Fun fact: George Lucas was so convinced the film was going to flop that he didn’t attend the film premiere in 1977 and went on holiday with his old friend Stephen Spielberg to Hawaii. And ironically the film was a box office smash and became the icon of pop culture.
Lucas also made a bet with Spielberg that if Star Wars was more successful than Spielberg's Close Encounters of The Third Kind, he would give Spielberg 2.5% of the profits. Star Wars then broke the record for highest grossing movie of all time ($775.5 million) and that 2.5% translated to $47 million. Weird how things work.
Yep I was 4 years old on May 25th 1977.. I remember it like it was yesterday. Saw it at the Tampa Florida Skyway Drive-in theater. Oh the memories. . Now I am 50 and still love star wars.
That music will always be a kind of with me from the first time I was five years old and first saw a New Hope in December 1977 only back then I don't believe it said episode 4 on the original theatrical releases.
@@calebboros7975 that's because when it first came out it was just called "Star Wars". It hadn't been changed until Lucas decided to name "Empire Strikes Back" "Episode 5".
Aw man. My mother passed away in December of 2022, and even in her later days she still talked about how she felt when she first saw this in the theatre in 1977. My sci-fi nerd dad “dragged her to see it”, and she fully expected to sleep through the film as she did with most of his sci-fi stuff. She was in her seat, sighing with boredom, and then the screen lit up and the fanfare came on. She jumped and was like “whoa, damn, okay! They’re really going for it!” She read the crawl and was instantly fascinated. Then, as she put it, “that HUGE spaceship flew in and my jaw hit the floor. it was the most amazing special effect I’d ever seen.” After that, any time A New Hope was on TV, she’d drop everything to watch it. I don’t even know how much she knew about the other films of the franchise, I think R2 was her favorite character though. She just friggin LOVED ANH.
Little fun fact: the score was composed to match each paragraph of the opening crawl. This can only be notice during this original opening, without the episode card. John Williams, a true genious.
The later re-edits do a disservice to the score in places. Re-using the trash compactor music for Mos Eisley is arbitrary and jarring, a misunderstanding of how the score worked in the original. The Falcon taking off from Mos Eisley is no longer synchronised due to extra footage being added (although that extra footage is gorgeous). A huge part of the unique original magic of the OT was the way the action and music were fully synchronised. John Williams even had the film projected in the recording studio while conducting the recording sessions.
This is a really interesting detail. I feel like I've felt it subliminally before, but knowing it was consciously done by Williams makes it that much more impressive. Especially when paragraph 3 comes up - really adds a sense of 'the story so far - now buckle your seatbelts!' I was too young to see this in the theater in '77 (I saw it on a rerelease, '82 I think), but I was 100% there for Empire Strikes Back. Nothing brings me back to childhood like that moment between the "long time ago" tease and when the Star Wars logo pops. If you were 6-10 years old at the time (at least as a boy) it was impossible to conceive of anything cooler.
@@joeyk107 I think I know the interview you mean, I (and probably most people who know) just mistook his thoughts on the movie as silly as synonymous with thinking it would flop
When my family and I went to see the ORIGINAL in 1977, as soon as these credits started rolling....I turned to everyone and said.........'they have a hit'!!!! I didn't have to see the entire movie, I just knew.....I'm also a Peter Cushing fan, and was delighted that he was Governor Tarkin. Now, I'm nearly 60 and I get to see the next installment which I've been reading is gonna break all records. May the Force Be With You!!!!
it was a rehash of a new hope... it was a pathetic excuse for a star wars movie, relying too much on cameos and not becoming something new, and adapting stuff from the expanded universe. Disney has pretty much ruined star wars in a way.
I'm imagining what it must have been like back in 1977. People were blown away. No one back then had seen or heard anything like this before. The theatres were packed. Star Wars has sold more movie tickets than anything that came out after it. In fact it's sold twice has many has Avatar. Star Wars is still the only film to become the biggest film of all time in the same year it was released. Every other film to reach number 1 did so the following year or 2 after its release.
I imagine people back then not having the nostalgic anticipation, as this was the first Star Wars anything. So they just walk in and are like, "Okay, okay....cool....cool...." and then it ends and they're like, "That was epic!"
Imagine being in a movie theater in 1977 and this is what you see Edit: just a little rephrasing. As a kid born in 2004 I can only imagine how it would have been like watching this at a movie theater in 1977 knowing what would happen to star wars years to come
I saw it when it reached the UK in 78 (it took nearly a year to cross the Atlantic). The book, the still pictures, the very brief clips on TV, none of them prepared me! I wish I could see it again the way I first saw it.
I saw this version on television and taped it on VHS. Saw it so many times. For me everything changed after this movie. It must have been so much more for the people who saw it in 1977.
@@hobomike6935, take your cell phone, pause for the theme to play, then take the book before putting it very close to your eye and slowly get up as the music goes. Hahahahaha.
@@kaenachoo4783 Only for those who did not see the original. For those of us who did in 1977 before all the hype, it's Star Wars. That's what its name was. Not a New Hope, not IV...Star Wars.
stischer47 We get it. It was originally just named Star Wars. But it’s a new hope now so deal with it. It wouldn’t make since now to have the 4th episode be called Star Wars.
A New Hope is a terribly week title. It's hard to imagine it being as successful if that's what it was called. "Star Wars" is a strong and intriguing title for a sci-fi adventure movie. "A New Hope" sounds like a TV movie of the week about a young widowed mother who finds love in the suburbs, or a plucky kid who learns to walk again after a car accident. Mind you, "Star Wars" never really did make sense as the name, because... why the plural? In fact, it wasn't until the prequels that the saga stopped being about just one war, and its title accurately described it for the first time.
@@filmtoppings I was born during the prequels, and maybe you didn't notice, but #hanshotfirst You know the altered versions from TV and maybe Blu-rays/DVDs, but I'm pretty sure you never saw the original theatrical version. What a shame...
Oh dear, rest in peace Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. You both are part of cinematic history with "Star Wars" and "Singing In The Rain". Thank you!
I do remember seeing this in its' ORIGINAL Theatrical Showing, 1977, at the tender age of six years' old. All I knew at the time, was that my dad said that the reviews called it a smash hit, and that we needed to see it. The lines were incredibly long, at the old Brighton Cinema. But we waited, along with everybody else. The Opening Theme's fanfare blasted our ears, and I *knew* that this was going to be something absolutely *magical*! We went on to see it a total of some five times in the theater, and I have subsequently seen it innumerable times on TV, VHS, and DVD. Quite literally, the only movie that I have seen more times than this one, is "Smokey and the Bandit", also from 1977...!
Ah, just simply Star Wars. Before the speculation, title change, fan theory’s, EU, special editions, prequels, sequels, and all the hate in the community. Just a simple movie called Star Wars that was about a princess, a scoundrel, and a farm boy. Nothing more than that.
Dunno. There was some subtext and archetypical fairy tale stuff going on... it was definetely more than just silly fun. Silly fun was the surface. Below was a story to believe in good in people and believing you can make a change.
I love how the original opening crawl for the first Star Wars movie released in 1977 describes a movie that wasn't made until 2016, almost 40 years later. Of course that was all planned retroactively, but it's still pretty amazing.
@@jacknedry3925 generally yes, but Rogue One is the exception in my opinion. It was actually made with care and respect for the source material, and it's just a good movie in its own right.
I just love how the music is synchronized with the crawl. That was lost after "A New Hope" was added, and never again accomplished by any of the other episodes.
Empire and Return still have the last paragraph synchronized. TFA and TLJ do as well, though for some reason the prequels abandoned that idea. Why they haven't adjusted the timing on this opening crawl to sync but felt the need to add a bunch of CGI lizards and rocks to Tatooine is even less clear.
If I had a Time Machine, I’d travel back to May 1977 on opening night to experience the birth of one of the greatest franchises ever made. My Dad told me stories as to how shocked and amazed crowds in the theatre were. Him and my Grandpa actually snuck back in to watch it a second time. I wish I could experience that night just for once!
It was amazing in the theatre, at least to a young boy. Remember that we didn't have the expections of watching at home later, so the theatre was the only place for most people to see it. I saw Star Wars seven times that summer.
The film was originally called just "Star Wars", so, the Star Wars crest is actually the same as the "Episode IV", "A NEW HOPE" lines they added in 1997. But, of course, since Empire Strikes Back, it has been also the crest for the whole saga.
They are in the same key of B flat major, making the Fox Fanfare seem like a prelude to John Williams epic main theme. Fun Fact: John Williams was the pianist in the Fox orchestra when this version of the fanfare was recorded in 1954.
This was the first colored American film my father watched. He came from a not so rich family. So when he decided to watch a film for the first time on the big screen, he was lucky enough that Star Wars came out at the time. Then I remember him buying a whole set of Star Wars CDs from Episode 4 to 6 in the 90's. That's why when Star Wars came out again on 1999 he dragged me and my sister along.
Fun fact: This text crawl was Brian De Palma's idea. When he watched the movie before it came out, he constantly complained to George how he doesn't get the story and doesn't know who the characters are and needed some explanation.
When those trumpets hit 42-year-old me still gets as hyped as 7-year-old me did hearing it for the very first time. Still leaves me feeling like I can run through a f*****g wall!
A long, long time ago...I was eight-years-old in a theatre in Los Angeles watching this movie in 1977. Of course that was after battling alongside my parents to get through the largest movie line I had ever seen. That line went around the building and went on for at least another block-and-a-half. My eyes opened WIDE at this intro and they continued to stay wide open as I watched this movie. The irony is that my parents had fallen asleep sometime through the movie but I stayed awake the entire time! The memories...
I just got home from watching The Empire Strikes Back with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra playing all the music live. It was probably the coolest Star Wars experience of my life. To hear this score live...it gave me (and I'm sure everyone else in the audience) chills. We all cheered wildly with the crashing opening score as the STAR WARS logo lit up the screen from edge to edge - such a brilliant evening! If you ever get the chance to watch your city's orchestra play to a Star Wars movie, just do it - there no better way to appreciate John Williams' brilliant scores.
I saw STAR WARS in the theater as a kid and it blew my mind. Never experienced anything like it since. When Empire was released I stayed in the theater all day watching it over and over. Back then, no assigned seats and they let you stay for repeat showings. Did the same for Return of the Jedi.
I was born in 1986, and I actually didn't watch any of the Star Wars movies until around 2015, and I just recently got my hands on the unaltered original trilogy, although I had of course always known about the franchise. I found it really amazing from the beginning, but I ended up liking the original trilogy a lot better than the movies after that, and I typically watch those movies, and leave it at that. My father was born in 1956, and he had apparently watched the Star Wars movies back in the 70s and 80s, even though he usually isn't particularly interested at all in fiction, so it seems as if everyone was very familiar with that franchise. I usually imagine the immediate popularity of the "Star Wars" movies to have had sort of the same impact as the "Lord Of The Rings" movies.
@@Peter_1986 How did you get your hands on the unaltered originals? and wow. your father is almost as old as my father. My mom was born in 56 and my dad in 57.
@@StaticBlaster Try searching for the despecialized editions by Harmy; those videos should be readily available. I would have liked to give more information than that, but TH-cam seems really aggressive with censorship whenever I so much as mention any of these versions; but the stuff that I have managed to write in this post should be good enough.
You know that first note scared the shit out of the audience when the opening crawl began. I can’t even imagine seeing this in theaters with no prior knowledge of anything Star Wars related.
First, one has to appreciate that you weren't seeing this on your 70" flat-screen or even your home theater. No, you were sitting in a dark cinema, (no cell phones), popcorn in hand with 700 other people, with a great, big, glorious W-I-D-E-S-C-R-E-E-N projection in front of you. Plus, absolutely NOTHING like Star Wars had ever been seen before: The HUUUUGE ships, dazzling FX, characters, story, music, imagination, ALL of it a perfect storm of movie making. First, the opening "crawl", set to John William's rousing score, then we look down to see planets in front of us. Suddenly, the first ship zooms overhead, laser bolts flying back and forth. You knew they were running from something but . . . HOLY SMOKES!! The ginourmous star destroyer, its rumbling engines rattling your teeth, glides into view from somewhere behind you, so close you want to duck and look back over your shoulder. And then it just keeps on coming and there's just more, . . . and more . . . and MORE, almost as if there would be no end. And in that moment, you and the 700 other people all KNEW the next two hours were going to be pure magic! And they were. :oD
I wonder how many people jumped when they first saw the movie and the title theme started, I mean it just starts right away, and many people probably didn’t see it coming…..
for over 30 years, i only had one hero, and that hero was named luke skywalker. disney tried to destroy you, but i promise you, they failed. luke skywalker, you represent the hope and the heroism we all look for in life. thank you luke, thank you so much for everything you have done for me. you will forever be my hero.
You can never know the affect this intro and the ships sequence had on a six year old kid sitting in the audience back 1977. Sure 2001 was great, but the special effects in it was more like watching paint dry than the fast moving fighters in Star Wars.
According to this R2 unit, the titles are as follows: Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back Revenge of the Jedi Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Star Wars: The Force Awakens Star Wars: The Last Jedi Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
This theme is familiar to practically EVERY SINGLE PERSON on Earth. If humans are still in existence one million years from now, this will still be played. Watching the original trilogy is the greatest movie experience of my life. I am sure that untold millions feel the same. This is forever.
Oh man I remember my dad putting this on with me at 8 years old I loved these movies ever since he had the theatrical releases on blu ray no matter how old I will always watch them on may the 4th
Every time I see opening titles crawl and hear the music I have that dumb smile one my face. Cried lots of times in cinema during it too. No other movie can't do this.
This is my favorite text crawl in any Star Wars film. Just the quality and the tidbits of different instruments inside it that give it that Star Wars magic. I like it better than the other movies, with the exception of all the prequels.
1977 opening crawl will always be my fave. Back in the day! Back then you could take your car to a drive-in theatre with a bag of popcorn and a soda to watch this! May the Force be with you all. 😊🍿🥤
When I was a kid watching this on betamax the low resolution gave me the impression the words were going off and becoming stars. Made me think every point of light in the sky was some incredible story.
Watching the original makes one realise just how inaccurate all those Sony Vegas tutorials showing 'how to make Star Wars title crawl' really are. At no point do the original titles get trimmed or cut off - they fade nicely into the distance.
They had to film the title here though so a totally different thing. The way they made this crawl was by having a piece of glass with the words painted on it and then filming it on an angle as the glass piece was slowly moved away from the camera by a motor
I saw Star Wars back in '77 at the movies and it was epic then and is still epic now. The film completely transported you to another world. You were just lost in it in the movie theatre. It was inescapable and fuckin' glorious!
I saw Star Wars at the Har-Mar theater in Roseville MN, built in 1970. The theater was unusually lavish for its day, with Venetian crystal chandeliers, English tapestries and plush red carpeting. Also, it was equipped with what was then cutting-edge projection and sound technology. The movie came out in Dolby Stereo. I remember looking at the ceiling when the spaceships were passing 'overhead' because the sound was moving all around between the speakers. This also made the film score breathtaking. I will never forget this experience!
I can still vividly remember the first time seeing the commercial for the movie when it came out. I was at my friends house and I remember thinking I'd never seen anything like this in my life. And just then my friends dad walked in, stopped for a moment to watch it, and said and I quote "It'll be a flop" oh well so much for that.
My dad waited 10 hours (5 showings) outside of a theater to watch Star Wars. He said that nobody had ever seen anything like it at the time and it was amazing.
When I saw it in 1977, the drive-in movie theater I was in was packed. Just about every one was sneaking people inside in the trunks of cars just to see the movie.
@@MrMathExpert Your statement doesn't make sense. I saw 2001 in 1968 when it came out, as well as Star Wars in 1977. Was amazed and entralled by both for different reasons.
@@stischer47 Admit it: you are a stupid fanboy that doesn't know any better. The franchise is grossly overrated. 2001 is the king of sci-fi pictures whose excellence is unmatched forever.
@@stischer47 While I greatly respect the imagination and craftsmanship that "Star Wars" used to elevate the quality of cinematic science fiction (or space opera), the standout film for my seven year old brain in 1968 was "2001: A Space Odyssey". While I did not understand the story until reading the novel later, the crisp 70mm visuals of 2001 changed the DNA in my brain and caused me to choose filmmaking as a career. Kubrick's first producer said upon viewing a rough cut of 2001 before its premiere, "it seems like a documentary sent to us from the future."
It was only playing in 37 theaters on opening day of May 25, 1977. By the following month, there were 350 theaters showing it. Luckily, one of the initial 37 was the legendary Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
I will only stick with the originals because: Prequels- Good plots but badly executed because of acting and dialogue Sequels- greatly executed, well acted and good dialogue but awful concepts and stupid stories
@@leburns6996 Also gotta give them credit in the prequels for the lightsaber choreography. Probably my favorite parts of the prequels, along with Palpatine.
![ฮักเทื่อสุดท้าย - บอย ศิริชัย [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-1PoPoQ-B-k/mqdefault.jpg)
Fun fact: George Lucas was so convinced the film was going to flop that he didn’t attend the film premiere in 1977 and went on holiday with his old friend Stephen Spielberg to Hawaii. And ironically the film was a box office smash and became the icon of pop culture.
Lucas also made a bet with Spielberg that if Star Wars was more successful than Spielberg's Close Encounters of The Third Kind, he would give Spielberg 2.5% of the profits. Star Wars then broke the record for highest grossing movie of all time ($775.5 million) and that 2.5% translated to $47 million. Weird how things work.
And now if you adjust what it made back in 1977 to what it would have made now, it is the 2nd most successful American film of all time.
and it was there that they both created another icon INDIANA JONES
That's amazing! So you're telling me that this was the real story that inspired The Hangover? Sweet...:)
rstein926 casually being old friends with Stephan Spielberg
POV: It's 1977, and you're at a drive-in theatre about to unknowingly witness the birth of one of the most iconic franchises in history
Man drive in theaters with ya girl watching star wars in the 70’s and 80’s
Jesus i wish, you could do that today. That would be, such a awesome vibe.
I remember seeing Star Wars at the drive-in in when it came out.
Yep I was 4 years old on May 25th 1977.. I remember it like it was yesterday. Saw it at the Tampa Florida Skyway Drive-in theater. Oh the memories. . Now I am 50 and still love star wars.
That music will always be a kind of with me from the first time I was five years old and first saw a New Hope in December 1977 only back then I don't believe it said episode 4 on the original theatrical releases.
Little did you know that 40 years later Mickey mouse and JJ abrams would turn it from beloved to hated in one movie😢
Here we are, 40 years into star wars. May the force be with us all
ALWAYS
42
It doesn't say Episode IV: A New Hope.
Since then I've had 5 dogs, 6 cats, 5 houses, 2 kids and 2 husbands. Star Wars is, however, perennial.
@@calebboros7975 that's because when it first came out it was just called "Star Wars". It hadn't been changed until Lucas decided to name "Empire Strikes Back" "Episode 5".
Gonna be weird not hearing that 20th Century Fox fanfare to start off Episode 7. End of an era, indeed.
The too themes sound connected in my opinion
ZanderHopkins Lol0624! Just listen to it on your phone before you press play
Well Disney just bought Fox so maybe they will be rejoined.
sarff99 they didn't buy Fox. Just some of/most of/ all of their cinematic rights.
@@alekhopkins474 I know you mean *two*
Aw man. My mother passed away in December of 2022, and even in her later days she still talked about how she felt when she first saw this in the theatre in 1977. My sci-fi nerd dad “dragged her to see it”, and she fully expected to sleep through the film as she did with most of his sci-fi stuff.
She was in her seat, sighing with boredom, and then the screen lit up and the fanfare came on. She jumped and was like “whoa, damn, okay! They’re really going for it!”
She read the crawl and was instantly fascinated.
Then, as she put it, “that HUGE spaceship flew in and my jaw hit the floor. it was the most amazing special effect I’d ever seen.”
After that, any time A New Hope was on TV, she’d drop everything to watch it. I don’t even know how much she knew about the other films of the franchise, I think R2 was her favorite character though. She just friggin LOVED ANH.
Your mother is now one with the Force.
may the force be with her
광선검 레이져검 스타워즈 제다이 조지 루카스 마시아 루카스 편집 명동성당 이리오너라 재혼약혼시결손식돐잔치육십세환값잔치는56세시작한다 1:56 1:56
Not to sound crass or kill the memory, but dude... Your dad definitely saw action that night, and you know I'm not talking about the movie.
We didn't ask about your boomer parents blud sthup
Little fun fact: the score was composed to match each paragraph of the opening crawl. This can only be notice during this original opening, without the episode card. John Williams, a true genious.
The later re-edits do a disservice to the score in places.
Re-using the trash compactor music for Mos Eisley is arbitrary and jarring, a misunderstanding of how the score worked in the original.
The Falcon taking off from Mos Eisley is no longer synchronised due to extra footage being added (although that extra footage is gorgeous).
A huge part of the unique original magic of the OT was the way the action and music were fully synchronised.
John Williams even had the film projected in the recording studio while conducting the recording sessions.
Paul Coddington yeah
This is a really interesting detail. I feel like I've felt it subliminally before, but knowing it was consciously done by Williams makes it that much more impressive. Especially when paragraph 3 comes up - really adds a sense of 'the story so far - now buckle your seatbelts!' I was too young to see this in the theater in '77 (I saw it on a rerelease, '82 I think), but I was 100% there for Empire Strikes Back. Nothing brings me back to childhood like that moment between the "long time ago" tease and when the Star Wars logo pops. If you were 6-10 years old at the time (at least as a boy) it was impossible to conceive of anything cooler.
I noticed that!!! Subconsciously I was like “okay, the music is about to do this thing so that must be the end of the paragraph, there we go!”
The most exciting opening in movie history!
Cast and crew of Star Wars: This movie is gonna suck.
May 25, 1977: Hold my beer.
*except for alec guinness
@@joeyk107 I thought alec Guinness personally thought it was silly and didn't realize that it would be a success.
@@justanobadi6655 I heard somewhere that even though Alec Guinness thought it was a silly movie, he thought it would make a lot of money
@@joeyk107 I think I know the interview you mean, I (and probably most people who know) just mistook his thoughts on the movie as silly as synonymous with thinking it would flop
Except for Mark Hamill.
When my family and I went to see the ORIGINAL in 1977, as soon as these credits started rolling....I turned to everyone and said.........'they have a hit'!!!! I didn't have to see the entire movie, I just knew.....I'm also a Peter Cushing fan, and was delighted that he was Governor Tarkin. Now, I'm nearly 60 and I get to see the next installment which I've been reading is gonna break all records. May the Force Be With You!!!!
+Lori Brom
And it did break!
What did you think of the movie, Lori?
it was a rehash of a new hope... it was a pathetic excuse for a star wars movie, relying too much on cameos and not becoming something new, and adapting stuff from the expanded universe. Disney has pretty much ruined star wars in a way.
***** i wouldnt mind if it was kylo losing an arm or hand
***** personally i would like if rey and ren are siblings like the solo twins jacen and jaina solo.
***** indeed, i agree 100%.
I'm imagining what it must have been like back in 1977. People were blown away. No one back then had seen or heard anything like this before. The theatres were packed. Star Wars has sold more movie tickets than anything that came out after it. In fact it's sold twice has many has Avatar. Star Wars is still the only film to become the biggest film of all time in the same year it was released. Every other film to reach number 1 did so the following year or 2 after its release.
I imagine people back then not having the nostalgic anticipation, as this was the first Star Wars anything. So they just walk in and are like, "Okay, okay....cool....cool...." and then it ends and they're like, "That was epic!"
Also "Avatar" sucks donkey balls!
Actually E.T. sold more tickets than Star Wars. Get your facts right.
And E.T. is a much better film which toppled Star Wars at the box office.
actully star wars is much more popular than ET
After seeing Rogue One, I can never see those first two paragraphs the same way ever again.
In Yavin 4 they also talk about Rogue One 😉
Agreed. They won their first victory... yay... but at what cost? The rebel spies barely escaped with the plans too. Goodness gracious!
@@EthanCruise Sort of echoes Caroline Blakiston's line in Jedi "A lot of good people died to get us this information".
Yes, Rogue has been the only film outside of the original three that I have watched over and over. Brilliant!
Ikr??
Imagine being in a movie theater in 1977 and this is what you see
Edit: just a little rephrasing.
As a kid born in 2004 I can only imagine how it would have been like watching this at a movie theater in 1977 knowing what would happen to star wars years to come
I saw it when it reached the UK in 78 (it took nearly a year to cross the Atlantic).
The book, the still pictures, the very brief clips on TV, none of them prepared me! I wish I could see it again the way I first saw it.
I was.
I saw this version on television and taped it on VHS. Saw it so many times. For me everything changed after this movie. It must have been so much more for the people who saw it in 1977.
@@paulhoffmann3405 I saw this film as a child in 1977 . I remember it like yesterday and the anticipation leading up to it. Innocent times.
I was there opening week.
The movie that made reading words on-screen fun
A new era, a begginning..nothing will the same since this point
Darth Severus the light side of the force
I was disappointed when I opened a star wars novel the other day and the words on the page didn't scroll upwards in a trapezoid-shape.
@@hobomike6935, take your cell phone, pause for the theme to play, then take the book before putting it very close to your eye and slowly get up as the music goes. Hahahahaha.
...again.
I saw this when I was 9 years old. Its been a great journey. Always and forever be a fan!
I was six when this came out, and to this day I still feel the same awe and hope when I hear the main theme.
@Sid Gallegos @@Taliesyn42 The Force is Strong in you all.
You sir are a lucky man
Same age, one of my most treasured memories.
Hope you live long and happy life, comrade.
That is why I’ll always call it Star Wars.
No one got in line to see A New Hope in 1977.
@@kaenachoo4783 Only for those who did not see the original. For those of us who did in 1977 before all the hype, it's Star Wars. That's what its name was. Not a New Hope, not IV...Star Wars.
@@kaenachoo4783 It's probably ridiculous for you because if you were born during the prequels, the subtitle was added for your generation
stischer47 We get it. It was originally just named Star Wars. But it’s a new hope now so deal with it. It wouldn’t make since now to have the 4th episode be called Star Wars.
A New Hope is a terribly week title. It's hard to imagine it being as successful if that's what it was called. "Star Wars" is a strong and intriguing title for a sci-fi adventure movie. "A New Hope" sounds like a TV movie of the week about a young widowed mother who finds love in the suburbs, or a plucky kid who learns to walk again after a car accident. Mind you, "Star Wars" never really did make sense as the name, because... why the plural? In fact, it wasn't until the prequels that the saga stopped being about just one war, and its title accurately described it for the first time.
@@filmtoppings I was born during the prequels, and maybe you didn't notice, but #hanshotfirst
You know the altered versions from TV and maybe Blu-rays/DVDs, but I'm pretty sure you never saw the original theatrical version. What a shame...
Oh dear, rest in peace Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. You both are part of cinematic history with "Star Wars" and "Singing In The Rain". Thank you!
And now David Prowse……
May the force be with them.
Rip Leia and Padme and Anakin (Darth Vader)
@@annoying_HK_guy He, too was also a part of cinematic history with A Clockwork Orange.
Seeing this comment was posted 6 years ago has kinda shook me at how long ago it was…
and Peter Mayhew (Chewie). May the force be with them.
To those who made Rogue One, thank you for doing the movie right.
Reading this crawl again will never be the same.
Rogue One is in the top 3 of all Star Wars films.
get your retarded disney autism out of here this is for actually good star wars
@@daviddemaria3982 Sorry, it’s not canon,
For me.
@@heastner bro, any real Star Wars fan must acknowledge R1 as one of the best. It simply is.
@@daviddemaria3982 Never for a Purist of Star Wars EU, (Except for S7 of The Clone Wars)
And here we are, 43 years later. Still one of the best openings to any movie ever.
And now it's 46 years later. In 2027, it will be half a century.
I do remember seeing this in its' ORIGINAL Theatrical Showing, 1977, at the tender age of six years' old. All I knew at the time, was that my dad said that the reviews called it a smash hit, and that we needed to see it. The lines were incredibly long, at the old Brighton Cinema. But we waited, along with everybody else. The Opening Theme's fanfare blasted our ears, and I *knew* that this was going to be something absolutely *magical*! We went on to see it a total of some five times in the theater, and I have subsequently seen it innumerable times on TV, VHS, and DVD. Quite literally, the only movie that I have seen more times than this one, is "Smokey and the Bandit", also from 1977...!
You saw it in Brighton? Cool, which cinema was it at?
I imagine. I had to wait until 1982.
Star Wars, E.T: and Alien. At that time I thought it will keep going so good, original and entertaining in the movies forever. We were so spoiled.
Ah, just simply Star Wars. Before the speculation, title change, fan theory’s, EU, special editions, prequels, sequels, and all the hate in the community. Just a simple movie called Star Wars that was about a princess, a scoundrel, and a farm boy. Nothing more than that.
TheSoloTrooper And a film with no pretentious. Good, campy, silly fun.
Dunno. There was some subtext and archetypical fairy tale stuff going on... it was definetely more than just silly fun. Silly fun was the surface. Below was a story to believe in good in people and believing you can make a change.
What about tesb and Rotj?
Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
R u a sequel hater? Or are you actually a good person that understands things and thinks the sequels were GOOD?
@@DarrylErickson He's neither. He's just admiring the simplicity of the first days
I love how the original opening crawl for the first Star Wars movie released in 1977 describes a movie that wasn't made until 2016, almost 40 years later. Of course that was all planned retroactively, but it's still pretty amazing.
The original opening introduction is cool
2016? The hell you talking about?
@@jacknedry3925 Rogue One
@@a_literal_brick,
Disney Star Wars... those movies are derivative trash.
@@jacknedry3925 generally yes, but Rogue One is the exception in my opinion. It was actually made with care and respect for the source material, and it's just a good movie in its own right.
It was just called Star Wars back then.
the 1981 release saw the words “Episode IV, A New Hope”
Glad to hear this. Bought the 95 VHS tapes and was mad when I saw a new hope on it.
A legend was born. This still gives me the chills.
I just love how the music is synchronized with the crawl. That was lost after "A New Hope" was added, and never again accomplished by any of the other episodes.
Empire and Return still have the last paragraph synchronized. TFA and TLJ do as well, though for some reason the prequels abandoned that idea. Why they haven't adjusted the timing on this opening crawl to sync but felt the need to add a bunch of CGI lizards and rocks to Tatooine is even less clear.
Only John Williams to give chills thanks to his genius
If I had a Time Machine, I’d travel back to May 1977 on opening night to experience the birth of one of the greatest franchises ever made. My Dad told me stories as to how shocked and amazed crowds in the theatre were. Him and my Grandpa actually snuck back in to watch it a second time. I wish I could experience that night just for once!
It was amazing in the theatre, at least to a young boy. Remember that we didn't have the expections of watching at home later, so the theatre was the only place for most people to see it. I saw Star Wars seven times that summer.
It looks so naked and vulnerable without it's episode IV title.
A New Hope is a crappy title
+Daniel Robertson if I had my way, the films would go
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
+Daniel Robertson Wow, youre a special little snowflake aren't you.
The film was originally called just "Star Wars", so, the Star Wars crest is actually the same as the "Episode IV", "A NEW HOPE" lines they added in 1997. But, of course, since Empire Strikes Back, it has been also the crest for the whole saga.
more like waaaaay better
whenever I hear the 20th century music I associate it with the Star Wars theme...
They are in the same key of B flat major, making the Fox Fanfare seem like a prelude to John Williams epic main theme. Fun Fact: John Williams was the pianist in the Fox orchestra when this version of the fanfare was recorded in 1954.
This was the first colored American film my father watched. He came from a not so rich family. So when he decided to watch a film for the first time on the big screen, he was lucky enough that Star Wars came out at the time. Then I remember him buying a whole set of Star Wars CDs from Episode 4 to 6 in the 90's. That's why when Star Wars came out again on 1999 he dragged me and my sister along.
Yes, that is the crawl I remember back in ‘77. Like finding an old friend.
Fun fact: This text crawl was Brian De Palma's idea. When he watched the movie before it came out, he constantly complained to George how he doesn't get the story and doesn't know who the characters are and needed some explanation.
There was always an opening crawl. Problem was that it was too long and expository. De Palma helped Lucas revise it to what we see on screen.
@@kamdan2011 Thank you for clarifying this!!!
Almost 45 years later, still doesn't and will never get old.
Wow!! Star Wars is simply BEAUTIFUL. Even today, there's nothing like it. Nothing like it!!!
just think, the words you just read are still floating through space
You noticed the word “Rebel” was not capitalized. That was fixed in 1981
May the 4th be with you.
When those trumpets hit 42-year-old me still gets as hyped as 7-year-old me did hearing it for the very first time.
Still leaves me feeling like I can run through a f*****g wall!
A long, long time ago...I was eight-years-old in a theatre in Los Angeles watching this movie in 1977. Of course that was after battling alongside my parents to get through the largest movie line I had ever seen. That line went around the building and went on for at least another block-and-a-half. My eyes opened WIDE at this intro and they continued to stay wide open as I watched this movie. The irony is that my parents had fallen asleep sometime through the movie but I stayed awake the entire time! The memories...
The best and most epic score of all time!
Proud to be a Star Wars fan
To the people who first saw it grand opening. 0:01 get ready 1977. A new role of Cinema is about to hit the world!
40 years ago today. I was 10 years old. My Grades were never the same
So your born in 1967? Wow. I wish I could’ve been born then.
My father was born 1975 and has vivid memory of seeing this in 1978.
45 Years folks! May the force still be with you!
I just got home from watching The Empire Strikes Back with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra playing all the music live. It was probably the coolest Star Wars experience of my life. To hear this score live...it gave me (and I'm sure everyone else in the audience) chills. We all cheered wildly with the crashing opening score as the STAR WARS logo lit up the screen from edge to edge - such a brilliant evening! If you ever get the chance to watch your city's orchestra play to a Star Wars movie, just do it - there no better way to appreciate John Williams' brilliant scores.
one thing i've always loved about Star Wars intros: they start out giving you "a little background" unlike those other cheap space movies.
Examples for cheap space movies?
Thank you dad for making me watch this when I was 4
I saw STAR WARS in the theater as a kid and it blew my mind. Never experienced anything like it since. When Empire was released I stayed in the theater all day watching it over and over. Back then, no assigned seats and they let you stay for repeat showings. Did the same for Return of the Jedi.
I was born in 1986, and I actually didn't watch any of the Star Wars movies until around 2015, and I just recently got my hands on the unaltered original trilogy, although I had of course always known about the franchise.
I found it really amazing from the beginning, but I ended up liking the original trilogy a lot better than the movies after that, and I typically watch those movies, and leave it at that.
My father was born in 1956, and he had apparently watched the Star Wars movies back in the 70s and 80s, even though he usually isn't particularly interested at all in fiction, so it seems as if everyone was very familiar with that franchise.
I usually imagine the immediate popularity of the "Star Wars" movies to have had sort of the same impact as the "Lord Of The Rings" movies.
I'm sure it was awesome and I envy you. I was born in 89 - 12 years later.
@@Peter_1986 How did you get your hands on the unaltered originals? and wow. your father is almost as old as my father. My mom was born in 56 and my dad in 57.
@@StaticBlaster Try searching for the despecialized editions by Harmy;
those videos should be readily available.
I would have liked to give more information than that, but TH-cam seems really aggressive with censorship whenever I so much as mention any of these versions;
but the stuff that I have managed to write in this post should be good enough.
@@StaticBlaster
They will be on the Internet Archive site.
You know that first note scared the shit out of the audience when the opening crawl began. I can’t even imagine seeing this in theaters with no prior knowledge of anything Star Wars related.
First, one has to appreciate that you weren't seeing this on your 70" flat-screen or even your home theater. No, you were sitting in a dark cinema, (no cell phones), popcorn in hand with 700 other people, with a great, big, glorious W-I-D-E-S-C-R-E-E-N projection in front of you. Plus, absolutely NOTHING like Star Wars had ever been seen before: The HUUUUGE ships, dazzling FX, characters, story, music, imagination, ALL of it a perfect storm of movie making. First, the opening "crawl", set to John William's rousing score, then we look down to see planets in front of us. Suddenly, the first ship zooms overhead, laser bolts flying back and forth. You knew they were running from something but . . . HOLY SMOKES!! The ginourmous star destroyer, its rumbling engines rattling your teeth, glides into view from somewhere behind you, so close you want to duck and look back over your shoulder. And then it just keeps on coming and there's just more, . . . and more . . . and MORE, almost as if there would be no end.
And in that moment, you and the 700 other people all KNEW the next two hours were going to be pure magic!
And they were. :oD
If time travel ever becomes available, I'm going to the Star Wars premiere night in 1977
No matter how old the sound and everything is it's still awesome
and the vfx beat the vfx of today!
Evergreen
45 Years and Star Wars is still the greatest thing on Earth
Especially the original trilogy...very few movies in general even come close.
I wonder how many people jumped when they first saw the movie and the title theme started, I mean it just starts right away, and many people probably didn’t see it coming…..
Man this is one of those moments in media that never fails to give me chills
for over 30 years, i only had one hero, and that hero was named luke skywalker. disney tried to destroy you, but i promise you, they failed. luke skywalker, you represent the hope and the heroism we all look for in life. thank you luke, thank you so much for everything you have done for me. you will forever be my hero.
You can never know the affect this intro and the ships sequence had on a six year old kid sitting in the audience back 1977. Sure 2001 was great, but the special effects in it was more like watching paint dry than the fast moving fighters in Star Wars.
Greatest Movie Franchise of all time....no exceptions
45 years since this movie came out, man does time fly.
According to this R2 unit, the titles are as follows:
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Revenge of the Jedi
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
jdmikeg4 that’s really weird
Actually, the third one down is “Return of the Jedi.” Lucas changed it shortly before the release because revenge isn’t a Jedi trait.
I know it's weird films
The first three are known as 4, 5 and 6
Well, they've been renamed. But those are the names they were under. No numbers in the titles.
One of the best openings in Cinema history
This theme is familiar to practically EVERY SINGLE PERSON on Earth.
If humans are still in existence one million years from now, this will still be played.
Watching the original trilogy is the greatest movie experience of my life.
I am sure that untold millions feel the same.
This is forever.
Humanity's intergalactic anthem.
Cool the opening INTRODUCTION
I took my daughter to see Rogue. She filmed the words on her phone and posted to tiktok. So happy she passed on the legendary opening
bro huh
can you fucking imagine? Those people had no fuckin' idea what they were in store for. Absolutely unreal to have been able to see this on release.
40 years on, still gives me goosebumps.
We were, indeed, blown away by this film in 1977. The special effects were unlike anything we’d seen before and the score was spectacular.
You don't have goosebumps.....
It's the force inside you
It was Huyang all along
Oh man I remember my dad putting this on with me at 8 years old I loved these movies ever since he had the theatrical releases on blu ray no matter how old I will always watch them on may the 4th
Every time I see opening titles crawl and hear the music I have that dumb smile one my face. Cried lots of times in cinema during it too. No other movie can't do this.
My god even the opening logos were changed
I thought he change is fine
Hold on ik someone called Julian C
This is my favorite text crawl in any Star Wars film. Just the quality and the tidbits of different instruments inside it that give it that Star Wars magic. I like it better than the other movies, with the exception of all the prequels.
1977 opening crawl will always be my fave. Back in the day! Back then you could take your car to a drive-in theatre with a bag of popcorn and a soda to watch this! May the Force be with you all. 😊🍿🥤
When I was a kid watching this on betamax the low resolution gave me the impression the words were going off and becoming stars. Made me think every point of light in the sky was some incredible story.
Watching the original makes one realise just how inaccurate all those Sony Vegas tutorials showing 'how to make Star Wars title crawl' really are. At no point do the original titles get trimmed or cut off - they fade nicely into the distance.
I just finished a project where I got the crawl to disappear (for the most part) into space. th-cam.com/video/iVFBqSq_PVQ/w-d-xo.html
They had to film the title here though so a totally different thing. The way they made this crawl was by having a piece of glass with the words painted on it and then filming it on an angle as the glass piece was slowly moved away from the camera by a motor
@@user-xg8yy7yl1d Practical shooting at its finest
@@georgeboultadakis2215 indeed...
Legend has it that those words are still floating off farther and farther into space…
45 years on........and the first blast of that theme music STILL makes me shiver!
I saw Star Wars back in '77 at the movies and it was epic then and is still epic now. The film completely transported you to another world. You were just lost in it in the movie theatre. It was inescapable and fuckin' glorious!
I'm amazed by the vision of George Lucas. Starting a franchise with episode IV, having so much material for a prequel story.
My friend got to see this movie in theaters in 1977. Lucky him. (Yes, he's still a Star Wars fan.)
I saw it first in the English seasidetown Bognor Regis in 1980.
I saw Star Wars at the Har-Mar theater in Roseville MN, built in 1970. The theater was unusually lavish for its day, with Venetian crystal chandeliers, English tapestries and plush red carpeting. Also, it was equipped with what was then cutting-edge projection and sound technology. The movie came out in Dolby Stereo. I remember looking at the ceiling when the spaceships were passing 'overhead' because the sound was moving all around between the speakers. This also made the film score breathtaking. I will never forget this experience!
May 25th 1977 I was there watching in the cinema 😃
This originally came out 20 years before I was born yet this still feels nostalgic to me
It feels nostalgic to almost everyone
Same
If I only had one chance to go back in time to see a film on its premier day, this would definitely be that film.
Goosebumps... even 47 years later...
Was 16 when this movie came out (now 60) and still have my boyish enthusiasm for this great iconic film.
The movie that changed everything Star Wars
Released forty-five years ago today : Star Wars May 4, 1977 . It's May 4, 2022 .May the fourth be with you for years to come.
It was released on May 25th, 1977. Not May 4th.
I can still vividly remember the first time seeing the commercial for the movie when it came out. I was at my friends house and I remember thinking I'd never seen anything like this in my life. And just then my friends dad walked in, stopped for a moment to watch it, and said and I quote "It'll be a flop" oh well so much for that.
Let’s just go ahead and say it: the most ICONIC movie opening in cinema history!
1:13-1:14 You hear the trumpets?
Ok
My dad waited 10 hours (5 showings) outside of a theater to watch Star Wars. He said that nobody had ever seen anything like it at the time and it was amazing.
That's because idiots don't watch 2001: A Space Odyssey.
When I saw it in 1977, the drive-in movie theater I was in was packed. Just about every one was sneaking people inside in the trunks of cars just to see the movie.
@@MrMathExpert Your statement doesn't make sense. I saw 2001 in 1968 when it came out, as well as Star Wars in 1977. Was amazed and entralled by both for different reasons.
@@stischer47 Admit it: you are a stupid fanboy that doesn't know any better. The franchise is grossly overrated. 2001 is the king of sci-fi pictures whose excellence is unmatched forever.
@@stischer47 While I greatly respect the imagination and craftsmanship that "Star Wars" used to elevate the quality of cinematic science fiction (or space opera), the standout film for my seven year old brain in 1968 was "2001: A Space Odyssey". While I did not understand the story until reading the novel later, the crisp 70mm visuals of 2001 changed the DNA in my brain and caused me to choose filmmaking as a career. Kubrick's first producer said upon viewing a rough cut of 2001 before its premiere, "it seems like a documentary sent to us from the future."
The original trilogy was definitely the “golden days” of Star Wars 👌
I would have loved to seen this in theatres when it originally came out in ‘77
It was only playing in 37 theaters on opening day of May 25, 1977. By the following month, there were 350 theaters showing it. Luckily, one of the initial 37 was the legendary Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
I saw it in 1977. I was 9 years old. Blown Away!!!!!!!
Forget the sequel trilogy. I stick to the prequel and the original trilogy.
@@jackson2531 bomb?! Don't say that! 1-6 is success!
It's just a figure of speech, but I guess I will change that up if you want.
I will only stick with the originals because:
Prequels- Good plots but badly executed because of acting and dialogue
Sequels- greatly executed, well acted and good dialogue but awful concepts and stupid stories
@@leburns6996 Best way of putting it
@@leburns6996 Also gotta give them credit in the prequels for the lightsaber choreography. Probably my favorite parts of the prequels, along with Palpatine.
Happy birthday Star Wars!!!!
We can all agree that A New Hope is way more original, vivid, and better overall than The Rise of Skywalker.
A New Hope is a masterpiece, The Rise Of Skywalker is a piece of shit.
Sure, although both are cool
The sequel trilogy shouldn't even exist
@@gregglee438 That's what they used to say about the prequels.
@@gregglee438 You're right. The sequel trilogy is GARBAGE!! Shouldn't exist!!
MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU! ⭐️
Lovely film, I do hope there will be a sequel
Thanks to Ahsoka, we get that first line every STAR WARS heart has needed to hear (S1 E6)
"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away"
Star Wars is 45 years old today!
I may have not been alive to see the original in theaters, but this intro will always give me goosebumps