Hammil and Fisher was just as convincing and fun and humorous as Ford's.