A queue to see Star Wars in London's Leicester Square. Picture from starwars.com |
In December 1977, the London film critics were, in many people's estimation, among the luckiest people in Britain. They had seen Star Wars long before it reached most of the country.
Star
Wars wouldn't even get to
London's West End cinemas until December 27 and most of the nation
would have to wait until February 1978. Yet, as John May shows on his website The Generalist, there had been special screenings and trade shows for a selected audience at on July 20 and September 28 at the Dominion in Tottenham Court Road.
He went on: “Star Wars unashamedly restores all those qualities which film-makers and audiences have almost forgotten in their chase after illusory sophistication – brightly defined characters; a story that hurtles along at such a pace that it leaves no time for questions; a world of fantasy so confidently portrayed … that there is no thought of disbelief; a genuine escapism that obliges you to make no connexions with real worlds.”
The Planet of the Apes TV series: more intellectual than Star Wars, according to the Sunday Times |
At least he was
aware he was being a party pooper.
1 comment:
And it's funny, when we were kids, even if we heard the critics' slating it - it wouldn't have mattered. Being unpretentious, we believed in the evidence of our own little eyes, ears and experience.
We loved it, and nothing could take it away.
Did I mention that we were also uncynical?
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