Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Academy Award × 6·AFI #13·National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
Princess Leia is captured and held hostage by the evil Imperial forces in their effort to take over the galactic Empire. Venturesome Luke Skywalker and dashing captain Han Solo team together with the loveable robot duo R2-D2 and C-3PO to rescue the beautiful princess and restore peace and justice in the Empire.
What critics thought
One of the most rapturously received films of its era, Star Wars earned near-universal enthusiasm for its kinetic spectacle, inventive worldbuilding, and operatic sense of adventure — though even in 1977 a vocal minority pushed back, arguing its thrills came at the cost of emotional depth, original storytelling, and meaningful characters. That minority view has never quite gone away, even as the film's popular standing has only grown.
“Strip Star Wars of its often striking images and its highfalutin scientific jargon, and you get a story, characters, and dialogue of overwhelming banality.”
John Simon·New York
“not a great movie in the sense that it describes the human condition.”
Gene Siskel·Chicago Tribune
“a junkyard of cinematic gimcracks not unlike the Jawas' heap of purloined, discarded, barely functioning droids.”
Peter Keough·Boston Phoenix
“timeless appeal lies in its easily identified, universal archetypes—goodies to root for, baddies to boo, a princess to be rescued and so on—and if it is most obviously dated to the 70s by the special effects, so be it.”
Andrew Collins·Empire
Genres
Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Cast & Crew
DirectorGeorge Lucas
StarringMark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness
ComposerJohn Williams
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Academy Award × 6·AFI #13·National Film Registry
Princess Leia is captured and held hostage by the evil Imperial forces in their effort to take over the galactic Empire. Venturesome Luke Skywalker and dashing captain Han Solo team together with the loveable robot duo R2-D2 and C-3PO to rescue the beautiful princess and restore peace and justice in the Empire.
What critics thought
One of the most rapturously received films of its era, Star Wars earned near-universal enthusiasm for its kinetic spectacle, inventive worldbuilding, and operatic sense of adventure — though even in 1977 a vocal minority pushed back, arguing its thrills came at the cost of emotional depth, original storytelling, and meaningful characters. That minority view has never quite gone away, even as the film's popular standing has only grown.
“Strip Star Wars of its often striking images and its highfalutin scientific jargon, and you get a story, characters, and dialogue of overwhelming banality.”
John Simon·New York
“not a great movie in the sense that it describes the human condition.”
Gene Siskel·Chicago Tribune
“a junkyard of cinematic gimcracks not unlike the Jawas' heap of purloined, discarded, barely functioning droids.”
Peter Keough·Boston Phoenix
“timeless appeal lies in its easily identified, universal archetypes—goodies to root for, baddies to boo, a princess to be rescued and so on—and if it is most obviously dated to the 70s by the special effects, so be it.”
Andrew Collins·Empire
Genres
Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Cast & Crew
DirectorGeorge Lucas
StarringMark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness
ComposerJohn Williams
Rent/Purchase