Star Wars, A Bad, Bad Movie

ER · February 08, 2023, 11:19:15 AM

Don't get me wrong, I like Star Wars, and as a kid watching it on VHS I loved it. it was the doorway to a franchise that's brought a lot of fun into my life. It's an almost unstoppable force, no pun intended, that's filtered into our very psychology as modern people. Its as big as The Beatles, the NFL, politics, TV, Kanye's ego. Were it not owned by Disney, it'd dwarf Disney.

BUT....

Have you ever stopped to think about what a genuinely bad movie it is? I mean like B-movie level. Bad acting, silly scenarios, implausible reactions and outcomes, far-fetched plot....if it hadn't become a global blockbuster, it'd likely be recalled amid snide put-downs on MST3K. I think Family Guy has done a good job pointing out a lot of the blatantly inanity, Robot Chicken did so a little more reverently, and countless memes have skewered it too. (My favorite may be when Leia comforts Luke over the loss of a mentor he knew for about a day, when she herself lost all her family, friends, neighbors, her entire planet, yet seems barely shaken up.)

I mean it, Star Wars may be great, but it's also a bad, bad, BAD movie!

Alex · February 08, 2023, 11:20:26 AM

You aren't wrong, but it is just fun enough to overcome its limitations.

RCMerchant · February 08, 2023, 11:25:06 AM

I saw it at the Strand in Paw Paw,MI. Bleh. The comic books and toys and every f**king thing in the world had some Star Wars s**t all over them! They were like the band KISS in the 70's.

zombie no.one · February 09, 2023, 05:10:18 AM

Only seen it once or twice, and definitely not since the age of about 8 or 9... worth a rewatch for dem bad movie chuckles?

zombie no.one · February 09, 2023, 05:17:40 AM

Quote from: ER on February 08, 2023, 11:19:15 AMIts as big as The Beatles

I guess Luke Hansolo Chewbacca and C3PO are the John Paul George and Ringo of the sci fi world. Yoda is Brian Epstein. R2D2 is ...Pete Best?

Trevor · February 09, 2023, 06:08:36 AM

I read somewhere years ago that Star Wars was a kind of a remake of Kurosawa's film The Hidden Fortress

Not sure if that is legit or not.

I saw Star Wars in 1977, I loved it and developed a tiny crush on Carrie Fisher.

FatFreddysCat · February 09, 2023, 08:33:32 AM

I was 7 years old in 1977 so I was the exact audience Star Wars was targeting.

Watching it through adult eyes, I freely admit that it's total comic book nonsense, but the original trilogy is pretty much part of my DNA at this point and I still love 'em.

Ted C · February 09, 2023, 08:58:42 AM

Part of its charm is that it's basically a fairy tale in a futuristic setting, and if you've read many fairy tales, you know how ridiculous they can be.

Dr. Whom · February 09, 2023, 03:55:39 PM

I fully agree it is a B-movie, ripping off things like the Dam Busters. That is why am baffled with the untold multitudes of fans taking it seriously.

That being said, I love it to bits. It may be nonsense, but it is glorious nonsense. The original one didn't try to be deep or serious, it just wanted to be a fun adventure, and it delivered in spades.

bob · February 09, 2023, 06:00:04 PM

ralfy · February 10, 2023, 02:26:37 AM

It's supposed to be like that because it's meant for kids. From what I read, Lucas wanted to do Flash Gordon, but when he couldn't make something based on it and on many other films that kids loved, such as pirate movies (hence, Luke swinging around), westerns (duels), and even war films (see below). He included samurai films (like the one mentioned earlier) because he saw them in film school.

For example, as mentioned earlier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNdb03Hw18M

This also explains why early reviews of the movie referred to Saturday afternoon matinee Republic serials.

Some of that phenomenon remains today. Check out, for example, the TV show Mandalorian in light of TV and movie westerns and samurai flicks, including The Seven Samurai and Lone Wolf and Cub.

https://www.slashfilm.com/575746/the-mandalorian-influences/

Finally, I think Lucas tried to make the franchies more "adult" by bringing in political intrigue in the prequels, but it didn't work.

One more thing: this reminds me of the TV show Battlestar Galactica (the first one). It's supposed to be for kids, which is why they brought in the child actor and robot dog, but the context of the main plot is not for kids: genocide.

ER · February 10, 2023, 10:08:24 AM

About fifteen years ago there was going to be an "adult" Star Wars video game called 1313, featuring violence* and sex and drug use and much else, which I thought sounded interesting, couldn't wait to have my onscreen bounty hunter roger a Jawa while high on death sticks, but it got scrapped.

* Although what could be more violent than blowing up a whole planet I don't know.

Allhallowsday · February 11, 2023, 03:01:53 PM

The original STAR WARS is fun, a real popcorn movie. And it is dumb. I can understand EMPIRE and RETURN which were just logical moneymakers and also fun. The stupefying thing is all these later sequels, spinoffs, and pre-stories taking themselves more and more seriously. It's become drivel.

ralfy · February 11, 2023, 09:15:06 PM

"5 Ways Flash Gordon Helped Inspire George Lucas and STAR WARS"

https://www.getblockbuster.com/post/5-ways-flash-gordon-helped-inspire-george-lucas-and-star-wars

Also, lots of other sci-fi, westerns, pirate movies, war films, etc.

For those who are not as old as Lucas, here's a clip from one of those serials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B707Ava4wrY

They were shown as part of Saturday afternoon matinees. One write-up about that, with references to Star Wars:

https://manapop.com/musing/who-remembers-saturday-afternoon-childrens-matinees/

Hence, the reference to Republic Pictures serials and B-movies in general in early reviews of Star Wars. Here's an extract from Maltin's: "Elaborate, imaginative update of Flash Gordon incredibly became one of the most popular films of all time. It's a hip homage to B-movie ethics and heroism in the space age...."

Gabriel Knight · February 13, 2023, 12:02:16 PM

Oh, yeah, I totally agree. Not only it's bad, but it's obvious that they had no intentions of making sequels of any kind. Things like the Force are barely explained, and most of the story plays out like a self-contained, cliche fantasy tale. Not to mention weird stuff like Leia kissing Luke, for example - they would've never do that if they knew beforehand they were related, come on.

A NEW HOPE is one of my least favorite movies in the saga, and sometimes I'm amazed at how it became so insanely popular in the first place.

Having said that, I enjoy the six movies of the Anakin tale, and fully rewatch it from time to time. The only thing that bothers me, because I'm a dork, is that people keep calling it science fiction, only because it takes place in space and has flying ships. Even Lucas said it was fantasy.

Luckily they never did any unnecessary sequel that ruined the whole story. Disney? What's that? Never heard of it, sorry.