I think of the first Star Wars with the same type of longing I have when I think of the theater I saw it in...The (now defunct) Colony Theater in Chicago (post title link).
Having stood in a three-block long line in July of 1977 to see the Original "Star Wars" (before it had the sub-title of "A New Hope"), I've always had some anticipation for every Star Wars movie. To think that back then TWO MONTHS after it came out it could create such long lines, and for many folks who had already seen it...boggles the mind compared to now-a-days where the neighborhood theater is a memory, and there's a mega-cine-plex every few miles. For me, it was the first time I'd seen it. Being a near-penniless 14 year old, I had to wait for it to be at a show like the Colony, where I could see it for $1.25 at a matinée. We sat in the Balcony (myself and two buds; Ed & Jim...hey guys!). The print was terrible, with tons of scratches, and a projector wipe out while the droids were lost in the desert. We Sat in the front row of the (very rickety) balcony...quite literally glued to our seats (there was a reason seats were $1.25). Even with the poor print and terrible sound system, we were floored. Never before had space seemed SO cool, fun, exciting, and frightening at the same time. It was like a high-quality version of the old Flash Gordon serials we used to see on UHF channels at 3 a.m when we were younger. I saw Star Wars at least 4 more times that summer, and countless times since. I own the first three movies in every format they've been made in; VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD. I've seen the extended editions... though I never popped for them...I like seeing the version I saw in that sticky theater 28 years ago.
I saw "Empire" on my first "movie" date with my then girlfriend/now wife in 1980. While it was radically different from the trailer provided in 1979, it was (and still is) our favorite of the series. We saw it at the (also defunct) Brighton Theater http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2527/ about a month after the release...there were no lines, the mega-cine-plexes were already expanding at this point. It was a pretty good print, and the sound was decent. We were blown away by the Hoth battle and the entire Yoda sequence. It was quite hard to deal with the "grumpy" Yoda in Episodes I & II having experienced the "merry imp" that first appeared in "Empire". Luke's scream dropping down the chute after hearing about "Darth Daddy" echoed in our ears for days.
We (myself and future wife) saw "Jedi" on the release weekend in 1983. It was my first advance ticket purchase for a movie. We saw it a a mega-cine-plex with Dolby sound. It was a perfect print, and the sound was amazing. The whole Jabba's palace was a endless cliffhanger, and we knew Yoda was going to die as soon as we saw him. We thought after the fantastic speeder bike chase that the Ewoks were going to single handedly (paw-ed-ly?) tank the movie, but the Chewbacca/Ewok battle scenes won us over. It was a satisfying (if abrupt) ending. A little more time with the unmasked Vader would have been appreciated more than so much time of the Emperor ranting...but all-in-all and excellent wrap up.
More on the "new" Trilogy to come...
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