Star Wars: A New Hope

Director: George Lucas

Overview

George Lucas' mythological popcorn movie is a two-hour roller-coaster ride that has passed into movie legend. The story, for the tiny number of people not familiar with it, concerns a farm boy named Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) who discovers that the used robot recently purchased by his family plays back a message from one Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), begging for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke asks his father's friend Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness) about this, and he discovers that Ben and Obi-Wan are one and the same. Kenobi tells Luke of the battle of the rebels against the ruling Empire and the spiritual energy called "The Force." Soon Luke, Kenobi, and a mercenary named Han Solo (Harrison Ford) join forces to rescue Princess Leia from the Empire's mammoth warship, the Death Star, controlled by evil genius Darth Vader (David Prowse, with the voice of James Earl Jones). George Lucas has frequently cited the influence of several films on Star Wars, particularly Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo and John Ford's The Searchers, as well as the original Flash Gordon serials. After Star Wars became a success, Lucas announced his intention to turn the film into a series, originally totalling nine films (later pared back to six). Consequently, most reissue prints now feature the title Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope, with The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) serving as Episodes Five and Six in the serial, and Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace (1999) going back to the myth's beginnings.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/22/2019
UPC:	0786936866445
Original Release:	0000
Source:	BUENA VISTA HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Language:	English
Sales rank:	13,234

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Mark Hamill	Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford	Han Solo
Carrie Fisher	Princess Leia Organa
Alec Guinness	Ben `Obi-Wan' Kenobi
David Prowse	Darth Vader
James Earl Jones	Darth Vader
Kenny Baker	R2-D2
Anthony Daniels	C-3PO
Peter Mayhew	Chewbacca
Peter Cushing	Tarkin
Phil Brown	Uncle Owen
Shelagh Fraser	Aunt Beru
Jack Purvis	Jawa Chief
Garick Hagon	Red Three (Biggs),Red Three (Biggs)
John Williams	Composer
Richard Le Parmentier	Gen. Motti
Leslie Schofield	Commander No. 1
Malcolm Tierney	Officer in Detention Area (uncredited)
Sadie Corr?	Actor
Alex McCrindle	General Dodonna
Eddie Byrne	General Willard
Drewe Henley	Red Leader
Denis Lawson	Red Two (Wedge)
Jack Klaff	Red Four (John D.)
William Hootkins	Red Six (Porkins)
Angus MacInnes	Gold Leader
Jeremy Sinden	Gold Two
Graham Ashley	Gold Five
Don Henderson	General Taggi

Technical Credits

George Lucas

Gary Kurtz	Producer
Robert Blalack	Special Effects
John Dykstra	Special Effects
Grant McCune	Special Effects
Richard Edlund	Special Effects
Les Bowie	Special Effects
John Stears	Special Effects
Peter Diamond	Stunts
Ben Burtt	Sound Effects
George Lucas	Screenwriter,Executive Producer
Arthur Howell	Stunts

Editorial Reviews

Bursting with excitement, and throwing in one wild chase, life-threatening dilemma, and dazzling effect after another, George Lucas' Star Wars packs a remarkable amount of story into 121 minutes; if the characters and dialogue sometimes lack depth, they have plenty of flash and boundless energy, and the film keeps just enough of its tongue in cheek to acknowledge an undercurrent of sly, low-key wit without snickering at either the characters or the audience. In a decade in which cynicism was the order of the day in the film industry (and American culture), Star Wars dared to be hokey. With its wise old men, dashing young pilots, spunky but virtuous princesses, and bad guys who were either deliciously evil or downright slimy, the movie had the courage to take a truckload of Hollywood archetypes, present them with smarts, humor, and no apologies, and make them work for a new generation of filmgoers. The movie in this way forged a totally original amalgam of myth, marketing, and movie serials to become one of the biggest cultural phenomena in movie history. Commercially, Star Wars opened new vistas in merchandizing toys and other movie tie-ins, as it helped transform science fiction from a fringe market into one of Hollywood's dominant genres.