ping
There was line, a long, long, long line.
As we stood there contemplating whether or not to wait, a friend of Cindy's and her date walked up. Her name, again IIRC, was Debbie and she looked into her huge purse and pulled out a deck of cards, saying laughingly, "We do have a foursome for Bridge!"
So, we stayed, sitting on the floor (I was much younger and way more limber in those bygone days--) playing many games of Bridge. Also, while Cindy, Debbie and her date kept our place in line, I went and got us some drinks.
My apartment was near the Galleria so it was no chore to whip up and disguise some adult beverages to keep us hydrated and lubricated for the more than 4-hour wait in line.
Once inside the theater, when the opening scene had Leia's ship fleeing followed by that huge, huge Star Destroyer slowly blasting its way onto the screen, the audience broke into applause. It was exciting as hell as I had never seen such special effects before and I'd been back and forth to La La Land numerous times.
Needless to say, the film, as the well worn phrase says, blew my mind!
So, for the sake of argument, Star Wars, not "New Hope" nor "#4," but Star Wars is my one and only favorite, period.
The rest all pale in comparison to that fantastic enjoyment I experienced in the initial Star Wars film. And to rank them I guess it would be Empire Strikes Back as #2, Return of the Jedi #3. Rogue One I would rank #4 with both the The Force Awakens and Last Jedi in a non-numbered jumble with the 'sequel trilogy' (nowhere as good as the first three) way down the line in a messy bunch.
Have not seen Solo but am intrigued enough by the trailer to suspect that I might like it, especially with Alden Ehrenreich looking to my mind a viable young Han.
However, when I saw Last Jedi on DVD, I was temped to fast forward through what I considered way too long, boring passages. Thinking at the end, is it my age of 70 or just bad filmmaking that has me finding Star Wars not enjoyable as it once was?
Praying, that is, I live long enough to find out if the next 5 or 10 coming Disney Star Wars flicks pan out--