Who else seen Star Wars in theatre in 1977 ? --- and how many times did you see it ?

[StrangeVisitor]

Didn't see the original SW theatrically (or the Special Edition). I think I was the only kid in PA not too. I'm not sure but I think I didn't see Episode 1 'til after I saw Empire in the theatre.

[Brue]

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My answers .......
I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies from beginning to end.

How is this possible?

[kryptosmaster]

I can't remember what month I saw it first so I was either 11 or 12 since my birthday is in June.
I saw it two times at two different theatres but I was hooked!
After that I couldn't get enough Star Wars. Topps cards, Famous Monsters magazine, Thanksgiving Special , soundtrack (both original and ripoff copy).
We had a local movie theatre in the village I grew up in but for some reason my stepfather drove me and my best friend out to the Geitner Theatre in Springville, NY to see it.
I also took my 8 year old son to see the Special Edition in the theatre and Star Wars is his favorite movie.

Rich

[UnderdogDJLSW]

Quote:
Originally Posted by jessica View Post
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My answers .......
I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies from beginning to end.
How is this possible?

Apes don't fly X-wings

My Star Wars Story:
My mom who is usually cool on most things decided the clips she had seen on the commercials and talk shows looked silly and said I didn't need to see it. I was 10 and like Darklord mentioned in his post, I had to get my Star Wars knowledge from other media and pretend I saw it. I saw Empire in the theater before A New Hope. A good friend of mine (I guess the re-release in '81) was flabbergasted I hadn't seen it so he had his mom drive us to the movies. I was thrilled, except I broke a tooth on a bum piece of popcorn (not bad enough to leave the theater). The other thing that I will remember was my friend telling me that they changed the movie from when he saw it in '77 and they cut an entire scene from the beginning of the movie about how Luke and Biggs were shown to be childhood friends and Luke saw the ship battle with his binoculars. I've since seen that scene on youtube, but usually I hear it referenced as un-used footage that was never released. They must have released it somewhere in Maryland in 1977

[saildog]

The other thing that I will remember was my friend telling me that they changed the movie from when he saw it in '77 and they cut an entire scene from the beginning of the movie about how Luke and Biggs were shown to be childhood friends and Luke saw the ship battle with his binoculars. I've since seen that scene on youtube, but usually I hear it referenced as un-used footage that was never released. They must have released it somewhere in Maryland in 1977

You know, that might have been in the novelization or the comic and we know they shot the scene, but all of the footage is soooo grainy that I highly doubt it ever made it into a cut of the movie seen by the masses. (But we do know the scene existed.)

[UnderdogDJLSW]

but all of the footage is soooo grainy that I highly doubt it ever made it into a cut of the movie seen by the masses

That's my first thought, too. But my friend wasn't the kind of guy to make things up and I still remember the surprised look on his face in the theater and him telling me they changed it. When did the radio show come out? Could he have been talking about that?

[johnnystorm]

That's my first thought, too. But my friend wasn't the kind of guy to make things up and I still remember the surprised look on his face in the theater and him telling me they changed it. When did the radio show come out? Could he have been talking about that?

That scene is in the opening pages of the Marvel Comic book adaption that came out a month or so before the movie. It's also in the movie novelization, and I think that came out prior to the film's release as well.

[Mikey]

I don't rememeber seeing that scene.

One thing I do remember, it wasn't called "Star Wars episode 4 A New Hope"

Back then, it was just plain "Star Wars"

[captact]

saw it 12 times,..3 times in a row every Saturday for a month the time it was showing back in 77,...they even had in the lobby a life size R2D2... in a glass case!!!! Wish i took a pic back then,..but all i wanted was to see the movie,.......

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

1 Yes
2 12
3 once...one of the few times I got to go to the theatre as a kid, after much pleading and begging

[darklord1967]

That's my first thought, too. But my friend wasn't the kind of guy to make things up and I still remember the surprised look on his face in the theater and him telling me they changed it. When did the radio show come out? Could he have been talking about that?

I certainly believe that your friend was sincere when he said that he thought he saw those scenes. But take it from me, he did NOT.

The scenes with Luke watching the opening battle above Tatooine with his binoculars... Luke jumping into his Landspeeder and racing to Toshi Station to share the excitement with his friends... Luke's reuinion with Biggs Darklighter, back from the Imperial pilot Academy... Biggs' confiding to Luke his plans to join the Rebellion... NONE of these scenes ever made it to the final cut of STAR WARS. None of these scene have ever been edited into STAR WARS for any of its viewings (either theatrically or on TV).

The trouble comes from people's faulty memory. The average person has an incredible ability to fill in memory blanks or mix multiple memories together to create false or inaccurate memories

The scenes in question appeared in the Marvel Comics film adaptation (published PRIOR to the release of the film), and color stills from BOTH of those deleted scenes appear in the STAR WARS Storybook, published by Random House in early 1978.

These two sources have singlehandedly contributed to more people mistakenly swearing that they saw STAR WARS with the deleted footage than anything else!

Now, claims of STAR WARS' original 1977 crawl NOT including the "Episode IV: A NEW HOPE" headline are absolutely TRUE. The new Episode headline title was not added until the film's 1978 re-release.

[Dave Mc]

I was 9 in 77 and saw it once. It was magic. I had never seen anything like it. We didn't have the money or the means to go see anything over and over, but it played in my head. I had the Story of Star Wars LP and listened to that over and over. Everything about it captured me. The story, the characters, it was just the right mix of sci-fi, adventure and good characters. I did manage to go back at each re-release and see it again.

Empire I managed to see a couple times during the first run, and I still remember the theatre erupting during Jedi when you first saw Darth Vader walking out of the shuttle.

These movies are still magic for me. I still watch them and feel a little bit of that. Guess that's why I'm still such a fan. I'm prone to 70's nostalgia anyway, and these always make me feel like that kid again.

[luey]

I was 7 in 1977 and saw it at the theater 6-7 times... Once sat through 3 showings in a row, it was awesome! My friend down the street had already got the early bird figures and we played with them on my Space 1999 eagle 1 ship... No worries, those were the days!

[jds1911a1]

Apes don't fly X-wings

My Star Wars Story:
My mom who is usually cool on most things decided the clips she had seen on the commercials and talk shows looked silly and said I didn't need to see it. I was 10 and like Darklord mentioned in his post, I had to get my Star Wars knowledge from other media and pretend I saw it. I saw Empire in the theater before A New Hope. A good friend of mine (I guess the re-release in '81) was flabbergasted I hadn't seen it so he had his mom drive us to the movies. I was thrilled, except I broke a tooth on a bum piece of popcorn (not bad enough to leave the theater). The other thing that I will remember was my friend telling me that they changed the movie from when he saw it in '77 and they cut an entire scene from the beginning of the movie about how Luke and Biggs were shown to be childhood friends and Luke saw the ship battle with his binoculars. I've since seen that scene on youtube, but usually I hear it referenced as un-used footage that was never released. They must have released it somewhere in Maryland in 1977

Unless your freind was in the pre release test audiences his memory has filled in the memory from the comic or film adaptation and stills/clips from other sources (like making of shows in the 70's or the stills in the star wars story book) the Jabba scene and the biggs scene are in the Marvel comic Treasury ed I have. he Biggs Scene I am still hoping one day is instered into a new release (at least then Lucas will give the fans a reason to buy other than new box art)

[shyndman]

Star Wars premier in Washington

I remember attending the area premier of Star Wars in 1977 at the Uptown Theater in Washington DC. That theater was a huge, old style movie palace with an absolutely gigantic screen (I remember seeing 2001 in true Cinerama in that theater years before). Got there around 5:00 pm and it was mobbed. Huge lines, very cool atmosphere. Ended up getting some of the last tickets for the midnight show. It was a truly social event - everyone there was totally psyched. When we went in to see the movie, the ushers were handing out blue buttons with "The Force Be With You" on them. Still have that. Move was amazing - crowd was blown away. Afterwards, as I was leaving I got chatted up by a reporter for the Washington Post who was covering the premier. Apparently I didn't say anything noteworthy because I wasn't quoted in the article that was in the Post the following day. All in all though, it was a real experience - unlike any other movie premier or event that I have ever attended. I went back to see it many, many times over. I won't say how many video tapes and DVD versions I've bought of the movie in the years that followed. That would be embarrassing...