Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope(1977)
20th Century Fox May 25, 1977 | Limited
Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.
Releases
Original Release | May 25, 1977
1982 Re-release | Aug 13, 1982
1997 Special Edition | Jan 31, 1997
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Box Office Results
All Releases (3)
$460,998,507
$314,400,000
$775,398,507
$163,170,300
$163,170,300
Current Showtimes
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(U.S. Only)
Director & Top Cast
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: Stereo
Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Summaries
Plot Summary
- Amid a galactic civil war, Rebel alliance is operating from a hidden base and have been securing victories against the Evil Galactic Empire. Rebel Alliance spies have stolen plans to the Death Star, a colossal, armored space station built by the tyrannical Galactic Empire that is capable of destroying entire planets. Imperial Senator Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) of Alderaan, secretly a Rebel leader, has obtained the schematics, and is rushing home to the rebel's secret base. The plans can save the people and restore freedom to the Galaxy.Leia's ship is intercepted and boarded by an Imperial Star Destroyer under the command of the ruthless Darth Vader (James Earl Jones). Darth Vader can access "the Force" and inflict intolerable pain on his enemies, without engaging them in battle. Due to the mask that he wears, Darth Vader emits a wheezing noise when he breathes. The Empire ships carry the heavily armed Stormtroopers, which make up the bulk of the Empire army. Leia is taken prisoner, but before the capture, Leia inserts the plans in her droid R2-D2, along with a message. The droids R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) escape with the plans on an escape pod, crashing on the nearby planet of Tatooine. Darth Vader sends his Stormtroopers after them to retrieve the plans.The droids are captured by Jawa traders who electrocute R2-D2, and sell them to moisture farmers Owen (Phil Brown) and Beru Lars (Shelagh Fraser) and their nephew, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Owen needed droids who understand the binary language of Moisture Vaporators. While C3PO is a protocol droid, he is trained in the language of load filters, similar to Vaporators. He can also speak Bocce. C3PO convinces Luke to take R2-D2 as well. Owen asks Luke to clean up both droids before dinner. While Luke is cleaning R2-D2, he discovers a recording of Leia requesting help from a former ally named Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness). Luke is interested in the rebellion and wants to learn more about it. R2-D2 says that the message is a private one for Obi-Wan and that R2-D2 is his property. Obi-Wan lives on Tatooine. Luke knows of a Ben Kenobi, an old hermit, who lives beyond the dune sea. Luke - who hopes to leave home for training at a nearby Imperial Military Academy to become a space pilot - leaves the room angrily to return to cleaning the droids. Luke's Aunt Beru tells Owen that Luke is too much like his father to remain with them, but Owen holds out hope that Luke's desire for adventure will subside - and expresses a fear that Luke is too much like his father... suggesting that Owen may know something of Anakin's terrible past. Meanwhile, the Stormtroopers land on Tatooine and follow the tracks made by the Jawa trader's ship.R2-D2 goes missing. Luke tells 3PO that it's too late to look for R2 because of the dangerous Sand People (also called Tusken Raiders) in the area, and that they will set out first thing in the morning to go look for him. Luke and C3PO go on Luke's Landspeeder to look for R2-D2 and catch up with it. R2-D2 is adamant that it needs to get to Obi-Wan. Luke is attacked by Sand People. He is rescued by Obi-Wan, an elderly hermit. Luke addresses him as Ben, and says that the droid has been looking for Obi-Wan. Ben says that he is Obi-wan but hasn't been addressed as that in a long time.Obi-Wan tells Luke about his past as one of the Jedi Knights, former peacekeepers of the Galactic Republic (for over a thousand generations), who drew mystical abilities from "the Force" but were hunted to near-extinction by the Empire. Obi-Wan explains that a Jedi receives his power from the Force, an energy field that is created by all living beings that "surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together." But there is also a Dark Side to the Force, which draws power from negative emotions and baser impulses. Luke learns that his father, also a Jedi, fought alongside Obi-Wan during the Clone Wars until Vader, Obi-Wan's former pupil, turned to the dark side of the Force and murdered him. Then he became the Dark Lord of the Sith, the most feared enforcer of the Emperor. In this capacity, he proceeded to hunt down his former comrades, and the Jedi Order is now all but extinct.Luke had been told by his uncle that his father Anakin was a navigator on a spice freighter. Obi-Wan offers Luke his father's old light-saber (an energy sword), the signature weapon of the Jedi.R2-D2 plays Leia's full message, in which she begs Obi-Wan to take the Death Star plans to Alderaan and give them to her father, a fellow veteran, for analysis. Luke initially declines Obi-Wan's offer to accompany him to Alderaan and learn the ways of the Force, but he is left with no choice after Imperial Stormtroopers murder his family while searching for the droids.Seeking a way off the planet, Luke and Obi-Wan travel to the spaceport of Mos Eisley. Obi-Wan uses the Force to hypnotize the Imperial Stormtroopers and provide safe passage through the city. They reach a tavern which is frequented by several space freighter pilots, who would be willing to transport anything for the right fee. Obi-Wan makes contact with a Wookie named Chewbacca.They hire Han Solo (Harrison Ford) (for 10,000 credits), a smuggler indebted to local mobster Jabba the Hutt, for a passage to Alderaan. Luke knows that for that kind of money, they can buy their own ship. Han claims that his ship the Millenium Falcon made the Kessel run in 12 parsecs and can outrun Imperial star-ships. Obi-Wan offers to pay 2000 credits upfront and 15,000 credits upon arrival. They agree to meet in bay 94. Han hangs back to take care of their bar tab and is stopped by Greedo (Paul Blake), a bounty hunter working for feared crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure, aka: Jabba the Hutt. Apparently, Jabba had hired Han to transport a shipment of Glitterstim spice (an illegal narcotic), but Han had to dump the shipment due to an unexpected Imperial boarding. As Greedo points a blaster pistol at Solo, Han insists that he has the 8,000 credits he needs to cover the loss. Greedo suggests that Solo give it to him as a bribe not to turn him over to Jabba, forcing Han to admit that he doesn't actually have the money yet. Solo quietly removes his heavy pistol under the table, and Pre-Emptively fires and kills him. On his way out, Han throws the bartender a few coins, apologizing for "the mess" he left.At the docking bay, Han is confronted by Jabba the Hutt. Jabba expresses frustration over Greedo's death and reminds Han that he cannot spare who fail or cross him, lest he appear weak. Han insists that he will soon have enough money to pay off his debt, with interest of 15%, he just needs more time. Jabba reluctantly agrees but warns Han that this is his last chance.Luke sells his Landspeeder to raise money for their initial payment to Captain Solo. They head to the docking bay. Luke is worried to discover that the Falcon is a 60-year-old, run-down YT-1300 freighter, but Han assures him that he has made extensive modifications to ensure that she can run rings around any modern capital ship. Pursued by Stormtroopers (who were informed by local spies about the location of the Droids), Luke, Obi-Wan, R2-D2, and C-3PO flee Tatooine with Han and his Wookiee copilot, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), on their ship, the Millennium Falcon. They are pursued by an Imperial cruiser, but Han manages to jump to light speed before they can be caught. A jump through Hyper-space is dangerous as with the wrong calculations one could travel through a star or a supernova and end up dead.Meanwhile, aboard the Death Star, commander Grand Moff Tarkin tells his commanders that the Emperor has dissolved the Imperial Senate permanently, and with that all remnants of the old republic. Regional governors now have direct control over their territories. The Empire plans to use the Death Star to breed fear in the galaxy but are afraid that the rebels might find a weakness in its defenses and exploit it. Darth Vader is given the task to locate the rebel fortress before the Death Star is operational. Darth Vader starts to interrogate Leia regarding the location of the rebel base. Leia resists the mind probe and gives nothing to Darth Vader. As the Death Star becomes operational, Moff turns it towards Alderaan, where Leia was headed in her diplomatic ship in the first place.Before the Falcon reaches Alderaan, the Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) has the planet obliterated by the station's gigantic laser. Moff wants to demonstrate the power of the Death Star on Leia's home planet, even though she begs that Alderaan is peaceful and has no weapons. Moff would have spared the planet, if Leia reveals the name of the rebel base. Leia names Dantooine, but Moff destroys Alderaan regardless as Dantoonie is too far away to make an effective demonstration.Obi-Wan senses a disturbance in the Force, the moment Alderaan is destroyed. On their way, Obi-Wan starts training Luke on the use of the Lightsaber. Han does not believe in the Force. Obi-Wan demonstrates the existence of the Force when Luke is able to defeat a training bot with all his senses blocked, but by plugging into the Force.Upon arrival, the Falcon is captured by the Death Star's (which is the size of a small moon) tractor beam. The ship is identified as the same as the one that escaped the Mos Eisley and Darth Vader believes that they were bringing the plans of the Death Star to Alderaan.The group escapes inside the Death Star (by hiding under the floorboards of the ship and making it look like they jettisoned from the ship using the escape pods) and infiltrates the station. R2-D2 hacks into the computer systems and figures out the schematics of the Death Star. As Obi-Wan leaves to disable the tractor beam, R2-D2 locates Leia on the ship. Luke persuades Han and Chewbacca to help him rescue Leia, who is scheduled for execution after refusing to reveal the location of the Rebel base. Luke says that Leia is the one in the message and so must be someone important. Han is only convinced when Luke says that Leia is a princess and is likely to be rich and will rewards Han handsomely. Han and Luke disguise as Stormtroopers with Chewie as their prisoner, as they get to Leia's location.Vader can sense a presence on the Death Star, that he has not felt since the presence of his previous Master. He reports to Moff that Obi-Wan is on the Death Star, which Moff cannot believe as the Jedi are extinct. Darth Vader follows the Force and finds Obi-Wan on the Death Star. After disabling the tractor beam, Obi-Wan sacrifices himself in a light-saber duel against Vader. Obi-Wan vanishes into thin air, before Darth Vader's light-saber hits him.Luke and Han reach Leia's floor and rescue her from her cell, after dispatching the security. Leia comes along when she hears Obi-Wan is with the group. As reinforcements arrive, the group is forced to take a different route back through the garbage chute. But they drop into a garbage masher which starts to close in. C3PO manages to pick up a communications unit when Stormtroopers come into the control room, but do not recognize them as the escapee droids. Using the communications unit, C3PO gets in contact with Luke and with R2-D2 in the control room, they disable the garbage masher. Eventually, the 2 groups reach the hangar where the Falcon is being kept, after fighting more Stormtroopers. Obi-Wan's sacrifice allows the rest of the group to escape the Death Star (when a voice from the sky instructs Luke to escape). The Falcon fights off the TIE fighters sent after them. Using a tracking device on the Falcon, the Empire locates the Rebel base on the 4th moon around planet Yavin. Leia informs Han that R2-D2 is carrying the technical specifications of Death Star. For a moment it looks like both Luke and Han are interested in Leia.Analysis of the captured Death Star schematics reveals a hidden weakness in a small exhaust port (2 meters wide) leading directly to the station's reactor. A precise hit will start a chain reaction that will destroy the station. After collecting his reward for rescuing Leia, Han leaves the Rebels to pay off Jabba. The rebels plan their attack on the Death Star, as they detect its approach towards their moon.Luke joins the Rebels' X-wing squadron of 30 ships (with R2-D2 installed on his own X-wing fighter) in a desperate attack against the approaching Death Star which will be within range in 15 minutes. In the ensuing battle, Vader leads a squadron of TIE fighters against the Rebels, and they suffer heavy losses. Vader personally thwarts several rebel attempts to hit the exhaust port with photon torpedoes. Luke is on the last run, before the Death Star will be in range of the rebel base.Han and Chewbacca unexpectedly return to aid them in the Falcon, knocking Vader's ship off course before he can shoot Luke down. Guided by the voice of Obi-Wan's spirit, Luke uses the Force (and switches off his on-board computer) to aim his torpedoes into the exhaust port, causing the Death Star to explode moments before it can fire on the Rebel base. Obi-Wan's spirit reminds Luke that the Force will always be with him. In a triumphant ceremony, Leia awards Luke and Han medals for their heroism.
Storyline
- The Imperial Forces under orders from cruel Darth Vader (David Prowse) -- hold Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) hostage, in their efforts to quell the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), captain of the Millennium Falcon, work together with the companionable droid duo R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) to rescue the beautiful princess, help the Rebel Alliance, and restore freedom and justice to the Galaxy. — maschzentertainment Part IV in George Lucas' epic, this movie opens with a rebel ship being boarded by the tyrannical Darth Vader. The plot then follows the life of a simple farm boy, Luke Skywalker, as he and his newly met allies (Han Solo, Chewbacca, Obi-wan Kenobi, C-3PO, R2-D2) attempt to rescue a rebel leader, Princess Leia, from the clutches of the Empire. The conclusion is culminated as the rebels, including Skywalker and flying ace Wedge Antilles make an attack on the Empire's most powerful and ominous weapon, the Death Star. — P. Wong
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