The Horse's Head

#319) The Bank Dick (1940)

OR “Without Interest”

Directed by Edward Cline

Written by Mahatma Kane Jeeves (aka W.C. Fields)

Class of 1992

The Plot: Egbert Sousé (W.C. Fields) is always on the lookout for the next get-rich-quick scheme, and would rather spend time at the local saloon than with his family. After conning his way onto a film shoot that has very little to do with the plot, Egbert inadvertently thwarts a bank robbery and gets a job as the bank’s security guard (a “bank dick”, if you will). After meeting a con man (Russell Hicks), Egbert convinces his future son-in-law Og Oggilby (Grady Sutton) to invest in Beefsteak Mining. Og takes out $500 from the bank with the intention of returning it once his bonus check arrives in five days, which means keeping bank auditor J. Pinkerton Snoopington (Franklin Pangborn) away for the time being. Hilary ensues…eventually.

Why It Matters: The NFR praises Fields as well as the supporting cast, and explains Fields’ longevity, though admit he is “an acquired taste”. There’s also an essay by Fields expert Randy Skretvedt.

But Does It Really?: I couldn’t have put it better than the NFR does: W.C. Fields is an acquired taste, and having now seen all three of his NFR entries, I’m just not acquiring it. Part of it is how dated Fields’ persona of a henpecked, conniving alcoholic has become, and part of it is the slower pace of his comedy style. Also keep in mind Fields was 60 when he made “The Bank Dick”, so his comic sensibilities are of a different generation than, say, Laurel & Hardy or the Marx Brothers. Of course it’s pointless for me to overanalyze a movie like “The Bank Dick” or take it too seriously. Ultimately, movies like this are here for entertainment, and I just wasn’t entertained. Fields’ work should be recognized by the NFR, and “The Bank Dick” is certainly the most polished of his three inducted films, so I’m willing to give it a pass. But do we really need the other two?

Shout Outs: Director Edward Cline restages a few bits that he co-created with his former collaborator Buster Keaton; the chase scene in particular borrows from “Sherlock Jr.” In addition, Egbert briefly references “Gone with the Wind”, not to mention the sections of dialogue lifted directly from previous Fields film “It’s a Gift”.

Everybody Gets One: Most of the supporting cast, notably Shemp Howard, six years away from re-joining the Three Stooges to replace his brother Jerry (aka Curly).

Wow, That’s Dated: Standard antiquated jokes about mother-in-laws and alcoholism, but there’s also plenty of old-timey jargon like “boondoggling”, and “jabbernowl”. But sadly, all of this takes a backseat to Egbert’s reference to “a little colored midget”. God help us all.

Seriously, Oscars?: Another busy year for the Oscars, “The Bank Dick” didn’t get a single nomination. The only Universal films that managed a nod were the forgotten “The Boys from Syracuse” and “The Invisible Man Returns”.

Other notes

• Since completing “It’s a Gift” in 1934, Fields’ health had been in decline from years of alcoholism. When his health prevented him from making movies, he resorted to radio, trading barbs with Charlie McCarthy on “The Chase and Sanborn Hour”. Fields eventually became healthy enough to star in such films as “You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man” with McCarthy and “My Little Chickadee” with Mae West. Because of the success of those two films, Fields was given complete creative control over “The Bank Dick”.
• Perhaps the film’s most obscure reference: W.C. Fields chose the alias “Mahatma Kane Jeeves” for his script, based on a cliché line from drawing-room plays of the day; “My hat, my cane, Jeeves.”
• The film’s setting of Lompoc is a real town near Santa Barbara, California. The town was frustrated, however, when “The Bank Dick” was released, because it is referred throughout the movie as “Lom-puck” as opposed to “Lom-poke”.
• Doesn’t replacing a director violate all kinds of guild regulations? Good thing Clint Eastwood isn’t around.
• As much as I don’t care for Fields, I do admire his physical comedy. I hope I’m that coordinated when I’m 60.
• It needs to be pointed out that one of the bank robbers’ names is “Filthy McNasty”. Carry on.
• “I never smoked a cigarette until I was nine.” Ho boy.
• There’s only one black person in the entire movie and he’s basically a poor-man’s Rochester?
• The only other comedian I can think of that had a persona this unlikable without being the butt of the joke is Rodney Dangerfield. Maybe it’s the delivery.
• The $500 loan Oggilby takes out would be roughly $9000 today. Now that’s a bonus check!
• Shoutout to Mickey Finn, the crooked Chicago bartender in the early 1900s whom “slipping a Mickey” is named after.
• Had Fields lived long enough, I suspect he would have successfully made the transition to television. Snoopington’s already his Mr. Mooney.
• Snoopington’s glasses break in a bank? That’s not fair. That’s not fair at all. There was time now. There was all the time I needed…
• I will admit that the chase finale is pretty funny. At long last Egbert is someone to sympathize with, and the physical stunts throughout (aided by an uptick in the editing tempo) help make the ending far funnier than anything else in the movie.
• And as always, Fields’ character is saved by several Deus ex Machinas in the end. But don’t worry, there’s still one more joke about his alcoholism to keep you laughing into the end credits.

Legacy

• “The Bank Dick” was a critical and financial success in 1940, and Fields followed-up with one final starring vehicle: 1941’s “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break”. Unfortunately, his alcoholism caused his health to deteriorate again, and his final film roles were brief cameos. W.C. Fields died of a gastric hemorrhage on Christmas Day, 1946.

• Don’t let my dislike of Fields deter you; Fields has been the subject of tributes, homages, and several biographies over 70 years since his passing. He even has a biopic with Rod Steiger!

#318) Frankenstein (1931)

OR “Oh Henry!”

Directed by James Whale

Written by Garrett Fort & Francis Edward Faragoh. Based on the novel by Mary Shelley, the play by Peggy Webling, and the composition by John L. Balderston.

Class of 1991

No original trailer, but here’s one from the re-release.

The Plot: Scientist Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) has gone nearly insane trying to create a human life by reanimating a body comprised of several stitched-together corpses. When his assistant Igor Fritz (Dwight Frye) accidentally steals the brain of a criminal, Frankenstein’s creation (Boris Karloff) becomes a hulking, violent creature. Aided by his fiancée Elizabeth (Mae Clarke) and his judgmental father the Baron (Frederick Kerr), Henry must stop the monster from wrecking havoc on the nearby village, and then the nearby villagers from wrecking havoc on the monster.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls “Frankenstein” no less than “the definitive film of its genre” and praises director James Whale and makeup designer Jack Pierce. An essay by critic Richard T. Jameson is an overview of this film and its sequel.

But Does It Really?: Oh of course. There are scarier films and more terrifying monsters, but “Frankenstein” is in a league of its own. James Whale orchestrates an effectively foreboding mood throughout, and like Lugosi’s “Dracula”, Boris Karloff is giving the definitive interpretation of the Frankenstein creature. While not as shocking as it was in 1931, “Frankenstein” is an untouchable iconic moment in American film history, and the standard-bearer of horror movies to come.

Shout Outs: The Bavarian village used in the film is a set built specifically for “All Quiet on the Western Front”.

Wow, That’s Dated: “Frankenstein” was made back when movies didn’t have musical underscoring, for fear that audiences wouldn’t understand where the music was coming from. I guess Hollywood assumed the movie-going public was the same bunch of morons who thought that train was coming right towards them.

Take a Shot: Yes, Frankenstein is the name of the doctor, not the creature. BUT, while not explicitly stated in the film, this adaptation is based on the 1927 British stage version by Peggy Webling (and its unproduced American adaptation by John L. Balderston) which gives the name Frankenstein to the doctor AND the creature. And thus the confusion begins.

Seriously, Oscars?: Not a single nomination for “Frankenstein”. In fact, none of the 37 feature films Universal released during the eligibility period were nominated at the Oscars. If only Best Makeup had been a thing back then.

Other notes

• The beginning of the film is an introduction by Edward Van Sloan (Dr. Waldman here, Dr. Van Helsing in “Dracula”) warning that the film may be too terrifying for some. It’s a nice touch to the film’s spooky quality.

• The Monster is credited simply as “?” Karloff doesn’t receive proper credit until the “A good cast is worth repeating” ending.
• Speaking of weird credits, Mary Shelley is credited as “Mrs. Percy B. Shelley”. Even 100 years after their deaths, Percy was the better known of the two. Mary didn’t start getting her due until the late 1980s when her first biography was published.
• Frankenstein’s name in the novel was Victor, but this film changes it to Henry, as Victor was deemed too “severe and unfriendly” to American audiences. The name Victor is instead given to Henry and Elizabeth’s very boring friend.
• Kudos to cinematographer Arthur Edeson and production designer Herman Rosse; this film has a wonderfully creepy atmosphere to it. The “Young Frankenstein” team did their homework.
• Wait, the assistant’s name is Fritz? Not Igor? Apparently, Ygor wouldn’t show up until 1939’s “Son of Frankenstein”, as played by Bela Lugosi.
• If the creature is made from dead bodies, why is it green? Jack Pierce applied grayish-green greasepaint to Karloff so that the monster would appear gray on camera. Frankenstein didn’t start becoming full on green until sometime in the mid-80s, perhaps to avoid Universal’s copyright on the design.
• Right after exclaiming, “It’s alive! It’s alive!” Henry proclaims, “Now I know what it’s like to be God!” This line was deemed offensive in the Code-era and was censored in subsequent re-releases.

• Ah yes, the Bavarian village where everyone is either English or American.
• What can I say about Boris Karloff? His monster is a confused child trying to make sense of the world. He’s an innocent surround by people who want him dead simply because he’s different. You feel for this creature right from the start.

• Apparently the studios hadn’t perfected the camera dolly in 1931; the film’s tracking shots are quite bumpy.
• If nothing else, the creature figured out how to solve a problem like Maria. The sequence of the monster accidentally killing the little girl was so unsettling in 1931 that it was trimmed shortly after the film’s first run, not to be seen again for over 50 years.

• Wow, this town is easily swayed into mob mentality. I haven’t seen this many upset white men since that Gillette commercial.

• My admiration to everyone on that set who did stuntwork near the open flame torches. That could not have been fun.
• Well, that’s a very clear-cut ending, leaving absolutely no room for a sequel.

Legacy

• “Frankenstein” was a hit, and talks of a sequel began immediately. Script delays (caused in part by James Whale’s perfectionism) led to a four-year gap between films, but “The Bride of Frankenstein” was worth the wait, and is considered one of the best sequels ever made.

• After “Bride”, the law of diminishing returns set in with the remaining sequels, and soon Frankenstein joined the ranks of interchangeable Universal monsters in such films as “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein”.

• When you think of Frankenstein, you think of the flattop, electrode-wearing Frankenstein of this movie, which is a testament to the work of Karloff and Jack Pierce.
• As previously stated, “Young Frankenstein” is a thoroughly accurate recreation of this film’s aesthetic. I laughed during several scenes of “Frankenstein” thinking of its “Young Frankenstein” counterpart.

• Fred Gwynne’s Herman Munster definitely takes a thing or two from Boris Karloff’s interpretation of the monster.

• In addition to the Universal-sanctioned follow-ups, there have been hundreds of “Frankenstein” adaptations over the years. Notable versions through the years include the Christopher Lee Hammer entries, Tim Burton’s “Frankenweenie” (both the short and its remake), and Kenneth Branagh’s “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” with Robert De Niro using sense memory to play the undead.

• And thank goodness, we have been spared the Dark Universe take on Frankenstein, which would have been Javier Bardem apparently.

Further Viewing: The 1910 Edison version of “Frankenstein”, which was recently restored by the Library of Congress and – I’m calling it now – will make the 2019 National Film Registry inductees. (2019 update: It didn’t. Double or nothing before 2024.)

#317) The River (1938)

OR “A Tribute to Tributaries”

Directed & Written by Pare Lorentz

Class of 1990

The Plot: Narrated by the commanding Thomas Chalmers, and with an epic score by composer Virgil Thomas, “The River” is a documentary about man’s effect on the Mississippi River. Thanks to frequent deforestation along the river, topsoil has travelled down to the Gulf of Mexico, leading to massive flooding. But fear not: the Tennessee Valley Authority is here to provide the Mississippi with dams! Brought to you by your friends at the Farm Security Administration.

Why It Matters: The NFR praises the film’s “artistic and persuasive scenes”, though points out the number of critics who derided its “propagandist approach”. There’s also a detailed essay by Robert J. Snyder, whose father, Dr. Robert L. Snyder, wrote a book about Pare Lorentz.

But Does It Really?: Sure it’s another “staring at water movie”, but “The River” may be THE “staring at water movie”. It’s government propaganda to be sure, but effective nonetheless, and brings up an important issue in a cinematically compelling way. A pass for NFR inclusion from me, but I’ll be curious to see how Lorentz’s other NFR documentary, “The Plow That Broke the Plains”, holds up by comparison.

Everybody Gets One: Most of Lorentz’s team for “The River” was the same collaborators from “Plow That Broke the Plains”, but one of the newcomers was co-cinematographer Stacy Woodard. Prior to “The River”, Woodard and his brother Horace directed and filmed the “Struggle to Live” series for Educational Films. Stacy died of a heart attack at 39 years old, just a few years after “The River”.

Wow, That’s Dated: Steamboats! Plus a shoutout to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a major player of the New Deal agencies. In fact, this whole thing is pure New Deal propaganda.

Seriously, Oscars?: No Documentary category in 1938, so no nomination for “The River”. The film did, however, win Best Documentary at the 1938 Venice International Film Festival.

Other notes

• Around the time of the film’s release, Lorentz wrote a complimentary article for “McCall’s”. The article’s prose proved to be popular, and was even nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The winner that year was Marya Zaturenska for “Cold Morning Sky”.
• “The River” is yet another “staring at water” movie that the NFR loves to induct, but at least this one has narration. Thomas Chalmers was a professional opera singer and stage actor. Fun Fact: He was the original Uncle Ben in “Death of a Salesman”!
• The print I watched actually changed reels. Seriously, the first reel would play to completion, followed by the very beginning of the second reel, complete with film leader. This may be the only film on this list that is available in a literal uncut version.
• I’m also enjoying the score abruptly stopping so the next track can play. Was Pare doing the needle lifting on this one?
• The flood footage is from an actual flood that occurred along the Ohio River in January 1937, shortly after production had wrapped. The aerial shot of an entire town underwater is just devastating.
• It is mentioned, “Congress appropriated millions to aid the flooded cities and villages, and to rehabilitate the flood victims.” I’m just going to pretend that Congress still does this while I breathe heavily into this paper bag I have at the ready for such occasions.

Legacy

• Shortly after completion of “The River”, Franklin Roosevelt named Pare Lorentz director of the United States Film Service. The unit only made three films before being discontinued in 1940.
• After serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, Lorentz made perhaps his most impactful movie, 1946’s “Nuremberg”; a government-funded film about Germany’s involvement in the war, culled from thousands of hours of Nazi footage. Successful in Germany, “Nuremberg” was not screened in America until 1979.

• The Farm Security Administration dissolved in 1946. Various programs were moved to other agencies, and the FSA morphed into what is today the USDA Office of Rural Development.
• The Tennessee Valley Authority is still going, but not without its share of controversies.
• Lorentz passed away in 1992, but his films are available for viewing at the Pare Lorentz Center in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.

Further Viewing: The flooding of the Tennessee Valley got the dramatic treatment in the coincidentally titled 1984 film “The River”, starring Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek. It was Mark Rydell’s first film after “On Golden Pond”. The man loved movies about water, I guess.

The legacy of “Star Wars” is so extensive that I could devote dozens of posts on the subject, but my goal is to focus on just the facets of our culture impacted by the original 1977 film. Those of you looking for my thoughts on “The Ewok Adventure” will have to look elsewhere.

• “Star Wars” opened in only 32 theaters, but broke box office records at all of them. During the summer of 1977, the film rolled out to over 1000 theaters across the country and was the runaway blockbuster hit of the year. Along with “Jaws”, “Star Wars” redefined the summer movie season. Once a dumping ground for the studios’ low-budget fare, the summer continues to be the place for big franchise tent poles and movie star action heroes. Great news for studios, terrible news for the New Hollywood scene of the early ‘70s.

• 20^th Century Fox was in danger of going bankrupt for most of the ‘70s, but “Star Wars” revived the studio, and helped turn it into the conglomerate it is today.
• George Lucas was able to maintain sequel rights in his original “Star Wars” contract, and immediately began work on a follow-up. “The Empire Strikes Back” came out in 1980 and found its own place in the NFR. The trilogy was concluded in 1983 with “Return of the Jedi”. “Empire” is still the gold standard for sequels, while “Jedi”…is fine.

• While we were eagerly awaiting that first sequel, Lucas decided to keep the franchise alive with a TV special. “The Star Wars Holiday Special” should be viewed at least once by any Star Wars fan, and then never again.

• Once computer technology caught up with George Lucas’ vision, he re-released the original trilogy in 1997 with revised special effects and new scenes. That’s great George, but we can still get the unaltered versions, right? Right? George where are you going?

• Always referring to “Star Wars” as a nine or even twelve-part saga, Lucas made the first three episodes (aka “the prequels”) from 1999 to 2005. They were breakthroughs in terms of digital effects, but garbage fires in terms of maintaining the original film’s spirit. Once Lucasfilm was sold to Disney in 2012, a sequel trilogy with the original cast was immediately announced.

• In addition, Disney has cranked out two anthology films, including “Rogue One”, which occurs literally moments before “Star Wars”. While they’re both totally unnecessary, I will admit to enjoying “Solo”.

• Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford all became overnight stars and lifelong icons thanks to “Star Wars”. Ford in particular benefited from George Lucas’ next project with friend Steven Spielberg: “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.

• Soooooooooo many parodies and spoofs over the years (IMDb alone lists over 4000 movies and TV shows!). We’ll start with the earliest, a sketch from “The Richard Pryor Show” and a musical tribute from “Donny & Marie”. Interesting foreshadowing having the Osmonds play Luke & Leia.

• The best parody of the original film is still Ernie Fosselius’ “Hardware Wars”. “Spaceballs” is fine as an overall send-up of the original trilogy, but “Hardware” is clearly coming from a place of love.

• As for more recent fare, “Family Guy” is always hit-or-miss, and their “Star Wars” parody “Blue Harvest” is no exception. Lots of great gags, but Herbert as Obi-Wan? [Shudder]

• A lot of “Star Wars” knock-offs came our way in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s. Notable entries include “Star Crash”, “The Black Hole”, and ironically, a big-budget adaptation of “Flash Gordon”, which is all Lucas wanted to make in the first place!

• Every line, scene and character has been referenced in the last 40 years of pop culture. There’s even a dedicated group of fans that remade the entire movie (and no, that’s not a “Force Awakens” joke).

• Prolific filmmakers from James Cameron and Ridley Scott to Peter Jackson and Kevin Smith have been influenced by “Star Wars”. That’s right, every white male movie nerd owes a debt to “Star Wars”.
• Did you know the “Star Wars” theme has lyrics?

• Easily the film’s most ‘70s influence: “Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk” was a disco album by Meco that turned John Williams’ themes into an extended dance mix. The main track, “Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band”, was number one on the Billboard charts for two weeks!

• Merchandising! My God, the merchandising! The action figures alone have their own Wikipedia pages! Yes, plural!

• The “Star Wars” comic book series helped boost Marvel’s steadily declining sales. And now the same conglomerate owns them both!
• There are countless comics, novels, video games, and other stories within the Star Wars Expanded Universe that I’m glad I never got into, because they’re not canon anymore!
• I’ll tell you what video game is still awesome: Super Star Wars for Super NES!

• My favorite little piece of non-canonical Star Wars was the NPR radio drama with Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprising their roles. Why is it so impossible to track down? Public radio my ass.

• Industrial Light and Magic went from a bunch of geeks blowing up model kits in Marin to the industry standard in film special effects thanks to “Star Wars”.
• Speaking of effects, remember that time CNN used holograms for their 2008 Election coverage? That was weird, right?

• Today, “Star Wars” has a cult following larger (and louder) than most religions. For the record, I like “Star Wars”…as a movie. If there’s some offshoot of the property I don’t like, I don’t watch it again and move on with my life.

• And at long last, Chewbacca received his medal at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards.

Further Viewing: “The Hidden Fortress”: Kurosawa’s 1958 samurai film, and a major influence on “Star Wars”. Lucas even sneaks the phrase “hidden fortress” into the dialogue!

Further Further Viewing: There are a LOT of videos out there about the making of “Star Wars”, but as an amateur editor myself, I gravitate towards the expertly researched “How Star Wars Was Saved In The Edit”. The “Star Wars” editing team earned the hell out of that Oscar.

Listen to This: The “Star Wars” soundtrack, featuring John Williams’ instantly iconic score, was added to the National Recording Registry in 2004. The NRR gives the soundtrack its historical context, and states the album “has been credited with reviving symphonic film scores in Hollywood motion pictures”. There’s also an essay by John Williams expert Emilio Audissino, Ph.D.

#316) Star Wars (1977)

OR “Monomyth….In….Spaaaaace!”

Directed & Written by George Lucas

Class of 1989

NOTE: This post is about the original 1977 version of “Star Wars”. No “A New Hope” here.

The Plot: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a civil war rages between the indestructible Galactic Empire and the oppressed Rebel Alliance. Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) has stolen the technical plans for the Empire’s secret “Death Star”, but her attempt to give them to the Rebels is thwarted by the dark lord Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones). Leia hides the plans with droids C-3PO & R2-D2 (Anthony Daniels & Kenny Baker) and sends them to the desert planet of Tatooine. The two droids encounter farmhand Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who stumbles upon a hidden message from the princess. Aided by reclusive Jedi Knight Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi (Alec Guinness), rogue smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his furry co-pilot Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), Luke ventures into space to save the princess, learn about the mystical Force, and restore freedom to the galaxy.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls the film “legendarily expansive and ambitious”, praises Lucas, and calls the special effects “effective and intelligently integrated with the story.”

But Does It Really?: There are two eras of filmmaking: pre-“Star Wars” and post-“Star Wars”. A lot of movies on this list were game-changers, but “Star Wars” may be THE game changer. The movie inspired several generations of filmmakers, and its technical breakthroughs changed how movies are made (and marketed). But at its core, “Star Wars” is still a fun, exciting, imaginative film, the perfect blend of every great fairy tale, sci-fi story, and classic movie. The ensuing fandom can be a bit nauseating, but never forget that it all stems from two hours in the ‘70s that ignited the collective imaginations of filmgoers around the world.

Shout Outs: No direct references, but among the countless movies alluded to throughout are NFR entries “The Wizard of Oz”, “Twelve O’Clock High”, “The Searchers”, “Psycho”, “Lawrence of Arabia”, “2001: A Space Odyssey”, Lucas’ own “THX 1138”, and of course, “Flash Gordon”.

Everybody Gets One: Most of the team will return for “The Empire Strikes Back”, but this is the only NFR entry for Peter Cushing. A veteran of Britain’s Hammer horror films, Cushing was cast as the evil Grand Moff Tarkin due to his “lean features”. Cushing enjoyed being in “Star Wars”, though admitted he never understood what a “Grand Moff” was.

Wow, That’s Dated: Luke’s Farrah Fawcett-ian hair is your first clue. And while some of the optical effects have not aged well, I’ll take them over disruptive CG tweaking any day.

Seriously, Oscars?: By the time the 50^th Oscars rolled around in 1978, “Star Wars” had already surpassed “Jaws” as the most successful movie of all time. “Star Wars” received ten Oscar nominations (second to the 11 scored by more traditional Oscar fare “Julia” and “The Turning Point”) and won six awards, plus a special Oscar for Ben Burtt’s sound design. “Star Wars” received the most Oscars that year, but the winner in all the major categories was fellow NFR entry “Annie Hall”.

Other notes

• Now that’s an intro! John Williams hits you over the head with the fanfare, the expository text scrolls by, and suddenly giant spaceships are flying over your head. The beauty of this whole opening sequence is that it gives you just enough information without feeling overwhelmed, and fills in the rest with music and effective imagery.

• I’ve watched a great deal of ‘70s films for this blog already, and with that context, what a refreshing oddity “Star Wars” must have been in 1977. There really was nothing like this film in the cultural landscape of “Rocky” and “The Godfather”.
• I miss Carrie Fisher. Not Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher. Rare is the Hollywood star that could be articulate and insightful about their own life, and hilarious to boot.
• One of the things that sequels inevitably do is remove some of the mystery of the first film. It must have been fun theorizing what was under Darth Vader’s helmet before it turned out to be charbroiled Hayden Christensen.
• Say what you will about Lucas’ clunky dialogue (and I will), but he is a master world-builder. Even the arid landscape of Tatooine is fun to explore.
• Mark Hamill never gets the credit he deserves as an actor. Sure, Luke whines a lot, but Hamill gives him a clear character arc and always plays Luke with complete sincerity.
• Why do 3PO and R2 scream when they’re in danger? Are droids being programmed to emote? What scientific purpose does that serve?
• I won’t get into it here, but the Obi-Wan scenes are ripe with future continuity errors derived from the prequels. “I don’t seem to remember ever owning a droid.”
• Speaking of Obi-Wan, stories of Alec Guinness’ displeasure with “Star Wars” are legendary. Yes, he hated the shoot, but according to his voluminous biography, he always hated shooting a film, even “River Kwai”. This all being said, ever the professional, Guinness gives an unsurprisingly nuanced performance.
• So many Imperial officers in this movie aren’t British. When did Vader change that hiring policy?
• The Cantina sequence takes the world building to a whole other level. We get all kinds of crazy looking aliens, Harrison Ford gives Han Solo an extra cocky introduction, and the tempo of the film really starts to pick up. My one question: Did Ben and Luke pay their tab?

• Han shoots alien Greedo to avoid an encounter with crime lord Jabba. What a great demonstration of Han’s character that needs no further meddling.**
• I do love the grandiose reveal of the Millennium Falcon, followed by Luke’s “What a piece of junk.”

• While meeting with Tarkin, Leia shows off her disappearing-reappearing British accent. Apparently this was Carrie Fisher’s first day of filming, and the accent was quickly dropped.

• Man, Cushing’s great in this too. That’s a performance by an actor who knows exactly how his character serves the story.
• Obi-Wan knows a surprising amount about TIE Fighters for someone who’s been exiled on a desert planet for 20 years. Maybe the Force has great wifi?
• For me, the film picks up once we get to the Death Star. The first hour is set-up, and now we can watch these strongly defined characters play off each other without rattling off sci-fi mumbo-jumbo.
• “The Force will be with you. Always.” “And also with you. I mean, and with your spirit”.

• Once Luke and Han rescue Leia, the dialogue begins to sound fun and natural. I detect the uncredited assistance of “American Graffiti” writers Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck.
• We have a Wilhelm scream! That stormtrooper did not die in vain.

• Luke and Leia both handle the deaths of loved ones very quickly. I guess the last stage of grief in this galaxy is shootin’ space Nazis.

• Somewhat appropriate that the most complex relationship in all of these movies is between two robots.
• The final battle sequence is a ramped-up variation of every WWII dogfight, and brings the film to a satisfying climax. I still get a chill when Han shows up at the end.

• Why make Chewbacca take part in the closing ceremony if you’re not going to give him a medal? Did he decline the medal for religious reasons? Is this somehow tied in with Life Day?

The never-ending legacy and impact of “Star Wars” deserves its own post. In fact, this one!

**2019 Update: WHO THE FUCK IS MACLUNKY!!?