We love underdogs. It doesn’t matter your favorite genre, whether it’s action adventure, romantic comedy, science fiction, drama, or horror, everyone loves an underdog. In the mid-1970s movie fans were treated to what would become an iconic underdog story. A little known director had an idea for a science fiction tale about a group of rebels fighting an empire. He put together an ensemble cast, some known, some new to the industry, and added innovative special effects to a little film he called Star Wars.

Since its introduction on May 25, 1977, Star Wars has become one of the biggest staples in pop culture. What started by attracting sci-fi and fantasy fans and any kid with an adventurer’s spirit, grew to become a mainstream media giant. Over the course of 40 years Star Wars completed two film trilogies, with a third on the way, animated TV shows, specials, standalone films, comic books, novelizations, games, and concerts. It developed an entire market of collectibles with movie posters, stills, scripts, and props, plus a steady stream of toys and collectibles that have been issued from the holiday season in ’77 through new releases currently in stores.

Fans of George Lucas’ space opera have proven time again that the Force is indeed strong.

Lucas was a man with two passions. Before his love of film came his love of fast cars. As a child, he aspired to be a race car driver, but after surviving a near fatal car accident in high school he changed his mind. His appreciation of cinematography and clever camera tricks began while attending community college. It bloomed into career aspirations when he transferred to the University of Southern California’s filmmaking school. His film career began in the mid-1960s, working in the sound department, as a camera operator, production assistant, cinematographer, and editor.

Though his first feature film, THX-1138, was considered a flop by its studio, his second one, American Graffiti, did quite well. The teen movie about a group of friends spending a final night together after graduation was released in 1973. Boasting the young talents of Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Candy Clark, and a kid named Harrison Ford, it was filled with nostalgia, love of beautiful cars, and music. Co-written and directed by Lucas, it earned five Academy Award nominations, including Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay.

Lucas wanted his next project to be the modern equivalent of a Saturday morning children’s program, combining fairy tale elements with fantasy and adventure, set in space. It evolved into the feature length Star Wars, which eventually became titled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, which he wrote and directed.

When it was released in 1977, the movie mesmerized audiences with its unique blend of special effects, characters – both human and droid – and exotic settings. The story began 19 years after the formation of the evil Empire with the galaxy in a state of turmoil as a rebel faction tried to fight back. The Empire was ruled by a vicious emperor and overseen by his number one apprentice, Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones). Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) was among the rebels trying to save the galaxy through subterfuge and cunning. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) was a young farmer bucking to be free, and who began training in the ways of the Force by Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), and Han Solo (Ford) was a smuggler scoundrel who reluctantly joined the fight with his Wookie co-pilot, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew).

Star Wars was a contrast to THX-1138 since Lucas felt that the negative tone of his earlier film led to poor reception, which led to a more optimistic tone in Star Wars. He had wanted to adapt Flash Gordon space adventure comics and serials on film since he’d been a fan as a child. In 1979 he commented that the Flash Gordon serials were crude and therefore he wondered what would happen if the style of film could be done well.

During May after he completed THX-1138, Lucas was given a two-picture deal with United Artists and he pushed to buy the rights for Flash Gordon. When he couldn’t get the rights to Flash Gordon he showed the American Graffiti script to United but they passed on the movie and it was picked up by Universal Pictures. They also passed on his pitch for Star Wars so he shelved the project for two years while working on American Graffiti. When United denied the project, Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz took the film treatment to Universal, but they found the concept strange and since science fiction wasn’t currently popular, they suggested he follow American Graffiti with similar projects.

The expected high price tag for the movie was also a concern considering the special effects needed to pull it off well. After Walt Disney Productions rejected the project, Lucas and Kurtz took it to Alan Ladd Jr., the head of 20th Century Fox. In June 1973 they completed a deal for Lucas to write and direct the movie.

For years he had been writing notes, concepts, even character names for Star Wars. Through his drafts he studied science fiction, watching films and reading books and comics. He would write four screenplays for Star Wars with some elements like the Sith and Death Star staying consistent while a character named Annikin Starkiller and Han Solo, originally a green-skinned monster with gills, went through some changes. He created a Jedi Master father and son in the first draft, developed Luke (then Starkiller) and the Force, and the Dark Side in the second draft. The third draft saw final plot elements being added and Luke became an only child whose father had died and was replaced by Ben Kenobi. The final script was completed in March 1976 and filming began.

Lucas hired several conceptual designers to help formulate his vision. Colin Cantwell worked on initial spacecraft models; Alex Tavoularis on preliminary conceptual storyboard sketches; and Ralph McQuarrie on characters, costumes, props, and scenery. Wanting to create new prop prototypes and sets from McQuarrie’s designs, Lucas commissioned designers John Barry and Roger Christian for production sets. He described the concept as “used future” where ships, buildings, and devices looked like they were clearly aged and not the clean, sterile look of other science fiction movies.

In ’75 Lucas created his own visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, since 20th Century Fox’s visual effects department had been closed. Much of the digital effects came from pioneering digital motion control photography, developed by John Dykstra and his team. Wanting the movie to have an alien look with over-exposed colors, contrasting shadows, and hot areas, Lucas hired British cinematographer Gilbert Taylor.

Principal photography began on March 22, 1976 in the Tunisian desert, which served as Tatooine, then after two weeks they moved to Elstree Studios near London, and after that the rebel base of Yavin 4 was filmed in Mayan temples at Tikal, Guatemala.

The project didn’t go smoothly with lighting complications, timing issues, some crew members didn’t take it seriously, Lucas and Taylor would disagree over stylistic choices, and some of the cast felt that Lucas wasn’t clear enough with his direction. At one point the pressure was so high that Lucas was diagnosed with hypertension and exhaustion.

During post-production, the first cut of the film by editor John Jympson was considered a disaster, so Lucas ended up replacing Jympson with Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew. Jympson’s cut had a lot of footage that was cut from the final film, including scenes that introduced Luke. Chew and Hirsch worked to change Jympson’s by the book editing, improve pacing, and remove unnecessary moments that confused the story.

In February 1977, after editing and sound effects were fine-tuned, Lucas showed an early cut to Fox executives, friends who were directors, plus Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin who were adapting a Star Wars comic for Marvel. Since it had a different crawl, used Prowse’s voice for Darth Vader, and special effects weren’t finished, it received mixed reactions. While the directors were not enthusiastic, the studio executives loved it.

After more work was done on special effects, Jones provided lines for Vader, additional shots were filmed, and more fine-tuning was done, the film was ready for its audience. Since then it has become a bigger and bigger cultural phenomenon beloved by several generations of fans around the world. The space opera grew into a beloved trilogy, followed by cartoon TV series, comics, novels, a prequel trilogy, and now a new wave of box office record setting films.

Happy birthday Star Wars!

If you are a Star Wars collector, don't miss out on the Star Wars Collection of Russell Branton at Hake's Americana & Collectibles. The inaugural portion of the collection will be sold in their November 2017 auction.