Unimpressed: The negative 1977 reviews of Star Wars

Not everybody was excited by Star Wars

The majority of contemporary critics liked Star Wars. When I first began researching the subject, I was struck by the fact that reviewers generally felt the same way as audiences.

But there were a few dissenters. Today, we consider the critics who didn't like Star Wars, and why.

The OTHER films of 1977: Star Wars vs Damnation Alley

Damnation Alley, 1977

Star Wars was not Twentieth Century-Fox's only science fiction film of 1977.

In fact, it wasn't even Fox's most expensive science fiction film of 1977.  That title belonged to Damnation Alley.

Today, in our occasional series of posts about the other films from the time of Star Wars, we'll look at a movie which was thoroughly overshadowed by its lower-budget stablemate.

What Star Wars owed to westerns

Star Wars owes a lot to westerns

Here's something that isn't often acknowledged about Star Wars: Parts of it are like a great western.

In today's post, I want to look at some of the ways in which George Lucas drew on the genre that dominated  American cinema for a large part of the 21st century.

Hear the difference between the mono and stereo 1977 versions of Star Wars

C-3PO had more to say in the mono mix of Star Wars

If you saw Star Wars two or three times in 1977, it may not have been the same each time.

That's because, as we've seen before, there were three different sound mixes of the film.

A video on YouTube allows you to listen to those differences for yourself.