- These days, nerds are everywhere. They're out there writing best-selling books about zombie invasions, boy wizards, and uncomfortably adolescent vampires. In the film world, they're either making movies under the delusion that grindhouse films are worth resurrecting or premiering superhero movie trailers at comic-book conventions. And then there's the internet. There, nerds unquestionably hold the reins, constantly inserting pirates, ninjas, and Rick Astley in places where they don't belong, which is pretty much everywhere. Wikipedia, online nerdiness in its purest form, will happily provide you with those Klingon phrases you've been searching for, complete with footnotes. But nerds, listen up: George Lucas was here first.
- The thing that impresses me most about Lucas' particular form of nerdiness is that it samples from such seemingly distinct categories. I mean, this is a guy who must have equal amounts of love for samurai films, science fiction serials, and WWII "impossible mission" movies. Certainly it is possible to watch Star Wars without knowing anything about Alexander Nevsky, Akira Kurosawa, or Gustav Holst, but Lucas and his crew definitely know about them and are more than happy to reference them thematically, visually, and musically. Another impressively nerdy thing is Lucas' tremendous dedication to creating a truly intricate universe for his characters to occupy. When the heroes saunter into the local alien cantina and encounter all manner of beastie, you can be certain that each of those aliens has a name and a backstory. While similarly elaborate universes had, to some extent, always been present in literature (from Greek mythology to The Lord of the Rings), Star Wars remains one of the first and best cinematic presentations of such a memorably rich set of worlds.
- But now I'm halfway through the review without having said anything about the film itself. What struck me most upon my recent rewatching of Star Wars was how tactile and grimy everything is. Far from the disappointingly sterile CGI-laden domains of the later films, the cluttered Jawa cruiser and "space jalopy" Millennium Falcon occupy a universe that has most definitely been lived-in. Even C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) look like they've "seen some action," much of which arrives early on when the two robotic "droids" escape to the desert world of Tatooine from a Rebel ship that has been invaded by the dastardly Empire. Governed by the dessicated Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), the Empire's primary mission, in fact, seems to be to clean up this mess of a Universe at any cost. Its most fearsome enforcer, also the film's greatest creation, is the forbidding Darth Vader.
- Played by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones, Vader is one of the great movie villains of all time. When he first bursts into the Rebel ship to interrogate the indomitable Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), his terrifying black mask and stertorous mechanical breathing make it unclear if Vader is even human, a question that would only be settled in the sequel. As Vader scours the Galaxy for stolen plans that could spell doom for the Empire's battlestation (the superbly-named Death Star), it is only an unlikely alliance between a young farmhand named Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), a mysterious hermit called Obi-Wan Kenobi (Sir Alec Guinness), the brazen smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and his redoubtable hairy sidekick, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), that can rescue the Princess and, of course, save the Galaxy. Without a doubt, Guinness and Ford turn in great performances. Others are less impressive, but the success of the film would guarantee that all of these characters would quickly become iconic.
- Ultimately, the nerdiest thing about Star Wars may be its legacy. According to "boxofficemojo.com," none of the 100 highest-grossing movies of all time are science fiction films that were released prior to 1977. If you include the years 1977 and following, however, suddenly seven of the top 20 highest-grossing films of all time are science fiction. Four of those are Star Wars films. You can debate whether or not the popularization of revolutionary special effects and lighthearted escapism had a net positive or negative influence on filmmaking over the last 30 years, but it is undeniable that Star Wars was an influential film. It was the first entry in the defining film series of my childhood, and I'm sure my fellow nerds out there would happily admit the same thing.
- Since I can't possibly list all the trivia I (and others) know about this film, let me just explain the box office stats. First, I considered domestic grosses adjusted for inflation, naturally. Second, about half the movies on the list were made prior to 1977, so the fact that all the popular sci-fi came after Star Wars is significant, although Close Encounters of the Third Kind was nearly a contemporary. The real question in my mind was whether 2001: A Space Odyssey did sufficiently well to make the list, but apparently not.
