On Queue

Do you remember what you were doing on May 25, 1977?

I do.  I was standing in line (or on queue, if you like the British expression, and I confess to being an Anglophile) waiting to buy tickets for the movie "Star Wars."

If you know me, you know this is a big deal.  I will stand on queue for very few things in life.  If a restaurant that doesn't take reservations says the wait for a table is more than 20-30 minutes, I'm gone.  I was only 19 when that movie was released, but this pattern of behavior was already well established.

Today is marked by Star Wars fans as a day of celebration of what has become a series of films because of the word play on the date: May the Fourth Be With You.  It brings back memories of that day and the excitement in the crowd of (mostly) college students waiting to buy tickets.

By the age of 19, I was already a critic of the cinema.  Each year when The Philadelphia Inquirer (known colloquially as "The Inky") released its list of the previous year's ten best films, I had seen them all and had considered opinions on whether the top ten list included any undeserving movies or had omitted any worthies.

The original "Star Wars" was a smashing success with critics, at the box office, and with the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  With adjustment for inflation, it continues to rank highly (#4 according to Wikipedia) in all-time box office receipts.  It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won seven.  The critics raved about it, although I was, of course, the only critic who mattered.

Any film can be pigeonholed in a genre and judged in that context.  "Star Wars" belongs somewhere between science fiction and fantasy-adventure, two genres that are separated by no bright line.  There was not much in the fantasy-adventure genre of cinema back then, but there had been plenty of sci-fi films, and "Star Wars" wowed sci-fi fans with special effects the likes of which hadn't been seen before.  Today we take for granted visually stunning - and stunningly expensive - special effects that bring creative imagination to the big screen.  But in 1977 moviegoers were all in agreement that we had never seen anything that remotely approached this new production from George Lucas.

Reflecting upon that day nearly 34 years ago causes me to realize that, while there are numerous film categories I really enjoy, among them romantic comedies ("Sleepless in Seattle"), action movies (Clint, Arnold), classic dramas ("The African Queen"), and films that one can find only in art houses ("Harold and Maude," "Cousin, Cousine"), my love for fantasy-adventure clearly began with "Star Wars."  I think that is true for so many moviegoers.  The producers, directors, and actors of films in the Star Trek series, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Harry Potter should be grateful for the pioneering effort of 1977.  Not that the others could not have blazed a trail independently - goodness knows J.K. Rowling is an incomparable creative genius - but we owe much to the vision of George Lucas.