Movie Monday: ‘Star Wars’
Sonny Giuliano: Dalton, the next two editions of Movie Monday will be very interesting. Not only are these next two films both critically revered, culturally significant classics from the 1970’s, but perhaps more importantly, they’re movies that one of us has never seen before, while the other person has seen it countless times and defines it as one of their all-time favorite movies. So before I watch Star Wars this week, and before you watch The Godfather next week, I think it’s best if, in our own words, we each explain why this particular movie resonates with each of us so much. So, with this brief introduction now finished:
Why is Star Wars so important to you?
Dalton Baggett: Star Wars is very dope, that’s why! Just kidding, I can probably do better than that with this very personal question.
The Star Wars movies have been in my life since I was born. Really just Star Wars in general as I was playing with the toys and wearing the merch before I even saw any of the movies. Truthfully my first memories of the movies come from the Prequel trilogy, which are very good, but that’s a discussion for another day.
Star Wars is important to me because it instilled in me a love of science fiction and fantasy. My love of all my other favorite fandoms: Star Trek, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, etc. can be traced back to the first time my imagination went to that galaxy far, far away. It’s also something about the “Chosen One” storyline that always gets me. The Hero’s Journey with it’s “call to adventure” is always the type of story I want to escape to most, no matter how formulaic they can be. I was always hoping an old wizard would find me in the desert and tell me I was destined for greatness. Unfortunately I lived in Florida, and also suffer from much too much anxiety to be saving any galaxies. It was ok though, because I could live vicariously through Luke Skywalker.
Another reason Star Wars means so much to me is because it is one of the main ways I bond with my Dad. He’s also been watching the movies since he was a kid, and that love of the universe George Lucas created is an easy way for us to relate to each other. Plus, trying to reconcile sometimes complicated father/son relationships seems to be a through line in almost all stories ever created by men.. This is especially true in Star Wars, even if Luke doesn’t know it yet.
Now that you’ve finally seen the original movie Sonny, I can tell you how I felt when we first became friends and you informed me that you’d never seen Star Wars. You know the scene when Luke and Obi Wan first meet Han Solo and he’s incredulous that they’ve never heard of his ship the Millennium Falcon? That’s the same feeling I had.
It’s actually the feeling I have when we talk about anything from my childhood. It feels like you spent your days as a child watching The Sopranos and The Godfather as opposed to fun things like Star Wars or cartoons. So how did you feel about your first foray into the Star Wars universe? Did it fill you with the child-like wonder you’ve always been missing?
SG: Oh Dalton, it appears as though you’ve totally misread my childhood. I had so much child-like wonder during my formative years, and it’s something I actively try to recapture now as an adult. I know we’ve discussed how my adolescent viewing habits consisted of NBA, NFL and professional wrestling, but I watched plenty of cartoons too. In fact, I know we’ve talked of my love of both Rugrats and The Lion King. I may have already told you this, but I feel like it’s worth mentioning again, now this time in writing: in Kindergarten, I got in trouble for shoving one of my classmates who claimed he liked Scar more than Simba.
(And honestly, to this day, I contest that this was a bullshit decision on behalf of my teacher, because what kind of five-year-old prefers Scar to Simba?)
(The answer to my above question is “a fucking psychopath.”)
The answer to your above question, is “No, Star Wars did not fill me with the child-like wonder I’ve always been missing.” Here’s what it did do … It made me feel a lot of different things, which is something I did not expect it to do. But I don’t think child-like wonder was one of them.
The closest it came to filling me with child-like wonder was during the opening. I’ve obviously heard the theme before and I’ve seen the opening parodied numerous times, but even still, it kinda hit me when the John Williams theme blasts you right out of the gate. And I can’t even imagine what that feeling was like for all of the people who saw the movie in theaters for the first time and had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
Among the other emotions I felt were confusion (oh, by so much), disappointment (I didn’t realize I wasn’t getting “Luke, I am your father” in the original), amusement (the lightsaber battle between Obi Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader was magnificent comedy), and admiration (of George Lucas mostly, simply because he visualized and conceptualized this film in the mid-seventies; honestly, that is probably the most impressive thing about the entire viewing experience).
DB: You’re right, I do remember some Rugrats conversations, and that is a delightful story about standing up for Simba. I’m sure he would thank you by inviting you to Pride Rock as an honored guest, and then eating you. Because he’s a lion.
Back to Star Wars though…I have some thoughts on your thoughts. WHO TOLD YOU DARTH VADER WAS LUKE’S FATHER? Very disappointed you didn’t avoid this spoiler. People are the worst.
You are definitely correct that the Obi Wan/Darth Vader fight hasn’t aged very well. The best part about it is they were using wooden sticks as the lightsabers for filming and the first couple times they hit each other you can see the sawdust fly off in a big cloud. It’s great stuff.
I’m glad you mentioned my man John Williams. I would give anything in the world to be sitting there in 1977 not knowing what was coming and then just being blown away by that opening fanfare and everything after. John Williams is the GOAT and there is absolutely no argument to the contrary. He’s behind iconic scores for Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and just so many more. Let me drop this man’s Wikipedia resume real quick:
“John Williams has been nominated for 52 Academy Awards, winning five; six Emmy Awards, winning three; 25 Golden Globe Awards, winning four; 71 Grammy Awards, winning 25; and has received seven British Academy Film Awards.”
Truly insane. I’ll drop my favorite Star Wars theme as well. Do you have a favorite John Williams score, Sonny?
SG: Of course I do, Dalton! You know that Film Score is one of my most favorite things in the world to talk about.
(That statement probably sounds super snarky to anyone who doesn’t know me personally, but in reality, it’s an accurate characterization of my interests. Look, I even have proof!)
Anyway, you just mentioned five films that John Williams worked on, but you left out the three scores that I have the most familiarity with … one that is in a movie that I’m pretty positive I enjoy more than 99 percent of people on the planet:
One that would get my vote for the single most underrated John Williams score:
And then one that is my pick for personal favorite:
Dalton, I know you probably want to take one of those plastic lightsabers you can buy at Target and smack me across the head with it since I introduced the NFL into a conversation about Star Wars, so just take a second to regain your composure — and please understand that before you struck me, I would get my Darth on and tell you that “Your powers are weak, old man.” If it’s any consolation though, I think it’s fair to say that the most iconic John Williams score is Star Wars, and if we were to create a John Williams Mount Rushmore, four of the movies you mentioned above (Star Wars, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park) are the four faces (scores?) carved (emitted?) into the side of the mountain (from the iPod?). That should cheer you up, right?
DB: The Home Alone score is iconic, that’s a fantastic choice.
I somehow had no idea that John Williams composed the Sunday Night Football theme, so thank you for that very fun fact. (A fun fact for you is that Darth Vader was almost Darth Wilson instead). It’s perfectly valid for you to like that one, it’s a great theme! Picking it as your all time favorite is actually criminal though. Your punishment is indeed death by plastic lightsaber. Hopefully when I strike you down you don’t become more powerful than I could possibly imagine. That’d be unfortunate.
Chart Exhibit
Who is the underrated Star of the film?
DB: It might seem crazy to pick George Lucas for this, seeing as he created one of the most popular pieces of media of all time, eventually selling this creation to Disney for 4 BILLION dollars. Despite those things, I still don’t think he gets enough credit. There is no Star Wars without George Lucas. So that means there is no Marvel Cinematic Universe without George Lucas. Not only did he shape the movie-going experience forever, even after he stopped making movies his influence has absolutely led to the IP-heavy, Marvel superhero dominated box office that we have today. Whether you think that is a good or bad thing is a conversation for another time. (Right after we finish talking about how good the Prequels are).
What he did with special effects was nothing short of a miracle. Even watching the updated version of the original movie today, anything that looks dated or cheesy was probably added decades after the film’s release on one of George’s many tinkered with special editions. Everything from ’77 still holds up extremely well. George always cared more about the special effects than anything else. Even the Prequels, that get a lot of shit for their story, were at the forefront of technology when they came out. George was always pushing the boundaries of what the technology could do for his movies. George Lucas is underrated.
SG: Whoa, whoa, whoa! I feel inclined to point something out here, because last week you gave me a hard time because I picked Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, the composers of the score of The Social Network, as my underrated stars of the film. Now granted, Reznor and Ross were Oscar winners, and George Lucas did not win an Oscar for his direction or writing on Star Wars, but as you laid out so convincingly above, Lucas is quite literally one of the most successful and influential figures in Hollywood history. I had never seen any of the Star Wars movies until a week ago, and even I knew George Lucas wasn’t “underrated.” You’re really going down that road?
Cool. Cool. Cool. Can’t wait until we write about Rocky so I can tout Sly Stallone as the hidden gem of the entire production.
I don’t know that I can rightfully make a selection here until you either apologize, or provide a little more clarity on how exactly George Lucas is underrated while Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are not.
DB: I knew you were going to bring this up, but you made my point for me. He didn’t win any Oscars for what would become arguably the most influential film in history! That feels like the definition of underrated. Plus, this is about the underrated star of this specific movie. I still think it’s George. I hear a lot about Star Wars in my daily life but not that much about George Lucas. If George Lucas’ work on the original film was properly rated, every single blockbuster since 1977 should have a “Thank you George” line in the credits.
SG: I think it’s completely reasonable to say that George Lucas was indeed underrated in 1977, but I don’t think it’s fair to say he’s still underrated in 2020. Though, I’m not sure what the fuck the status of anything is in 2020. For all I know, the Millennium Falcon is going to come crashing down into earth any day now. Maybe we should just move on.
DB: The Millennium Falcon crashing down to earth is the only thing that could save 2020.
You’re right though, let’s move on.
What is the Best Shot of the Movie?
DB:
This was all too easy. That shot! The binary sunset! The Force Theme playing! Chills! Every time! That poor farm boy doesn’t know what’s in store for him.
SG: We’re in lockstep here, Dalton. This is a beautiful shot, and it even managed to feel iconic as it was happening, which is something that’s pretty tough to pull off on a first watch, in my opinion. But personally, this shot was more meaningful to me than meets the eye.
I managed to come into this viewing experience with very little background information about the film or the entire film series for that matter — as we covered above, I had no clue that the “Luke, I am your Father” moment wasn’t something that happened in the original version. Over the years, I had seen various snippets of lightsaber battles and spaceships flying through the galaxy, but that’s about it. I certainly didn’t expect the words “farm boy” to be included in this piece, unless one of us was talking about my upbringing in tiny old Elba, New York for some reason.
Call me naïve, but I didn’t realize that Star Wars had this level of depth, both in its story and all of the sets. I didn’t know that there would be any action that happened outside of voyaging spaceships. There was a hookah lounge scene. Jabba The Hutt turned out to be the Star Wars equivalent of a mafia don. There were individuals that Luke called “Sand People,” which would surely get him in a whole bunch of trouble if Star Wars took place in 2020. There were dwarfs and dinosaurs and robots all coexisting. This shit was wild.
Anyway, the binary sunset was the first big “wow moment” for me, and the moment where I realized that my initial impressions of Star Wars were, for the most part, way off.
DB: Oh boy, wait till you find out what his Daddy did to a whole village of *Tusken Raiders*. It’s not great!
What is great is hearing your sincere thoughts on Star Wars. It almost brought a tear to my eye reading that you can appreciate this movie for it’s depth as well as the silliness. That exact combo is what makes this series so wonderful and why it has been able to endure 43 years of a changing Hollywood landscape.
Before I start really getting in my feels about you enjoying Star Wars, let’s hit another category.
Most Interesting Thing Learned with an IMDB Deep Dive:
DB: This was a fun one. From the Star Wars page I decided to do a little research on Denis Lawson who plays ace X-Wing pilot Wedge Antilles (who is possibly the Shia LaBeouf look-alike, you’ll have to let me know). Well it turns out that Mr. Lawson was on an episode of Tales from the Crypt in 1996 that starred Daniel Craig. That’s right, James Bond himself was in the episode titled Smoke Wrings as Barry, a man who has been hired by his new boss’s ex-partner to “dispose of her” using a hypnotic device. Not a very gentlemanly thing for James Bond to do. I can also bring it back full circle, because Daniel Craig was in The Force Awakens as an uncredited Stormtrooper.
Progression:
Star Wars > Denis Lawson > Tales from the Crypt > Ep: Smoke Wrings > Daniel Craig > Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
SG: Oh yeah, you nailed it. Denis Lawson is our Shia LaBeouf look-alike. Thank you for solving that mystery for me, and if you have the spare time to figure out who the James Corden look-alike is, be sure to let me know. I encourage you slide into my Twitter DM’s, much like I did with yours while I was watching Star Wars for the first time ever early last week:
DB: (I laughed the hardest I have in a month at “Aunt Peru”).
SG: For the most part, I enjoyed Star Wars more than I anticipated. You summed up my viewing experience pretty accurately above. Both the depth and the silliness of the film really caught me by surprise, but what also caught me by surprise was how much of you I saw in this movie. It’s pretty clear that you’ve been impacted in a variety of ways, but one in particular stood out:
As everyone can see in my notes, I referred to Han Solo as “kind of a dick.” George Lucas, a more qualified judge of character, particularly one he created, called Han “a cynical loner who realizes the importance of being part of a group and helping for the common good.” I couldn’t help but see you when I watched Harrison Ford on screen. Now obviously, that’s quite a compliment to you, so you’re welcome for that. More importantly, it provided me the reassurance I’ve been searching for for years as I’ve psychoanalyzed you on almost a daily basis. I’ve finally realized that your prickly exterior is indeed just an act. Perhaps one you’ve put on consciously, or maybe one that was ingrained in you the first time you watched Star Wars.
What I now worry is that you’ve chosen to befriend me just to fill in that Chewbacca role in your life. You needed a big hairy bastard flanking you in order to complete this cosplay fantasy.
DB: By far the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. I’ll be riding that high all day. In this scenario you are definitely Chewbacca, but that’s not a bad thing! Chewy is no sidekick. Him and Han are equals, just like you and I, my friend. Even if I could definitely kick your ass in a toy lightsaber fight.
May the Force be with you!
Sonny Giuliano Movie Monday Rankings
1. The Social Network
2. Star Wars
Dalton Baggett Movie Monday Rankings
1. Star Wars
2. The Social Network
