TOPIC: ESB and Growing Up

So, here we are at chapter two of the saga, which coincided with the start of a new chapter in my life as well.

It is July 1980. High School graduation was just a couple of months ago. I am working at a "stop & rob" in northern Texas. I had no idea what was next for me, as I had no real plans at this point. I am aware that there has been a new Star Wars movie out for a couple of months, but this is a really small town, so it does not arrive here at our little one-horse theater on release day back in May. In fact, the nearest theater where I can go see it is a good 100 mile drive. I want to see it badly, and I know I will when it finally arrives locally, but thankfully at that time spoiler material was not as prevalent as it is these days, so I still knew practically nothing about it.

So, one day I am at work, and in through the door walks a Marine recruiter. Weird thing was, he was not there for a heat-lamp burrito and a Coke. He was looking for me. Wuh??? Turns out, he had already talked to my older brother who had committed to sign-up, and when asked for a referral, he pointed the guy right at me! Holy hell! I had never seriously considered the military, let alone the Marine Corps. However, at that moment in time, two factors came into play. One was my aforementioned lack of a plan for what was to come next. The second was some primal macho instinct to not let my older brother do yet another thing in life that was better than anything I did. Some horseshit competitive thing between brothers. So, I said yes.

So, roll a few days forward, my brother and I are driving to Amarillo, Texas for all of the testing, and paperwork associated with enlistment into the Marine Corps. After a day of signing papers, and taking the ASVAB test, we were ready to depart for home. On our way out of town, we see a theater where there were two movies playing (Back then, Multi-Plex theaters were not so common). One was "Urban Cowboy", and the other was "The Empire Strikes Back". We decided to go see a movie! For a bright moment, I thought my brother wanted to see ESB too, but it did not take long before I figured out that "Urban Cowboy" was his reason for stopping for a movie. I remember feeling a sense of disappointment, but also resignation. It was finally clear that our despite loving all the same things when we were kids, our interests had diverged to the point where we had little left in common.

As luck would have it, the two movies started within minutes of each other, so he bought a ticket for UC, and I bought one for ESB. As I sat, waiting for the lights to go down, I remembered back to '77, when I first saw Star Wars, and the excitement for this new chapter quickly supplanted any thoughts of familial separation. When the movie began, I was swept up in this universe again quickly, and to be honest, I would not be surprised if someone had come up to me when it was over to tell me my mouth was hanging open for the entirety of the film! It was familiar, and different in ways I could not articulate in my young mind, but I knew I had just had the best movie experience of my life!

I loved seeing the familiar characters moving forward, and the new ones making their mark on the saga. And to top it all off, a cliff-hanger ending? Get right the hell out of town! When it was over, I sought out my brother, and we began the long drive home. We both tried to talk about the movies we had just seen, and I think it struck both of us that the other was just being polite in their indulgence of the others experience. So, it ended up being a long, slightly uncomfortable silence while we both (no doubt) pondered the shift in our relationship of which we were both now acutely aware.

I think looking back, it was not so much anything specific to us, but rather a moment we all arrive at eventually when we start becoming our own person. For us, that moment actually began years before when his interest in Star Wars was a passing one, if it ever even amounted to that; and this Star Wars movie was confirmation of what began back then. To this day, I don't know if he has ever even seen ESB, or any of the other movies for that matter. I just know that Star Wars was already an indelible part of my life at that point, and there has been no let-up since.

Stay tuned for my Return of the Jedi experience...

That was a good read Brax, thanks!

For me Empire Strikes Back is and always will be my favorite of all the Star Wars movies. I was only 4 when it came out but growing up it was the one i saw the most.

Most of my friend's favorite characters were either Han, Luke, or Boba Fett...mine was/is Darth Vader! (although Luke is a close second). One of the other reasons why Empire remains my favorite is the introduction of Yoda! Empire for me is one of those movies that if its on I'll stop doing whatever I'm doing, sit down and watch it!

Empire Strikes Back has it all....action, drama, a love story, bounty hunters!, Yoda!, a great lightsaber fight, the identity of Vader, and a great cliffhanger ending!

Thanks!

I feel like I am kind of revealing more of myself than I intended, but it kind of goes hand in hand with my Star Wars experience with each movie. In this thread, I am not so much reviewing the movie, as much as I am chronicling the circumstances in my life at the time, and how each of the movies had an effect on that stage of my life. Kind of strange, as it is actually not something I have conversations about, but in this forum, in this thread, it does not feel out of place to me.

Wow, thanks for sharing. You were really tracking Luke in a lot of ways. You had a lot in common with Luke during this time. You were going into adulthood and going into training, and so was he in ESB. In the 77 film, you were both just learning who you are. I'm not trying to over-analyze you, but I could definitely see how you could enjoy and identify with these movies. Honestly, that's probably true for a lot of us.