Posted on 04/20/2025 4:08:02 AM PDT by grundle
1977's 'Star Wars' will receive a resurrection screening after being hidden away for decades in favor of tweaked "Special Editions."
There is an excellent chance you have never seen Star Wars.
Oh, you might think you’ve seen 1977’s Star Wars (now christened Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope). But what you’ve likely actually seen is one of the many altered versions of Star Wars that have been in wide distribution ever since the film’s initial theatrical run.
Writer-director George Lucas famously kept making tweaks and changes to his creation through iterations of “Special Editions.” Many of these changes are somewhat subtle, while others are glaring and, many fans say, distracting, and even embarrassing (perhaps the worst example — the infamously resurrected Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt scene — remains quite cringe, even after an effort was made to improve it). Going over the history of the original Star Wars and its transformation is a bit like watching an episode of Botched, where a desire for a little surgical refreshment evolves into Greedo shooting first, howling dewbacks and Harrison Ford stutter stepping onto Jabba’s tail.
But now there’s a new hope — at least, for some lucky individuals in the U.K.
According to The Telegraph, the British Film Institute’s Film on Film Festival in June will open with a screening of one of the few remaining Technicolor prints that was produced for Star Wars’ initial run. This is, the story reports, the first time the original print has been publicly screened since December 1978 (there have been copies that have made the rounds on home video).
This is because Lucas’ tweaks to the print began with the very first theatrical rerelease of Star Wars in 1981. The studio has since only permitted the screening of various Special Editions. BFI had to negotiate with Disney and Lucasfilm for the rights for a back-to-back screening on the festival’s opening night. This particular BFI print has been stored for four decades at a temperature of 23 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve its quality, so it should look rather pristine.
Lucas, over the years, has been rather firm about not screening the original and, when asked in 2004 by the Associated Press why he doesn’t simply release the original version along with the Special Editions, rather grumpily shot back, “The Special Edition, that’s the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it’s on VHS, if anybody wants it. I’m not going to spend the — we’re talking millions of dollars here — the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn’t really exist anymore. It’s like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I’m sorry you saw a half-completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be. I’m the one who has to take responsibility for it. I’m the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they’re going to throw rocks at me, they’re going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished.”
Since tickets for the BFI screening will be snatched up faster than you can say “maclunkey,” one can only hope (since rebellions are built on hope) that the screening’s reception spurs Disney and Lucasfilm to consider letting fans get to see some U.S. screenings as well.
Quite ironic, since it was the original that fans of the day loved and made him rich.
Han shot first
Years ago, a FReeper was kind enough to post a link where we could download the 1977 version. It’s on my hard drive.
he already sold it. Honestly if he still owned it he wouldn’t have released it. The original original original version got replaced weeks into Star Wars original theatrical run. Pretty much every time they did new prints they were different. Then tweaked again for re-release. And again for home video. And you get the picture. This showing probably isn’t the actual truly original version. I’m not sure anybody even could restore to that.
Woh you actually saw May 25th release day. Yes you did see the actual original. By the time it got to Tucson in June he’d already tweaked it.
Mark Hamill killed it for me. He is so disgusting, I can’t even stand to see him.
I saw Star Wars I in the theater five times in 1977. It always attracted sellout crowds that sometimes stretched for blocks.
At the time, I thought it was the greatest movie ever made. There should never have been any sequels or antecedents. I saw Star Wars II in 1980 and Star Wars III in 1983, and these came nowhere close to the first one’s greatness. When I saw the first of the antecedent versions in 1996, it was so bad that I never saw any of the others.
I saw Star Wars in 1977, long before it fell from grace.
Skipped my last day in high school to see opening night.
That must have been a private screening. I've never even heard of that one. Usually it takes place in some galaxy far far away. I'd like to see some light saber action in Congress. maybe Elon hacking away at Democrats and their evil money sucking NGOs to funnel money to evil doers.
*quatch.
Most quatches are sassy.
I got both of you topped. I saw it on the World’s Fair fairgrounds in Montreal before it came to (most of?) America. Before you ask, I was a little kid and I didn’t have that sort of awareness of how the world works to know about premieres and such. All I know is that when I came home, nobody had heard of the movie, and then I remember it hitting like a tsunami.
No. Actually he NEVER had the distribution rights to the original. Part of the deal with Fox to get the funding for the movie gave them distribution rights in perpetuity. Which is part of the reason why Disney bought Fox. Also The X-Men which Fox owned. Now Fox and George always worked together on that, Fox realizing making George mad wouldn’t be good for business, since he owned the other movies, and the merch. But even though they never did anything without his approval and involvement, he never owned it.
I was actually kind of surprised Disney didn’t spew out the original version right after they bought Fox. Also disappointing. Han Shot First, gimme the 4K already. Also lots of sexual tension between Luke and Leia.
I saw the original the Friday that it opened at a mid afternoon matinee at the Stuart Theater in Lincoln, Ne. The theater was only about one third full. I went with a friend and his older brother and one of his friends. The older brother and his buddy were both stoners and had read that the movie had great special effects so those two blazed up before we went. Being only 13 I did not participate in that. I ended up seeing Star Wars 9 more times over the next year and a half in the theater. That movie was so awesome back then and it was mind blowing. I would love to see the original again in the theater but it doesn’t sound like it will be in wide release. I saw the original trilogy in the theater and the one with Jar Jar Binks in the theater but that’s it.
In the scene when the Millenium Falcon first went to light speed, the audience cheered. It was the first (and only) time I have ever heard an audience cheer a special effect.
And yes, Han Solo shot first.
The ewoks were a bad move.
A story like star wars really didnt need such comic relief to ease tension. Already had it in the two droids and that imo was way more than enough.
Yes, I got tickets for the opening, (golden gate theater?)
I was captured by the opening music and the scrolling story line, and yes the audience applauded several times because the special effects were so dramatically new.
Wondering if this one doesn’t say Episode 4.
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