In a galaxy under the crushing rule of the Galactic Empire, a young farm boy named Luke Skywalker discovers a secret message from a captive princess hidden inside a droid. Thrust into a journey beyond his wildest dreams, he teams up with a wise Jedi Knight, a cocky smuggler, and a Wookiee co-pilot to deliver the plans of the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star, to the Rebel Alliance. As he takes his first steps into a larger world, Luke must learn the ways of the Force to help save the galaxy from tyranny.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
May 25, 1977 |
Running time |
121 minutes |
Genre |
Sci-Fi
Adventure Action |
Budget |
$11,000,000 |
Box Office |
$775,398,507 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
George Lucas |
Produced by |
Gary Kurtz |
Written by |
George Lucas |
Music by |
John Williams |
Cinematography |
Gilbert Taylor |
Edited by |
Paul Hirsch Marcia Lucas Richard Chew |
Production Co. |
Lucasfilm Ltd. |
Distributed by |
20th Century Fox |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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Movie Collection |
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Movie Order: #01 in Star Wars Collection
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The Plot
The Capture of the Tantive IV
Nineteen years after the Galactic Empire rose to power, the galaxy is embroiled in civil war. The Rebel Alliance has secured its first significant victory by stealing the plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star. Princess Leia Organa, possessing the stolen schematics and hoping to restore freedom to the galaxy, races home aboard the corvette Tantive IV. However, her diplomatic vessel is intercepted over the desert planet of Tatooine by the massive Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator.
The Star Destroyer captures the smaller ship, and Imperial stormtroopers breach the hull, engaging in a firefight with the rebel guards. Once the ship is secured, the menacing Sith Lord Darth Vader arrives to assess the situation. Outraged by the theft, Vader interrogates Captain Antilles, demanding the location of the plans. When Antilles refuses to cooperate, Vader strangles him to death. Meanwhile, Princess Leia hides in the ship's corridors and records a holographic message via R2-D2. She entrusts the droid with the Death Star plans and a mission to deliver the message to Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi living in hiding on the planet below.
Leia is soon spotted and stunned by stormtroopers. When brought before Vader, she defiantly claims to be on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan. Vader, seeing through the ruse, denounces her as a traitor and orders her taken prisoner. He commands that a distress signal be sent to the Imperial Senate claiming the ship was destroyed with all hands lost. Unnoticed, R2-D2 and C-3PO enter an escape pod and jettison toward Tatooine. Imperial gunners spot the pod but hold their fire, noting that no life forms are aboard.
Destiny in the Desert
The droids crash-land on the dune seas of Tatooine. After an argument, they separate but are individually captured by Jawa traders. Reunited aboard a sandcrawler, they are transported to a moisture farm where they are sold to Owen Lars and his nephew, Luke Skywalker. Luke, a young orphan who lost his parents as a baby, dreams of leaving the harsh desert to become a starfighter pilot like his friends, but his uncle needs him for the harvest.
While cleaning R2-D2, Luke accidentally triggers part of Leia's holographic recording. The image of the princess repeats the phrase, "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." Luke wonders if the droid refers to Ben Kenobi, a hermitic neighbor. During dinner, Owen dismisses the idea, ordering Luke to have the droid’s memory wiped at Anchorhead the following day. He also crushes Luke’s hopes of joining the Academy immediately, insisting he stay for one more season. As the twin suns set, R2-D2 escapes the homestead to fulfill his mission. Luke and C-3PO set out to find him the next morning.
The Old Jedi and the Message
Luke and C-3PO locate R2-D2 in the Jundland Wastes, but they are ambushed by Tusken Raiders (Sand People). They are rescued by the sudden appearance of Ben Kenobi, who reveals that he is indeed Obi-Wan. At his hut, Obi-Wan tells Luke of the days before the Empire, when the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice. He gives Luke his father’s lightsaber, explaining that he and Luke’s father were close friends and fellow Jedi. Obi-Wan reveals a tragic truth: a young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was Obi-Wan's pupil, turned to the dark side of the Force and murdered Luke’s father.
R2-D2 plays Leia’s full message, in which she begs Obi-Wan to take the plans to her home planet of Alderaan. Obi-Wan urges Luke to learn the ways of the Force and accompany him. Luke initially refuses, citing his obligations to his family, but agrees to transport Obi-Wan as far as Anchorhead. On the way, they find the sandcrawler destroyed and the Jawas slaughtered. While it looks like a Tusken raid, Obi-Wan notes the precision of the blaster marks belongs to Imperial stormtroopers. Realizing the Empire is hunting the droids, Luke rushes home in horror, only to find the homestead burning and the charred remains of his aunt and uncle, brutally murdered by the soldiers.
Mos Eisley Spaceport
With nothing left for him on Tatooine, Luke returns to Obi-Wan and commits to becoming a Jedi. They travel to Mos Eisley spaceport to find a pilot who can take them to Alderaan without attracting Imperial attention. Upon entering the town, they are stopped by a stormtrooper patrol. Obi-Wan uses a Jedi mind trick to convince the soldiers to let them pass.
Inside Chalmun's Cantina, they meet the smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee first mate, Chewbacca. Han agrees to transport the group—Luke, Obi-Wan, and the two droids—aboard his ship, the Millennium Falcon, for a steep price of 17,000 credits: 2,000 in advance and 15,000 upon arrival. As the deal concludes, Han is confronted by the bounty hunter Greedo regarding a debt to the crime lord Jabba the Hutt. The confrontation ends abruptly when Han fatally shoots Greedo. Before leaving, Han meets Jabba himself in the docking bay, promising to pay his debt with the money from this charter. After a brief firefight with stormtroopers who track them to the hangar, the Millennium Falcon blasts off, escaping two Star Destroyers and jumping into hyperspace.
Terror on the Death Star
Aboard the Death Star, the Imperial hierarchy is in conflict. General Cassio Tagge warns of the Rebellion's growing support in the Senate, while Admiral Motti places his faith in the station's technological might. Grand Moff Tarkin enters with Darth Vader and announces that the Emperor has dissolved the Imperial Senate, effectively sweeping away the last remnants of the Old Republic. When Motti mocks Vader’s devotion to the "ancient religion" of the Force, Vader begins to Force-choke him until Tarkin orders him to stop.
Elsewhere on the station, Princess Leia has resisted mind-probe torture, refusing to divulge the location of the Rebel base. Tarkin decides to use leverage: he threatens to destroy her home planet, Alderaan, with the Death Star's superlaser. Reluctantly, Leia claims the base is on Dantooine. Despite having the information, Tarkin orders the destruction of Alderaan regardless, to demonstrate the station's power. The planet is obliterated in an instant.
Into the Trap
Aboard the Millennium Falcon, Obi-Wan is physically shaken by a "great disturbance in the Force," sensing the death of millions. Meanwhile, Luke practices lightsaber combat against a training remote. When the ship drops out of hyperspace, they do not find Alderaan, but rather an asteroid field formed by the planet's debris. They spot a TIE fighter and chase it, only to realize it is luring them toward a moon-sized space station—the Death Star. Caught in a powerful tractor beam, the Falcon is pulled into the station's hangar bay.
Tarkin soon learns that Dantooine contains only the ruins of an abandoned base. Furious at being deceived, he orders Leia’s immediate execution. In the hangar, the Imperials search the Falcon but find no crew; the heroes have hidden in the smuggling compartments under the floorboards. They ambush a scanning crew and two stormtroopers, stealing their armor for disguises. Using a control room to access the Imperial network, they locate the tractor beam generator. Obi-Wan leaves the group to disable it manually.
The Rescue and the Garbage Chute
While monitoring the network, R2-D2 discovers that Princess Leia is being held in Detention Block AA-23 and is scheduled for termination. Luke urges Han and Chewbacca to help him rescue her, enticing Han with promises of a massive reward. Leaving the droids behind, the trio heads to the detention block, pretending to be stormtroopers transferring a Wookiee prisoner. They infiltrate the block, subdue the guards, and Luke opens Leia's cell. However, their intrusion is detected, and they are pinned down by incoming stormtroopers. Leia takes charge, blasting a hole in a ventilation grate, and the group dives into a garbage chute to escape.
They land in a trash compactor, where a tentacled creature called a dianoga drags Luke underwater before mysteriously releasing him. The walls of the compactor suddenly begin to close in. As they struggle to brace the crushing walls, Luke frantically calls C-3PO on his comlink. R2-D2 hacks the system and shuts down the compactors just seconds before the group is crushed, leaving C-3PO momentarily relieved after fearing the worst.
The Duel and the Sacrifice
The group makes their way back toward the hangar, though Luke and Leia are briefly separated from Han and Chewbacca, forcing them to swing across a deep chasm to safety. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan successfully deactivates the tractor beam but is confronted by Darth Vader. The former master and apprentice engage in a lightsaber duel. As the rebels reach the Falcon, they witness the battle.
Seeing that Luke and the others are safe and ready to escape, Obi-Wan stops fighting. He glances at Luke and raises his lightsaber, allowing Vader to strike him down. Obi-Wan's body vanishes instantly as he becomes one with the Force. Horrified, Luke screams and opens fire on the stormtroopers. Under heavy blaster fire, the grieving group boards the Falcon and escapes the Death Star. However, they are immediately attacked by a squadron of TIE fighters. Luke and Han man the gun turrets and destroy the pursuers, securing their escape.
The Battle of Yavin
Although they have escaped, Leia correctly deduces that the Empire let them go to track the ship to the Rebel base. The Falcon arrives at Yavin 4, where the technical readouts from R2-D2 are analyzed. General Dodonna briefs the pilots: the plans reveal a small thermal exhaust port that leads directly to the main reactor. A precise hit with proton torpedoes will trigger a chain reaction and destroy the station. As the Rebels prepare for the assault, Han Solo collects his reward and prepares to leave, much to Luke’s disappointment.
The Death Star enters the Yavin system, preparing to fire on the Rebel moon. The Rebel Alliance launches its X-wing and Y-wing starfighters, Luke among them. The battle is fierce, with Imperial turbolasers and TIE fighters taking a heavy toll on the Rebel squadrons. Darth Vader enters the fray in his TIE Advanced x1, leading a squadron that picks off the Rebel pilots one by one, including Luke’s childhood friend Biggs Darklighter.
The Trench Run
With time running out and the Death Star minutes away from firing, Luke begins his attack run down the trench. Vader pursues him, locking his targeting computer onto Luke's X-wing. Suddenly, the Millennium Falcon dives out of the sun; Han Solo has returned. He destroys the TIE fighters flanking Vader and sends the Sith Lord's ship spinning out of control into space.
Guided by the disembodied voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke switches off his targeting computer and trusts in the Force. He fires two proton torpedoes, which curve perfectly into the exhaust port. Luke and the surviving pilots race away as the Death Star explodes, killing Grand Moff Tarkin and everyone on board. Back on Yavin 4, Luke, Han, and Chewbacca are greeted as heroes. In a grand ceremony, Princess Leia awards medals to Luke and Han, while the Rebel Alliance celebrates their hard-won victory.
