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It’s obviously difficult to find any positive reactions from movie critics about any film while it’s still in production, but one critic decided to point out something positive about Star Wars and added a hint that it would be a success. In fact, he refers to one important factor that he believed already made it “exceptional.”
With the success of American Graffiti, George Lucas suddenly found himself with an opportunity to make Star Wars. Previously, motion picture companies such as United Artists and Universal were not interested in Lucas’ space opera, despite Universal signing him to a deal for Graffiti.
That’s when Alan Ladd, Jr. at 20th Century Fox stepped in and recognized Lucas’ genius. He didn’t quite understand the concept for Star Wars, let alone what a wookie was, but he believed in Lucas as a filmmaker.
Even so, fellow executives and board members at Fox grew to dislike the project, since it was taking up so much time and money. They even threatened to shut down the film altogether, though that was late in filming and likely a ploy to pressure Lucas to finish which, for various reasons, he was struggling to do.
While filming was happening, the public was uncertain what to think of such a strange sci-fi feature, though that’s mostly because there was such little information about it. Before all the uncertainty changed to curiosity in late 1976, one movie critic had something positive to say in May of 1976, one year before the film premiered, which is quite unusual considering there was basically nothing to review.
John S. Long of the Arizona Daily Star wrote an article about the upcoming sci-fi films due to hit theaters over the following year and a half. The article was published on May 30, 1976 and although Long doesn’t quite look forward to such features as Godzilla vs Megatron or The Creature From Black Lake, he does point out three films that he believed would provide “exceptional fare.”
Long first notes Superman, especially since it’s written by The Godfather novelist Mario Puzo. This is also ironic since David Prowse, who enacted the physical characterization of Darth Vader, actually trained Christopher Reeve to build up his body for his Superman role. Long’s article then notes that Star Trek is being made into a film, though that would later be cancelled by Paramount. The company must’ve been kicking themselves over that decision after the success of Star Wars, which is the next film that Long mentions.
Keep in mind, science fiction films were not really a big business in the mid-1970s, and Lucas himself couldn’t foresee the massive success his movie would become.
Then, Long explains that he considers these films, and especially Star Wars, as having promise for at least one main reason.
Long writes, “What makes Star Wars with Alec Guinness and Carrie Fisher, and most of the other films extraordinary is that they are fielding big name stars for their productions. In the past, most science fiction films included either has-beens or inexperienced actors.”
Landing Alec Guinness and later Peter Cushing were major steps in the right direction, and are often overlooked by Star Wars fans today.
Long further points out another rather important factor as he notes that the films “are also being made with big budgets rather than the meager capital invested in the ’50s science fiction products.”
Such a logical take seems somewhat uncommon for a movie critic, or even from fans anticipating the movie, but Long easily realized that these film companies “rediscovered the box office potential of science fiction thrillers.”
He ultimately concludes by writing, ”They also are aware of the success of the big special effects films.”
Long doesn’t miss at all on his points and perhaps he would make a good Jedi or at least a semi-prophetic Yoda without needing to spout “Difficult to see, the future is.”
Perhaps not following the Jedi path was a wise decision by Long, because he went on to have a lengthy career in journalism and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting with Clark Hallas and David C. McCumber in 1984.
Now, thanks to Star Wars, sci-fi films are a big business, and hinting at their potential for success is no longer the exception, like it was in 1976; the last year without Star Wars.