Thirty-three years ago today a young boy (me) went to the Glenwood 4 theater on Metcalf avenue and had his 5 year old world rocked. Yes... opening day of Starwars Episode IV: A New Hope. The oddity that this was episode 4 didn't occur to me until sometime in the early 80's but what did occur to me was that Luke Skywalker was very very cool; A planet with two suns was very very cool and a 6'6" Sith Lord named Darth Vader was TOTALLY FREAKING COOL!!!
This is without a doubt the earliest vivid memory I have of childhood. Of course I have little snippet here and there of times before then but the day I saw Starwars is etched into my brain. I remember a line at least 5 people wide wrapping around this massively huge (to my 5 year old eyes) theater complex. My dad, my older brother and my older sister were with me on this momentous occasion and we waited... and waited... and waited... but FINALLY the ticket taker was before me and we entered a red carpeted lobby with a huge crystal chandelier. I don't know if I had ever been to this theater as a kid but I remember being somewhat in awe just of the lobby. The smell of popcorn (and real butter) filled the air and I had no idea really what I was about to see.
I still have some very clear impressions from that first viewing. I remember being a little scared but completely impressed by the massive size of the Imperial Star Destroyer as it approached the Princess's Corellian Corvette (of course I didn't know what the names of these ships were at the time nor did I know I would eventually know such trivialities as what TIE fighter stands for). I remember being almost tearful (but not knowing why) when Luke skywalker was looking out over the family moisure farm leaning on a bent knee over the edge of a creator at the twin sunset of Tattoine with John William's moving thematic orchestration playing "Luke's theme". I remember watching in absolute glee as the camera moved about the Mos Eisley
Cantina and showed dozens of fantastic space creatures being generally weird. It took me about that long to really get my head around the film and stop oogling the coolness and start paying attention to the plot. OK so Luke has to be a Jedi whatever that is and now they have a ship to take them to the Jedi place. Yeah ok so he gets there in the second movie... I didn't know there was going to be even MORE of this joy in my life, I was only focussed on what happens next. The movie progressed like this with me (as I vaguely recall) literally on the edge of my seat. To make a long story short it was and still is the best movie I've ever seen. Yeah special effects have improved, yeah the acting upon reflection wasn't 'the best', but there is just something about a deepset childhood impression that is very difficult at times even as an adult to shake... and I can't shake the impression that STARWARS IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!
This is without a doubt the earliest vivid memory I have of childhood. Of course I have little snippet here and there of times before then but the day I saw Starwars is etched into my brain. I remember a line at least 5 people wide wrapping around this massively huge (to my 5 year old eyes) theater complex. My dad, my older brother and my older sister were with me on this momentous occasion and we waited... and waited... and waited... but FINALLY the ticket taker was before me and we entered a red carpeted lobby with a huge crystal chandelier. I don't know if I had ever been to this theater as a kid but I remember being somewhat in awe just of the lobby. The smell of popcorn (and real butter) filled the air and I had no idea really what I was about to see.
I still have some very clear impressions from that first viewing. I remember being a little scared but completely impressed by the massive size of the Imperial Star Destroyer as it approached the Princess's Corellian Corvette (of course I didn't know what the names of these ships were at the time nor did I know I would eventually know such trivialities as what TIE fighter stands for). I remember being almost tearful (but not knowing why) when Luke skywalker was looking out over the family moisure farm leaning on a bent knee over the edge of a creator at the twin sunset of Tattoine with John William's moving thematic orchestration playing "Luke's theme". I remember watching in absolute glee as the camera moved about the Mos Eisley
Cantina and showed dozens of fantastic space creatures being generally weird. It took me about that long to really get my head around the film and stop oogling the coolness and start paying attention to the plot. OK so Luke has to be a Jedi whatever that is and now they have a ship to take them to the Jedi place. Yeah ok so he gets there in the second movie... I didn't know there was going to be even MORE of this joy in my life, I was only focussed on what happens next. The movie progressed like this with me (as I vaguely recall) literally on the edge of my seat. To make a long story short it was and still is the best movie I've ever seen. Yeah special effects have improved, yeah the acting upon reflection wasn't 'the best', but there is just something about a deepset childhood impression that is very difficult at times even as an adult to shake... and I can't shake the impression that STARWARS IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!
1 comment:
Is that an impressed 'wow' or a shocked at the nerdiness 'wow'?
Post a Comment