The first episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1977 features the top-grossing film at the box office, George Lucas’ Star Wars. Written and directed by George Lucas and starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew and the voice of James Earl Jones, Star Wars grossed $410 million worldwide in its initial release and became the highest-grossing movie of all time.

The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/star-wars-1977), A.D. Murphy in Variety (https://variety.com/1977/film/reviews/star-wars-3-1200424073/), and Pauline Kael in The New Yorker (https://web.archive.org/web/20061217122529).

Please like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in for the next 1977 installment featuring our pick for a notable filmmaking debut, David Lynch’s Eraserhead.