Star Wars

 
In late December 1967, 20^th Century Fox released what they hoped would be the year’s biggest box office hit and a major awards season contender, the $17M musical extravaganza “Doctor Dolittle”.  That same week, the relatively unknown Embassy Pictures released the new film from young Broadway director Mike Nichols, the $3M coming-of-age comedy “The Graduate”.  Looking back, “Doctor Dolittle” would go on to become one of the most notorious financial flops of its time; “The Graduate” would end up as not only the top earner of the year, but also one of the biggest moneymakers of the decade.

The baton had been symbolically passed, from the big studio era of large exotic epics and high concept musicals of the late 1950s and 1960s to the New Hollywood group of directors that would dominate the industry for the next generation.  Along with the success of “Bonnie and Clyde” earlier in 1967, “The Graduate” demonstrated that audiences craved the vision of an individual filmmaker over the product produced by the major studio heads.  But as with all things, this too would pass, as only ten years later, the industry would begin to see the pendulum swing back to the conglomerates.

1977 would open with an essential new voice.  Beginning with George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” in 1968 and broadening with Tobe Hooper’s “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” in 1974, cult films broke ground in the development of independent cinema, showcasing the power of low-budget genre filmmaking.  The form would reach its creative height with the arrival of David Lynch and “Eraserhead” in March, combining terror with humor and his surrealistic visual genius for a uniquely challenging experience.  Expanding its audience with Romero’s sequel “Dawn of the Dead” in 1978, midnight movies captured societal anxieties and cemented horror as a vehicle for profound cultural commentary.  Also early in the year, the equally neurotic but much more accessible filmmaker Woody Allen would release his greatest film, ultimately becoming his highest grossing movie as well as his Best Picture winning achievement.

Allen began his career as a television comedy writer, before becoming a stand-up comedian in the early 1960’s and debuting as a film director in 1966.  In fact, Allen was already forty and had completed a full six features before he began his work on what would be “Annie Hall”.  And although he had always planned for it to be a more ambitious production, as he had on each of his successively more profitable previous releases, he could not have anticipated the adoration by audiences and critics alike that greeted his latest effort.

Clearly intended to say something more than his previous comedies, the film dealt with Allen’s well-known obsessions of life, love and death, but replaced farce with naturalism.  Grounded by the extraordinary and nuanced comedic performance of Diane Keaton, the movie expanded its audience beyond Allen’s loyal and faithful New York fan base.  With a charm and intelligence that was undeniable, “Annie Hall” redefined the romantic comedy for a new generation.

But this was all before the summer.  Or, more specifically, May 25, 1977.  Because on that day, a largely unanticipated space opera titled “Star Wars” opened on less than fifty screens across the country.  Written and directed by the novice filmmaker George Lucas, whose previous film “American Graffiti” had surprised audiences and critics in 1973, the movie would attract eager crowds, exceeding all expectations and grossing $2M its opening weekend.  Quickly expanding theaters and increasing audience, it would eventually be shown on over a thousand screens and gross $400M+ during its initial release, obliterating the record set by “Jaws” only two years earlier.

In a world now drowning in Disney, Marvel, and – yes – Star Wars content, it is difficult to imagine the landscape to which the original film was introduced.  Comic books, sci-fi and fantasy were still a niche market, with almost no mainstream acceptance.  Movies were realistic, gritty, and largely for adults, leaving an opening for a magical blockbuster that Lucas had imagined by blending elements from mythology, westerns, and samurai films, inspired by the “hero’s journey” and influenced by the serials of Flash Gordon.

In hindsight, “Star Wars” is clearly more than the sum of its inspirations; it is no less than the greatest fantasy adventure ever adapted for the silver screen, edited to a flawless two-hour runtime and underlaid with one of the greatest scores in cinema history.  Building unforgettable characters from proven archetypes and expanding its scope and stakes with each set piece, it created the formula by which summer blockbusters are still judged to this day.  As a child, there was no comparable feeling to sitting in your theater seat, watching Darth Vader square Luke Skywalker’s ship in his sights, only to be saved at the last moment by the unexpected return of Han Solo, reassuring him with cocksure bravado that “you’re all clear, kid – now let’s blow this thing and go home”, culminating in the explosive destruction of the Death Star.  Almost fifty years on, it is still the most undeniably exhilarating film sequence one can ever hope to experience.

The impact of “Star Wars” on the industry was both immediate and decisive.  Released just four weeks later, William Friedkin’s ambitious and expensive adventure “Sorcerer”, his follow up to “The Exorcist”, was largely ignored, as was Martin Scorsese’s aspiring and lavish musical “New York, New York”, his first project after “Taxi Driver”.  Ironically, the ambitions of New Hollywood had resulted in high concepts and excess spend, initial warning signs foretelling the end of this era, as films like “The Fall of the Roman Empire” and “Doctor Dolittle” had foretold the end of the studios reign a decade earlier. 

The year would end with the release of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi blockbuster.  While not as highly grossing as his previous film, it was a huge success and solidified the arrival of Spielberg and Lucas to the moviegoing public.  Their influence would only grow as the industry continued to evolve.