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Posted on 06/16/2025 3:32:33 AM PDT by grundle
On June 12, a BFI Film on Film Festival audience in London sat down for a familiar favorite, but when the opening crawl announced it was taking them to a “galaxy far, far away,” something different happened. Instead of seeing the title “Episode IV: A New Hope,” the crowd was greeted with simply “Star Wars.”
The rare print was the original 1977 cut of the space opera, and BFI’s chief executive stressed it was a “miracle” the print was even screenable. On hand for the rare event was Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who made clear to the audience just how rare the viewing experience was — though she felt the need to clarify it was “not an illegal screening.”
“It’s incredible folklore. Even when I came into the company, there was endless conversation about where everything was, and what was in fact the first print? And it’s quite remarkable, what you’re going to see is in fact the first print, and I’m not even sure there’s another one quite like it. It’s that rare,” Kennedy said to the audience. “There’s so much tinkering that’s gone on over the years, and things that [writer/producer George Lucas] decided, ‘I’m gonna change this, I’m gonna try that.’ And then, everybody kind of lost track of what it was.”
“Star Wars” has been through quite a few incarnations in its various theatrical and home video releases. In addition to the title addendum, special effects were given CG updates, and one particular moment was infamously reedited. Originally, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) shoots the bounty hunter Greedo when he meets with him at the Mos Eisley cantina. In the re-edit, Greedo is shown to get a shot off before Han, making self-defense a clear motivation.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
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I liked star wars and I even liked those prequel films that everyone hates but George refusing to release the original version of his movies seems very petty.
I like the version where Han Solo shoots first. Greedo would have shot him anyway and Han knew it, so he got the drop on him first.
It’s probably a second print actually. Lucas edited the sound of the film immediately after the film started showing in theaters. Most people who saw the film in 1977 only saw the second print.
The best movie in the first trilogy was the one Lucas had Kershner direct.
Yup, sorta like what Israel just did to Iran.
Why does Greedo have to have shot first for self defense to be a motivation? Greedo was pointing a blaster at him. Self defense was very much a motivation.
And of course....Han shot first.
Why else would Greedo have missed from about 2 feet away?
The Empire is not known for hiring sharp shooters.
Greedo was just some local muscle hired by Jabba the Hut.
C’mon. Han was hardly some goody two shoes. Its the opposite. He was a very shady smuggler and mercenary. Of course he shot first. Hell, I would have shot first had I been in his place. Greedo was pointing a blaster at him.
C’mon. Han was hardly some goody two shoes. Its the opposite. He was a very shady smuggler and mercenary. Of course he shot first. Hell, I would have shot first had I been in his place. Greedo was pointing a blaster at him.
Han shot first. I was an eyewitness.
One of my peak movie moments came in grad school, when a group of us went out to see a moving picture show, as they were still known at that time.
I don’t recall what we had been planning to see, but a neatly dressed young man, slacks and polo shirt, approached us and asked if we would be interested in attending a test screening of a new movie in the final stages of development. Free tickets if we wanted them, for the price of providing short feedback afterwards. He couldn’t tell us the title, who was in it, or anything about the plot. He just said it was a science fiction film and that it was suitable for family viewing.
We were there on a mission to see something else, but none of us had ever participated in a test screening, and we thought that was cool. We were also living on grad student budgets, and free tickets were especially cool. After all, movies were already getting expensive. They were probably starting to break the $2.00 threshold by that time ....
We accepted the offer. The movie was Star Wars.
Han shot first.
A moving picture show? Was it a talkie? God knows I love Mary Pickford but the girl has a mouth like a sailor that one! Sometimes silent is golden.
We called them movies in the ‘60’s....
I had to stand in a long line to see Star Wars back in 1977. The theater had three screens and was showing this movie on all three screens.
You are one of them modernists, I see.
The stupidest thing was working so hard to make CGI Jabba fit over the human actor and make the blocking make sense when the scene in question was a complete rehash of the Greedo scene anyway. Get rid of that for narrative purposes and retain the surprise of finally seeing Jabba in Jedi.
But Mark Hamill is so loathsome, I don’t care about Star Wars anymore anyway.
Well, I was born in 1949, so that’s how modern I am..LOL
I remember that FROM WHEN I SAW IT AT THE THEATER ON IT’S FIRST RUN!
Yes, HAN shot first.
Over the years I have noticed many recuts of famous movies, one originally rared “G” has a re-release that if released in 1969 would be rated “R”.
Years ago I read different versions of the same movies were released in different parts of the USA.
Any details on exactly what’s different, breaking down the differences?
When they were duplicating the movie quickly to get it out to more theaters, one was an earlier, not-final edit that had several comedic bits that were taken out, like the characters strolling casually past a couple of officers on the Death Star. This was the version that several of my friends and I remember seeing as kids.
“I had to stand in a long line to see Star Wars back in 1977. The theater had three screens and was showing this movie on all three screens.”
Downtown Bitburg Germany.
Sat right down in front with a beer and a smoke. Fun Stuff.
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