The clip was used as a model for the memorable shot of Rebel craft diving to attack the Death Star. fighters during Stateside training exercises, lifted from a jittery newsreel, showed aircraft peeling out of formation and dropping from sight. These clips of spinning Spitfires and coldly mechanical Messerschmitts were being used to communicate with the visual effects (VFX) crews working nonstop to finish the movie’s climax. The discombobulating war-film excerpts may have failed to beguile viewers at Lucas’ San Anselmo home, but that was not their primary purpose. And that sum leaves out the additional billions generated by sequels, spin-offs, and merchandise over the four decades following its initial release. To date the movie, now retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, has grossed more than $775 million worldwide. The climactic space battle, wherein dozens of screaming (yes, in space, but don’t worry about it) fighters shoot it out over a gigantic Imperial space station the Rebel Alliance is trying to destroy, had so many placeholder shots it was nearly impossible to follow. In fact, nearly all the special effects were unfinished. It didn’t help that the rough cut had incomplete sound effects, lacked the musical score that would eventually win an Academy Award for composer John Williams, and was slathered in grease pencil streaks to take the place of laser fire. While no one else was as acerbic as De Palma or as optimistic as Spielberg, there was a clear consensus that Star Wars needed a lot of work before its Memorial Day weekend 1977 release date. De Palma, who’d just had his first big hit with the 1975 Stephen King adaptation Carrie and would go on to make blockbusters like The Untouchables and the first Mission: Impossible, was particularly brutal, poking fun at Princess Leia’s hair and the frequent references to “The Force.” He also mocked the muffled voice of Darth Vader, whose dialogue had not yet been menacingly dubbed by James Earl Jones (to the chagrin of actor David Prowse, who played the towering villain on camera), and howled at the movie’s tedious six-paragraph opening crawl (later slimmed down, with De Palma’s help, to three).
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The movie was long, poorly acted, and staggeringly weird. When the lights came up, there was embarrassed silence.
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