A Little Indulgence (or Use the force, Luke...)

I was going to wait until after Christmas to get it. It was at the top of my Christmas list. But, I just couldn't wait that long. So, I bought the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD this week. In reality, that was a pretty expensive item for someone to get me for Christmas; and I still have a full list of much cheaper items.

Now I can sit back and enjoy the original Star Wars movies in the comfort of my own living room (complete with my newly installed "temporary" subwoofer). I don't know when I will get time to actually sit and watch a full episode at the volume I really want to, but I'm sure it will happen sometime in the next year.

For me, the original Star Wars IV: A New Hope is about the best movie ever. Sure, the acting is bland and the script formulaic, but those things do not matter to a 7-year old boy.

The year was 1977. I can remember stopping at Grandma & Grandpa Roth's house -- possibly to drop Tony off -- or maybe all of us boys were already there. Dad told us that we were going to see the latest movie -- Star Wars. I didn't want to go. I had never heard of this movie, and quite frankly; the title didn't make it sound very exciting. Building houses and trucks with LEGO's sounded much more exciting to me.

I don't remember which theater we went to the first time, but it was either the PIX theater in Woodburn or Westgate in Beaverton (I think). I know that JD (or David or John or whatever he was called then) and I saw it several times in the next week. I'm sure that at least Dad was in the theater with us, but I mainly remember sitting next to JD -- somewhere along the right side of the theater, about half way back -- watching Luke and the gang battle their way through the Death Star.

On our way home from that first viewing, the interior of the Plymouth Valiant was transformed into the interior of a starship. The seat belt buttons (who wore seat belts back then?) became buttons to fire torpedoes into the Death Star's core. The door locks were flashing buttons on a control console. We were "Red 5" making a daring run in his X-wing; or Han Solo in his Millenium Falcon, making the jump to light speed.

We had been exposed to something completely new and exciting; a far-off galaxy that filled our dreams and peaked out imaginations. JD read all the Star Wars novels and comic books. We had action figures and toy starships and re-enacted the scenes all over again. And then we waited impatiently for the next installments to be released in theaters.

Sure, many film connoisseurs criticize the Star Wars movies for poor writing and bad acting. But for some of us, that feeling of nostalgia overrides any cinematic shortcomings that may be present.

What movies do you remember most from your childhood? How did they affect your thoughts and dreams?

May the force be with you!

Posted by jethro at October 21, 2004 09:39 AM | TrackBack