I am actually kind of glad that I get to make the inaugural post in this area. So, get comfy 'cause there is a story coming, and most likely will have sequels in all of the movie threads! It's not so much a review, or commentary on the movie itself, as much as it is how Star Wars came to be a part of my life, and the effect it had on me.
Ok Sherman...set the Way-Back Machine to June 1977! That reference will likely be lost on the younger members, but to folks anywhere around my age, you know what I mean. But, I digress - I am 15 years old, currently on summer break from school, and spending WAY too much time in local arcade. I am making some change by helping clean-up around the place, which I usually end up pouring right back into the game machines.
While going about my routine at the arcade, I am overhearing conversations from regulars who have recently seen this movie called "Star Wars". I recall having a vague recollection at the time, of seeing a quick advertisement on television which showed absolutely NO footage from the movie. Just an imposing voice saying "Coming to a galaxy near you...Star Wars!", followed by a big explosion in a star field background. Now, even back then, I was a pretty ardent sci-fi fan, but this one really had not gotten my attention, mainly due to the lackluster advertising. They are damned lucky that word of mouth drove this thing through the roof, because their marketing at the beginning was not reaching their target audiences. Again, I digress - By now, the buzz has sounded so overwhelmingly good, that I decided to pull myself away from the arcade for a Saturday morning to check it out.
Now I live in the Central Valley of California, so the summers are HOT. 100+ degree days are not uncommon at all, and the summer of '77 was particularly warm. So, my decision to ride my bike to the closest theater showing this movie was not a trivial one. I remember thinking to myself "This better be worth it!". It was about 5 miles away, and by late morning it was already in the 90s outside, so I was a sweaty mess when I got there. Once I got there, I secured the bike and walked over to the posters in the showcase outside the box office. Right next to each other were posters for "Star Wars", and "Smokey and the Bandit". I was half tempted to just see the Burt Reynolds movie just because I had enjoyed a lot of his previous movies, so I was pretty sure this one would not disappoint. Then I looked closer at "Star Wars" poster. The imagery was kind of comic-book like, and eye-catching. The overly muscled youth holding something that looked like a long range beacon of some kind, the fetching female in a low-cut tight dress. OK, teen-ager buttons pushed. Then I notice the robots in the background...OK, interest piqued...a fleet of what appear to be fighter planes headed towards a metallic looking planet...interesting...the silhouette of a dark, macabre mask, that looked kind of evil. OK, this imagery was hitting all the right notes, and at that moment, the sci-fi geek in me took over, and the decision was made.
Now, back then, when you bought your ticket and they say "Retain your ticket stub", they actually meant it. They had ushers at the door, and if you did not have your stub, you did not get in. Having some experience with this in the past, I was good there. I was alone, which even then made me feel a bit self-conscious. But, there were not that many people in the first showing, so I could relax.
About 20 minutes later, after a little second guessing about whether I had made the right decision, the screen lit up, and I would say at this point that, it was a red-letter moment in my life. Things would never be quite the same as they were before that. When the Star Destroyer started its long fly over, I instinctively knew that this was something I had never remotely experienced, and already LOVED!
What followed in the next 2 hours solidified, and exceeded that initial experience with every passing minute. So much so, that every weekend for the next three months (yeah, movies used to hang around that long), I was there, in that same theater watching that movie. I wish I could tell you how many times I saw it that summer, but I honestly lost track. I did get my brothers to go with me to see it, and they thought it was OK, but when it was over, decided to try to sneak into the theater showing "Smokey and the Bandit", just to feel like they had not totally wasted their day. Instinctively, I knew at that moment that our interests had reached a fork in the road, which has prevailed from that day forward.
I fell head over heels in love with Star Wars that first time, and found out the hard way that not everyone was going to feel that way. But, I also found out that there were SO many of us that were on-board that it was pretty easy to find someone to talk to about it who felt the same way. During my life, I have found creative outlets like this, and folks like you who felt (to varying degrees) the same thing I felt that day in 1977 about Star Wars. It became an integral part of me, and helped shape, and mold my social interactions/preferences ever since.
My guess is most of you had a similar experience, albeit not quite so long ago. So, some of this might sound kind of familiar. However your first Star Wars experience went, we all have a common bond in our love for that galaxy far, far away.