Gloria Katz, 1942-2018: The writer who gave Star Wars some of its best lines

  

Gloria Katz with George Lucas

Think for a moment of some of the best lines in Star Wars – the wittier ones, that remind you of the golden age of movies.

The chances are that you are thinking of lines that were written by the late Gloria Katz and her husband Willard Huyck.

Some unsung heroes of the 1977 Star Wars

The Star Wars effects team receive their Oscars from Joan Fontaine

When you read original, 1970s coverage of Star Wars, you come across a few names which are rarely mentioned today.

On the other hand, there are a few people who were not named much at the time, but who we later discovered to have been a key part of the film's success.

Defending George Lucas: Why you can't take away the credit for the original Star Wars

George Lucas directing Star Wars

Considering he's the creator of the most popular movies ever made, George Lucas takes a lot of crap.

I've criticised him myself, particularly for his refusal to release the unaltered versions of the original Star Wars.

But a lot of the criticism goes way too far, and it seems to me that some myths are taking hold on social media. So today, Episode Nothing finds itself defending George Lucas. 

The best books about the original Star Wars: a guide

George Lucas's own library. A comprehensive Star Wars collection would surely be as big

Last week, we looked at Craig Stevens' new book The Star Wars Phenomenon in Britain, and I recommended it to anyone interested in the impact Star Wars had, in the UK or elsewhere.

But what other books belong on the shelves of anyone interested in the original Star Wars the first time around?

Here's the first part of a chronological list of those I'd recommend. Watch for longer reviews of some of them in due course.

7 key similarities between American Graffiti and Star Wars

Poster art for American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars was George Lucas's third feature film. It couldn’t be more unlike his first, THX 1138 (1971). But it bears a surprising number of similarities to his second, the low budget smash hit American Graffiti (1973). Today, Episode Nothing explores the connections between Lucas's vision of small town California in 1962 and the galaxy far, far away. 

Laughing at Star Wars: the Top 10 funniest jokes in the original movie - part two

In part one of this post, I argued that people often forget something important about Star Wars: It was funny.   

It wasn't a comedy, and it never made the mistake of knowingly sending up the genre, but a few well-judged jokes helped make the film the bright and lively experience that it was.

For part two, here is the rest of my chronological list of the film's best comic moments.