1977: Original STAR WARS Review | Film 77 | Classic Movie Review | BBC Archive

Would LOVE to know who were the two studios AND their story readers, who turned it down. I'd also LOVE to see the "Coverage" of why the script was turned down. Wonder if those Readers were fired or not for PASSING on the most profitable franchise generating script in history.

Barry Norman was an absolute treasure!

Barry Norman, how we miss you

The very end of the review is soo cool! Awesome british humor.

Good old Barry, a perfect summation of the entire project in under 3 minutes. You couldn't do better with 45 years worth of hindsight.

I'm was very young but I'm sure I remember Barry Norman giving Star Wars a terrible review then a week or so later giving a glowing review as if the first review never happened. I remember my dad saying that's not what he said last week.

Greenish background, brown jacket, brown shirt, boring tie and brown hair. The seventies hahaha

I saw Star Wars when I was 12 because all my friends had seen it and I didn't want to be left out of peer group conversation - I didn't have a SINGLE clue what it was about.
The opening scene 'blew my face off' - I didn't know what I was seeing but I can tell you my eyes were as big as the screen - The world had suddenly changed forever and could never be the same.
There was life before Star Wars and then there was life after Star Wars...I get the feeling now that that has been happening almost every decade up to now.
When I think about it it seems a pretty vacuous existence when your life is MOSTLY defined by consumer milestones.
Star Wars
Back To The Future
Macintosh/Apple/iMac/iPod/iPhone/iPad
The Matrix
Google
Facebook
....and now there are people who believe that their whole life is a conspiracy, the Earth is Flat and we all exist in a Simulation
The whole World's collective brain/consciousness is transforming into mush.
In 2006 IDIOCRACY WAS A MOVIE, NOW IT'S A DOCUMENTARY.

Would love to know what he thought about the latest crock of Star Wars movies and the Indiana Jones and the studio of sadness.

Amazing how long we in the UK had to wait for films to come after being released in USA....I saw it aged 9

They’re nice to watch critics be actually really positive about something. Feels like a genuine review this rather than the modern click bait

He doesn't know the meaning of ironic.

Brilliant movie 😁

Came out in Ireland March 1978. Saw it twice in the cinema.

ah the good ol' days of TV. if you want to talk about someone important, stick their photo onto a cane shelf and slowly pan the camera out

Why Norman thought that Peter Cushing wasn't as "well known" as Alec Guinness is a mystery!

Haha more like an Austin maxi ( brown one) haha ! I remember this great stuff !

Barry Norman great movie reviewer

A film review with the word "woke" not mentioned. The good old days.

When we trusted and liked critics

I remember watching this back in 77. He showed the clip where R2D2 and C3PO had just landed in the desert. Disappointing to see it's been cut from this version.

It’s the original Star Wars! Yes!!!

Amazing Barry Norman was only 27 here

Back when film critics were honest.

Abigail's Party reviews film. Tbf, Barry Norman was excellent film critic

C3 p o

lol i went to see it at the pictures in the seventies

Just think how useless you have to be to nearly screw this cash cow up , cough , cough Kennedy and Johnson cough , cough

I always thought he was a really nice chap and I wish I could of bought him a pint and had a chat with him.God bless Barry😂

Speilburg is a pedophile

Artoo is the real hero

He left out the part about turning grown men into nancys

Hate the way he repeatedly mispronounces C3PO.

I loved Barry’s reviews back in the day, miss that.

Witchcraft

Barry Norman ( RIP Rest in Pictures ).🪦

The juvenile leads 😂

Oscar Wilde...

I miss Barry Norman.

I was 16 when Star Wars was released here in the UK. I have absolutely no memory of anyone at School going to see the movie- talking about having seen it or planning to see it. The film just wasn't on our radar. That all seems rather strange now looking back. We were the perfect age. There certainly wasn't the kind of wall to wall media hype that exists today. The plethora of channels and media entertainment shows were not established. Pop culture didn't have the same mainstream impact/dominance it now has- the well oiled publicity machine and marketing was the traditional Hollywood format. Star Wars helped break that mould and create the template for the juggxrnaught that would ultimately follow. I do remember all the toys being a bit of talking point on TV news as it was a bit of a novelty at the time. It was seen as the most cynical overkill and marketing tool although very tame by 2023 standards.

Colour didn't exist in 1970s Britain.

AND WHY NOT?

Also lets not forget Disney had a chance in the early days and rejected it, they saw it as too risky. Oh my it was an expensive mistake and mega expensive purchase later on, don't worry Mickey Mouse has very big pockets.

Barry Norman, the Daddy of all film critics.

Ah the nostalgia

That's not a review...

Star Wars? Nah, won't catch on at all.