A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

On Wednesday, May 25, 1983 – six years to the day after the premiere of George Lucas’s Star Wars – 20 th Century Fox released Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the third and final film of the original Star Wars trilogy. Co-written by Lucas with Lawrence Kasdan ( Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back ) and directed by Richard Marquand ( Eye of the Needle ), Jedi was the terminus of Luke Skywalker’s “hero’s journey” from naïve farm boy to mature – and hopefully wise – warrior for peace and justice, as well as the final confrontation between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire. (C) 2013 Del Rey Books/Random House and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) 30 years later, Del Rey Books, Random House’s science fiction/fantasy imprint, released J.W. Rinzler’s The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, the third volume in a three-book cycle which coincided with the Diamond Anniversary of the premiere of each Star Wars film . Featuring an int...

(C) 2007 Del Rey Books/Random House  On Wednesday, May 25, 1977, 20th Century Fox released writer-director George Lucas's third feature film, Star Wars, with little fanfare and only in 32 theaters across the U.S. The studio had such low expectations for 'that science film" that it told many theater owners that they could only exhibit Fox's alleged shoo-in for box office success, The Other Side of Midnight, if they agreed to show Lucas's space-fantasy film about "a boy, a girl, and a universe."  Now, looking back across the gap of 41 years, it's hard to remember a time when Star Wars was not a part of our culture, much less the cornerstone of a multi-media franchise that includes three Saga trilogies, two CGI-animated TV series (with a third series, Star Wars Resistance ) on the way, and a series of stand-alone Anthology films that includes 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and this year's Solo: A Star Wars Story.    But until the s...