STAR WARS

"STAR WARS"
(1977) (Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford) (PG)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Minor	Minor	Mild	Minor	*Heavy

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Minor	None	Minor	None	Minor

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
None	Minor	Minor	Minor	*Extreme

QUICK TAKE:: Sci-Fi: A young farm hand joins the rebellion against an evil galactic Empire.

PLOT:: In a galaxy far, far away (and a long time ago), a small band of rebels battles the evil, totalitarian Empire that is attempting to squash their resistance. The Empire has built a moon-sized weapon, the Death Star, which is capable of destroying planets in one shot. Princess Leia (CARRIE FISHER) of the rebellion has stolen plans for the weapon and hides them in R2D2, a small 'droid, hoping that it, and its companion 'droid, C3PO, will find Obi-Wan Kenobi (ALEC GUINNESS). He's an old jedi knight who believes in an all-powerful "force." The 'droids, however, first encounter Luke Skywalker (MARK HAMILL), a young farm boy who buys them for farm work. Once he hears Leia's recorded plea for help, he takes the 'droids and finds Obi- Wan and a renegade pilot, Han Solo (HARRISON FORD) who transports them on their mission. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan's evil counterpart and former student, Darth Vader (voice of JAMES EARL JONES), sets out to find the stolen plans and destroy the last vestiges of the rebellion.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Of course they will.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG: Rated PG for sci-fi violence and brief mild language.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: MARK HAMILL plays an over eager young man who comes to believe in the "force" and helps the rebellion battle the Empire.
JAMES EARL JONES is the voice of the evil ruler who wishes to dominate the galaxy.
HARRISON FORD plays a mercenary who helps out the others only for the money involved although he does come around at the end.; JAMES EARL JONES is the voice of the evil ruler who wishes to dominate the galaxy.
HARRISON FORD plays a mercenary who helps out the others only for the money involved although he does come around at the end.; HARRISON FORD plays a mercenary who helps out the others only for the money involved although he does come around at the end.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

OUR TAKE: 7 out of 10: The biggest sci-fi film of all time, "Stars Wars" is still every bit as enjoyable as it was when it was released twenty years ago and still spawns pallid and vastly inferior imitations. While "Jaws" was the first true summer blockbuster, "Star Wars" was the first "must see" event that landed in theaters a scant two years later. Sure it's goofy at times and does look a bit aged, but the enhanced special effects and new digital sound give this film a much needed face lift. Of course they couldn't do anything about Hamill's "gee whiz" acting or Fisher's "cinnabun" hairdo, but all of that just adds to the movie's charm. Rarely has a film been a more true representation of good vs. evil and that's what allows this film to stand the test of time. While it does rely heavily on special effects, Hollywood confused that with what really drove this film -- its theme and plot. Since then, flash has ruled over substance and that's why most sci-fi films pale in comparison to this one. This film did, however, boost the era of the summer blockbuster, led to the onslaught of movie sequels (its two broke new financial ground at the time), and forever changed the way that films would be made. We enjoyed the production as much today as we did twenty years ago and give it a big 7 out of 10.

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:: While "Violence" and "Guns/Weapons" received extreme and heavy ratings, that’s only because of the quantity of use and occurrence throughout the movie. None of the deaths are by any means graphic (most are like kids playing "cops ‘n robbers" where people fall down when "hit"), but there are lots of people dieing from laser shots and thus the extreme ratings. Some may argue with that rating, but violence is violence and when scores of people are killed (and millions in one scene) that ranks as extreme by our ratings definition. Other than that, there's not much to object to in this film.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: Aliens in a "cantina" drink some sort of beverage (since the setting resembles a bar, it's assumed that they’re drinking some sort of liquor).

BLOOD/GORE: Luke returns home to find his uncle and aunt dead, and their burned and smoking skeletal remains are briefly seen from a distance.
A cut off arm is seen and a little blood flows from it.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: Obviously Vader and the rest of the Empire have both.
Han calls Obi-Wan, "Old man" and "Old fossil."
Han gets involved only for the money, though by the end he comes around and helps the rebellion.

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Luke and company end up in a garbage dump that poses two threats. First, a creature lurks under the floating garbage and then attacks and pulls Luke under. Second, the walls of the giant trash compactor begin squeezing in and it’s all the group can do to survive.

GUNS/WEAPONS: Laser guns: Used to kill or injure many people via laser guns or from being fired from spaceships.
Light sabers (laser swords).

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "Shut up," and "Old man" and "Old fossil" used when referring to an older person.

JUMP SCENES: None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): There’s a minor amount of action-based suspense music in a few scenes.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: 2 hells and 2 damns.

SEX/NUDITY: None.

SMOKING: A person smokes in a bar where other smoke is also seen floating in the air.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: Luke wants to leave the family farm, but his uncle won’t let him go and later he finds his aunt and uncle dead (but his grief doesn't appear to last very long).

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: The fight between good and evil (ie. The dark side of the force vs. the "good" side).

VIOLENCE: Two ships exchange laser shots at each other (with one receiving damage).
Soldiers on both sides of the conflict are blasted with laser shots (and presumably killed), but none of it’s graphic.
Vader lifts a rebel soldier by the throat. A crunching sound is heard and Vader throws the limp body against the wall where it falls to the floor.
A "sand person" attacks Luke and tries striking him with his stick/rod. Moments later, several sand people drag Luke across the ground, indicating that they knocked him out. We also see that they’ve torn off C3PO's mechanical arm.
Vader uses the force to strangle a man, but then lets him go before too much harm is done.
Luke and Obi-Wan find some Jawas (short scavenger creatures) dead on the ground outside their craft (killed by Empire storm troopers) and then Luke returns home to find his aunt and uncle dead.
Vader threatens Princess Leia with a floating device that has a syringe-like probe sticking out of it.
An alien in a bar pushes Luke to the floor and prepares to shoot him. Obi-Wan, however, slices off the man’s arm with his light saber.
An alien holds a laser gun on Han who then shoots and kills the creature.
An entire planet is destroyed (seen from outer space), killing millions of people.
Many guards are shot by Luke and company, but again, none of it’s graphic.
Vader kills Obi-Wan with his light saber, but his body disappears.
Many ships are destroyed in several sequences leading up to the destruction of the Death Star.

Reviewed January 25, 1997

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