Beater of the 3rd decade: Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away… Not even Jaws was enough for a megahit!

In today’s episode of the Blesku summer series, we will take you into the depths of space. Even before that, let’s remember the domestic films that broke the sterile gray of normalization. To this day, we return to films such as “Maračka, hand me a pen!” (1976), Alone in the forest (1976), Adéla still hasn’t had dinner (1978), How to drown Dr. Cloud or the End of Watermen in Bohemia (1974)“Lord, you are a widow!” (1970) and the fairy-tale The Girl on the Broom (1971), The Prince and the Nightingale (1978), How the Princess Wakes (1977) and many others whose ideas, stars and budgets can be envied by today’s filmmakers. But in America, in the 1970s, a permanent cult was created, which earned a dizzying 775 million dollars, i.e. more than 18 billion crowns, unfathomable to us! On May 25, 1977, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977, originally just Star Wars) entered theaters.

“That uniform. I’m Luke Skywalker, I’m coming to save you,” said Luke, the son of a fallen Jedi Knight, to Princess Leia Organa when she wondered, “Aren’t you a little small for a soldier?” – from the first single-voice dubbing videotapes. Of all the announcements in the film, the most used one is definitely: “May The Force Be With You!”, originally “May The Force Be With You”with which even modern-day Jedi wish luck and good will as a greeting. According to the American Film Institute, it is the eighth most memorable movie quote of all time. Interestingly, the words of Clark Gable (†59) from the classic South Against North (1939) are in first place: “Honestly, honey, I don’t give a damn.”

The film, in which the Empire’s most loyal servant Darth Vader searches for the plans for the Death Star and a hidden rebel base, while their leader Princess Leia escapes with them in the hope of discovering the weakness of this terrifying weapon, surpassed many of its rivals of the decade. The 70s brought to cinemas The Godfather (1972), The Exorcist (1973), Pomade (1978), but also a delicacy with a Czech touch in the form of director Miloš Forman (†86) – One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), as well as the films Jaws ( 1975)Rocky (1976), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and other Bond films. Not one of them was enough to be the favorite.

The stars were also the robots (right) R2-D2 and the golden C-3PO, from the inside he was played by mime Anthony Daniels (74) in all but one of the Star Wars films. | 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd., Profimedia.cz

Not even space rivals Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Superman (1978) and Alien (1979). Star Wars, i.e. Star Wars, by the visionary George Lucas (79), who will receive the honorary Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival this May, was miles away from anything people had experienced in the cinema until then. “In order to create them, I did something my father told me never to do – I borrowed money,” he recalls, even years later, the distrust he received. He barely finished Star Wars, the studio didn’t trust them. During contract negotiations for the film, Lucas even voluntarily had his director’s fee cut by half a million dollars. But in exchange for the rights to merchandise (goods thematically connected to the film, such as clothes or figurines) and sequels. The management of the studio gladly agreed… So that immediately his bosses were tearing their hair out! It was one of the most lucrative deals in the history of film, it almost made Lucas a billionaire.

In the early days of filming, no one would have expected that crowds would go to Star Wars, and certainly not that they would still fascinate new and new generations. “When I filmed them, I was not limited by any science. I simply said to myself: I will create a world that will be fun and interestingit will make sense and feel right to me,” he described his visions. In their implementation, Lucas used revolutionary effects and technologies.

During the filming of Star Wars, new procedures, models and scenes were tried many times to keep the visionary Lucas happy. | 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd., Profimedia.cz

The music was composed by John Williams (92), already signed to the soundtrack of The Glass Hell (1974) and later films such as ET – Alien (1982), Schindler’s List and Jurassic Park (both 1993) or the first three parts of Harry Potter (2001 to 2004). He also won an Oscar for the music to the space tale. The director brought further idols to the top, Marka Hamilla (72, Luke Skywalker), Harrisona Ford (81, Han Solo) or Carrie Fisher (†60, Princess Leia). In the end, she remained associated with the role throughout her life, although Jodie Foster (61) from The Silence of the Lambs (1991) was also considered for it. “Lucas ruined my life. And I mean that in the nicest sense of the word!” said the actress. “I’m Princess Leia no matter what. For example, if I wanted to get a good table in a restaurant, or cash a check without documents, it would be enough to say: Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi,” she added without bitternessproud of the groundbreaking work.

But Lucas also gave the world the beloved robots C3PO and R2-D2 or Chewbacca, a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. The idea for this character, nicknamed Žvejkal in the Czech version, was suggested to Lucas by his canine sidekick, the Alaskan malamute Indiana. As he sat in the passenger seat of his car, he thought of giving Han Solo a furry companion as well. Indiana was also the namesake of another famous director’s character, Indiana Jones.

Watch the original 1977 trailer for the film:

The film, for which Lucas was inspired by the no less famous saga The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (†81), was full of surprises. “I think in this day and age, with the internet the way it is, it’s very hard to keep any in film. I don’t think I could do it today,” says modestly the director of the first sci-fi film nominated for the best picture at the Oscar (out of ten nominations, he eventually converted six). “With Star Wars, I wanted to offer young people some distant exotic environment where their imaginations could run,” he said. He totally succeeded. And he fulfilled another of his wishes: “All I try to do is make good movies… Movies that will be remembered for more than two weeks.” And with that, we close the stellar 70s. In the following decade, however, the universe came down to us as well… But that is already a topic for the next part, in which we will go into the love-filled and action-packed 1980s.