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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
That, the version I saw at midnight opening night, is Star Wars.
Yes Han but also the 1977-era model handling, the difficulties with lightsabers at certain angles, other minutiae.
Tinkering and improving make special editions or directors’ cuts or whatever but it was a poor decision to try and bury the original. That choice led to all the BS of later screwy changes to the “lore.” I also think it encouraged others to similarly botch up their own series from Matrix to John Wick and more.
That said it’s just entertainment and besides I long ago bought a DVD set that has this cut. Not 35mm pretty but better than an ancient scratchy Betamax tape…
A few years ago I managed to download the 1977 version. It resides on a back up drive.
Han fires first, just as I remember from seeing in on opening night a long time ago in a city far, far away.
The original 1977 version was released on DVD. I have a copy that came in a set with the special edition.
Even in the 1970s, the original cut looked like Home Movie amateur hour.
The re-cut and modified scene never really fit, either, but the visuals were clearly improved.