Star Wars (1997)

Star Wars (1997)

aka Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (20th Anniversary version)

starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford

directed by George Lucas

123 minutes

I went to see Star Wars (1977) tonight at the AFI Silver Theater. I wasn't sure which version they were going to show. I hoped that it would be the original theatrical version. I guessed wrong. It was the 1997 version that I saw tonight. I saw the 20th anniversary version of Star Wars (1977) in theater in 1997. I didn't like it then. This is the second time I have seen it since 1997 and I still don't like what George Lucas' tinkering does to the original.

I can honestly say that I don't think the 1997 re-release of Star Wars (1977) improves on the original in any way, shape, or form. I don't think that retroactively putting Jabba the Hut and Boba Fett in Episode IV benefited the movie in any way. I don't think the little creatures and droids crawling around in the background, which were not in the original version of the movie, added anything positive to the movie. I don't think that updating the special effects in the space battles added anything.

When I think back to what it was like seeing the tarted up version in the movie theater, it felt like someone had taken a beloved image or comic book and drawn more stuff on it with a ball point pen, or markets, or crayons. The original movie was great. It didn't need George Lucas to go back in and futz with it. Hopefully someday I will be able to see the original versions of the first three films in the theater again. It annoys me to no end that I cannot do that today.