Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

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Paul MacLean
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Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#1 Post by Paul MacLean »

Can you recall when and where you first saw each of the Star Wars movies?

Who you saw them with?

And what your reaction was to each of them?

As for me...

Star Wars (better known to nerds are "Episode IV: A New Hope"):
My parents took me into Manhattan for my birthday to see the original film (we lived a stone's throw from NYC at the time so trips into the city were fairly commonplace). This was about a month after the film had first opened -- Star Wars was not yet quite the cultural juggernaut it would later become, but was at this point already a huge hit. My parents actually got a bigger kick out of it than I did! My dad loved all the references to the kinds of movies he used to watch as a kid, and my mom likewise enjoyed it -- and in particular loved the score. Me? To be honest, I liked it, but I wasn't blown away. I was too young to "get" most of the references, and in fact I found it a bit hard to follow. I did however see it again about seven months later, and was on that occasion, genuinely blown away. I guess they should have waited until Christmas to take me to see it!

The Empire Strikes Back
No enormous Manhattan cinema this time, but the crummy, run-down "State Theater" in the rural, provincial town of Ithaca, NY (where my family had since moved to). Furthermore, Empire did not even open in Ithaca until June, by which time there were no surprises in store for me -- the soundtrack album was filled with stills that gave away most of the story (plus, Mike Rhonemus -- who used to posed on this board -- had left the novelization in my parents' car and I didn't have the willpower not to read it)! I saw it with my friend Jeff and a few others, and we got a kick out of it. (Jeff was a huge sci-fi and fantasy freak like me -- and I guess it held him in good stead because he now works in the A.I. field).

Return of the Jedi
This time the multiplex at the mall just outside Ithaca got the Star Wars movie, so the screening conditions were considerably improved -- plus I actually got to see it opening night. Saw it with Jeff once again, and another friend Betsy, and my friend Ben (who later became a campus radical and got arrested for leading student protests). I tried valiantly to shield myself from any spoilers surrounding the film. However, my friend Kim read the novelization a few days before Jedi opened, and leaked several crucial spoilers to Mike Rhonemus -- who passed them along to me before I had a chance to cover my ears. Kim ruined the rest of film for me when I saw her later that day. (I wanted to spit in their faces.) But I still enjoyed the movie (and the Ewoks at least were a complete surprise). I was however acrimonious when RSO released a one-disc album of John Williams' score (I guess George Lucas was too poor to pay the re-use). That truly was one of the great debacles -- and insults -- in film music history.


The Phantom Menace
Years later -- after college, an abortive attempt to move to London, and having lived in LA, I was back in Ithaca by 1999. Jeff happened to be in town when Phantom Menace opened, so it was only fitting we should see it together. I liked and still like this film a great deal. I was too old and jaded by now to experience the same youthful enthusiasm I felt in the original films (it would take Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to reawaken that!), but it was still a good time. John Williams' score was phenomenal, and for me is his best of the series. And little did I suspect Williams would go on to compose some of his finest work over the next several years.

Attack of the Clones
So far the only Star Wars film I've seen with Andy (during one of my annual trips to Rhode Island) at a matinee the day after it opened (if I recall right). Was also the first time I met the future Mrs. Dursin, Joanne Jaquish (Andy, did I spell that right?). To say this movie was a huge let-down would be an understatement -- but at least Andy was there to commiserate with (and laugh at the unintentionally funny moments)! I also learned Joanne was (like me) a Birkenstock wearer, and she put me on to a place in Germany where you could buy them for considerably cheaper, so the day wasn't a total loss.

Revenge of the Sith
Back in Ithaca, saw this opening night as well (again at the mall multiplex), with my friend Erik. Well, we all knew Anakin would go wrong, but the film -- despite some goofy moments -- was genuinely powerful, and plus the "energy" of being there opening night (with an audience of Star Wars geeks) added to the experience.

However...to this day I am still kicking myself, because several of my very good friends in Liverpool decided to fly to Los Angeles to see Sith opening day, and invited me to fly and out and meet up with them, and I really wish I had. Would have been an uber-great time. Oh well.

The Force Awakens
I didn't want to deal with the crowds on opening night (plus it was hard to find a non-3D screening of the movie) so I waited a couple of weeks to see this one. Saw it with my friends Chris and Rachel (who were newlyweds -- but not annoying to be around!) in Victor, NY (near where I live now). This was at a multiplex where you reserved seats online, and I screwed-up when looking at the seating diagram and thought I had reserved three seats in the back row, but in fact selected front row seats. Chris and Rachel didn't seem to mind, but it was an extremely lousy viewing angle. Of course I thought the film was sufficiently entertaining but nothing more. I actually do wish I'd seen it opening night though, as I'm sure some of the more "nostalgic" moments (like "That ship's garbage!") were probably a lot more fun with an SRO audience of Star Wars fans. But by far, this was the most unceremonious Star Wars experience to date.

I'm off to...to...what's the new one called again? Luke Skywalker's Revenge? Whatever. Well, I'm seeing that Friday with my friend Eric (an up-and-coming clergyman and theological writer). And we made sure we're not in the front row!

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What are your Star Wars stories?

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AndyDursin
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Re: Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#2 Post by AndyDursin »

Great topic Paul! I will chime in when I have more of an opportunity!!

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Monterey Jack
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Re: Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#3 Post by Monterey Jack »

No clue about Star Wars...I doubt my parents were taking me to movies when I was three.

The three earliest (and very vague) memories I have of seeing movies in theaters were all 1980 films...Popeye, Flash Gordon, and The Empire Strikes Back. All I really remember from that initial viewing of Empire was the audience laughing at the appearance of the AT-ST walker and later that night grossing my Mom out at the dinner table describing the "worms" that came out of the TaunTaun's stomach when Han used Luke's lightsaber to cut it open (we had spaghetti that night, I believe :lol: ). Yoda, the asteroid field, Boba Fett, "I am your father"...I can't recall how I reacted to ANY of that from that screening. Hell, I was (almost) six at the time.

Jedi I have more coherent and fond memories of, both the movie and the general merchandise that infused my world for the next year or three. I can still remember the bit from the MAD Magazine parody, where Luke says to Leia, "Guess what? You're my sister and Vader's my Dad and Han's my brother and Chewie's my dog and Artoo's my old Hoover vacuum cleaner, and--" :)

Phantom Menace...I stood in a line a week ahead of opening day to secure tickets (NOT for the full week, mind you), and even ended up on the news that night in a slow pan of the line for about 1.5 seconds. Oh, how naïve we all were...

Actually, I remember really enjoying PM then (saw it three times in theaters), and it was only getting online at the end of the year did I really get sucked into the whole "It's the worst thing since Hitler" backlash hysteria. Honestly, reduce Jar-Jar's schtick by about two-thirds, and give the characters livelier dialogue, and it'd be a fine Star Wars movie.

Attack Of The Clones...didn't care for this one at all. Tedious, HORRIBLE "romantic" dialogue, and all-around awkward.

Revenge Of The Sith certainly has flaws (the whole "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" bit, Anakin's too-abrupt descent into Palpatine's personal hitman), but I remember the buzz about that being pretty positive coming out. It's held up better than you might expect.

The Force Awakens was a BLAST to experience with an opening-day crowd (plus, I got to see it with my Dad and older brother, the first time we've seen an SW movie together in theaters since Jedi)...all of the callbacks were greeted with appropriate orgasms of joy, and the new characters were greeted with far more enthusiasm than anyone in the Prequels. While I don't think the movie is perfect (too many callbacks to A New Hope), it's still loads of fun.

Rogue One was tainted somewhat seeing it opening weekend by my needing to take a MAJOR pee for the last 45 minutes. :oops: Damn near wet myself by the end, yet there was no way I was missing a frame of a new SW movie on my first viewing. It's a more impersonal movie than Force Awakens, and yet that last 45 minutes of war footage remains an impressive work of spectacle, not to mention Darth Vader's badass corridor slaughter scene. :shock:

Eric Paddon
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Re: Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#4 Post by Eric Paddon »

Star Wars

I remember seeing it while we were on a family vacation in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. My older brother and sister who were of high school age at the time while I was eight had seen it earlier and it was apparently a big deal with them, and my brother had the paperback novelization I recall (and I remember my father looking at the back of the paperback synopsis and he asked quizzically "Luke STREETwalker?"). I remember the experience of seeing the film well that first time and getting hooked in.

Empire Strikes Back

Saw it first I think in a now defunct triplex of theaters at a strip mall that is still there but the theaters are long gone in Cedar Knolls, NJ.

ROTJ

This one I KNOW I saw at that defunct theater in Cedar Knolls. SInce I was 14 at the time, needless to say I came away with a much different impression of Carrie Fisher than I did at age 8! But I do have to confess I knew about the "brother-sister" revelation beforehand because a few weeks before the film came out, I saw the paperback novelization in a book store and foolishly thumbed through it and saw that key scene between Luke and Ben.

[Phantom Menace]

Never saw it theatrically. Rented it not long before Attack came out I think. Not impressed.

[Attack Of The Clones]

Saw it in Wheaton, IL. Underwhelmed was I.

Never saw any of the films afterwards.

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Re: Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#5 Post by AndyDursin »

STAR WARS
My first memory of a seeing a film in a theater -- though I can't recall anything other than walking in late, opening the door to the theater, and seeing a jawa on-screen as we were walking in. A powerful image because I can remember that vividly. I'm not sure if this was 1977 or a re-issue in '78 or '79 (wasn't it always playing SOMEWHERE over those years?), but that's the only part I can remember. My guess is it was sometime over those two years and I was probably 4-5, because I don't remember the theater.

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
This I do remember, even though I was 5 (going on 6) at the time. My grandmother was with my mom and I, plus our neighbors and their son, who I was friendly with. We went to the Showcase Seekonk on opening day and there was a massive line. The show we were going to was sold out, so we bought tickets to a later show. My grandmother stayed behind in line with a group of Brown students (and apparently became quite friendly with! lol) while we went to a nearby department store (Ann & Hope, long gone) to kill time. I recall the excitement and applause when the movie started.

RETURN OF THE JEDI
For reasons I'm not totally clear about, I was not THAT excited about seeing this when it opened. You'd think an 8 year old would've been out of his mind for this, but I was more into James Bond and Indiana Jones by then. My mom took me after school to the then just-opened Showcase Warwick (where Paul and I saw CLONES years later) and we watched it in an empty theater on a Friday afternoon. I think it was a week or so after it first opened (maybe it was the Friday after it opened, can't recall). I did see the movie a couple of times -- later that summer, then again in a re-issue in the spring of '85 (I remember that because BABY SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND was playing at the same time). That was also, I believe, right before the movie was released on VHS.

PHANTOM MENACE

Showcase North Attleboro, Mass. Opening Day. Must have been the 11am show or thereabouts. My friend leaned over and said "this is terrible!" literally 10 minutes in. Of course, I like this film, I love the score, and find it -- and the prequels as a whole -- to be wholly more honest entertainment (flaws and all) than Disney's corporate-ized product.

ATTACK OF THE CLONES

See Paul's review above! That was a 10am Showcase Warwick show in an empty theater on opening day. Easily the MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN of Star Wars movies, though we had some laughs!

REVENGE OF THE SITH
One of the few times I was able to get tickets to a pre-release screening as a critic -- something I quickly lost interest in as those shows were usually in the middle of the week in downtown Providence, a pain in the rear to get to (since then they moved these type of screenings to Boston -- when you go, you are usually mixed in with idiots who won tickets in radio station giveaways and the like, one more reason not to bother. The only experience I liked was seeing SPIDER-MAN 2 in the largest theater in the Providence Place Mall -- with literally 4 other people there, two days before it opened). At any rate, this was a sold-out crowd the night before the film formally opened (back before they did Thursday evening shows or whatever it was) so everyone was into it. The weird part of this is that my friend, who accompanied us, was expecting a child (unexpectedly, if you know what I mean) and didn't tell us the baby was coming that night. When my other friend drove him home, he was literally calling up to get information from the hospital ("listen you have to tell me, I'm the father!"). That's a very long and complicated story, needless to say. The film itself is very strong and the best of the prequels.

THE FORCE AWAKENS
Joanne and I went to an opening night 10pm show in Warwick -- and the crowd was great. People laughed, cheered in all the right places. Sadly, without that crowd component, the movie's flaws are more glaringly evident, as I realized on a second viewing on Blu-Ray a few months later. Fun but empty calories and nothing dramatically to hang onto -- a slick but superficial rehash of the original, that never gives you any reason at all why it exists (other than to consume dollars for Disney).

ROGUE ONE
Don't really consider this part of the STAR WARS series per se. Saw it on opening day in an empty theater on Friday AM (might have even been 10am). Didn't care for it much at all.

LAST JEDI, due to my father-in-law's wake and funeral, I'll have to catch up with next week. In general I think the later shows on opening night are where the crowd is most enjoyable. The recent GODZILLA was improved exponentially by the fanboy participation ("he's taking a nap!" someone shouted out near the end, and I had a hard time not laughing) and THE FORCE AWAKENS proved it was outright necessary to really being entertained by it.

mkaroly
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Re: Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#6 Post by mkaroly »

The only one I vaguely remember was seeing STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE when it came out. I don't remember where or when - just that my grandfather took us to see it (along with my mom, his daughter) and when the Cantina Band scene came on he left the theater and waited in the car until it was over. He hated it. Lol...I loved it.

I have more memories of listening to the STAR WARS soundtrack album as well as EMPIRE. I never owned the JEDI soundtrack until much later. I honestly don't even remember when and where I saw the prequels because I really didn't like any of them much except for Episode III. Never wanted to see Rogue One (and still haven't).

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Paul MacLean
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Re: Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#7 Post by Paul MacLean »

mkaroly wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:08 am I don't remember where or when - just that my grandfather took us to see it (along with my mom, his daughter) and when the Cantina Band scene came on he left the theater and waited in the car until it was over. He hated it. Lol...I loved it.
:lol:

That reminds me -- I had totally forgotten, when I first saw Star Wars, the projection lamp broke in the middle of the cantina scene -- right as Luke is being hassled at the bar. I remember seeing the shot of the severed arm, but don't recall seeing Obi Wan using the lightsaber. Maybe that Manhattan cinema wasn't so fancy after-all!

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Re: Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#8 Post by jkholm »

I saw STAR WARS in my hometown of Fallon, NV but don't quite remember when. I think it was in 1977 but it would have been fairly late in the year. I was six and didn't understand most of the movie.

The next two are mixed up in my memory. I know I saw one in Fallon and the other while on vacation in Oregon visiting my grandparents. I think EMPIRE was in Fallon and JEDI in Oregon. (I have fond memories of the Fallon Theatre. I may have to write about it in a separate thread. It was a great theater that was built in 1920.)

PHANTOM MENACE and CLONES were both seen in Tyler, TX at a multiplex. I saw SITH in Dallas, probably at an AMC multiplex.

I took my son to see FORCE and ROGUE at the Alamo Drafthouse, which is now my default theater as it is less than two miles from my house. My plan is to take him to see LAST JEDI sometime next week while he's out of school and I'm off work.

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Monterey Jack
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Re: Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#9 Post by Monterey Jack »

Incidentally, the old Dedham Showcase theater, where I saw most of the movies of my youth and even up until it was demolished in early 2008:

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Edmund Kattak
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Re: Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#10 Post by Edmund Kattak »

STAR WARS
I saw it with Dad in 1977 at the Paramus Route 4 theater (long gone, it's now an LA Fitness) when I was 10 on the second week it opened, The line was wrapped around the building twice

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Totowa Cinema, Route 46 on opening night. Line wasn't as bad as STAR WARS. This theater is also now gone and became a STAPLES office supply store. The theater had a history of issues. At the end of the theater's life, miscreants would re-arrange the block letters on the marquee in front. I'll never forget when John Carpenter's "THE FOG" became "THE FAG" and Dom Deluise starred in "FAT ASS" instead of "FATSO." The theater eventually burned down.

RETURN OF THE JEDI
Wayne Town Center Theater (became Sony Theaters Wayne, which now is AMC Wayne). I saw it the second weekend with a friend when I was in 10th grade in high school. I remember groaning when I first saw Wicket appear on the screen.

THE PHANTOM MENACE
I lived in an apartment building in Nutley, NJ right behind the Franklin Theter - one of the last old-time independently owned theaters. My downstairs neighbor was the Theater Manager and tipped me off well in advance as to what movies were coming into the theater and when. I remember that she told me they got the TPM. Although she couldn't get me in for free, she could get me in early under her "double secret friends and family treatment plan" by letting me go in and seat early through the back door (which was basically my apartment building). I stopped by and bought my ticket at 7:30pm for the midnight screening. At 11:45 I was admitted through the back door and chose my seat in an empty theater of 500 seats. That was the best experience I've every had with a movie :)

ATTACK OF THE CLONES
Clifton Commons, Route 3, Clifton NJ. Saw it at the midnight showing with my wife (then my fiancée) sitting to the right of me and my work boss (on the left). This was uncomfortable, and the movie didn't make it any better. To make things more worse, I had to be on a plane for Vegas by 8:00am the next morning.

REVENGE OF THE SITH
Clifton Commons, Route 3, Clifton NJ. The theater was packed. U saw it with my wife at the midnight showing. There was nothing memorable about the experience. Routine Multiplex apathy had definitely arrived by then.

THE HORSE AWAKENS
Clifton Commons, Route 3, Clifton NJ. I saw it alone about a week after it opened at a 3:30pm showing. Very sparse audience with a lot of empty seats. Needless to say this is my second least favorite film in the franchise (Attack of the Clowns is at the top).
Indeed,
Ed

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Paul MacLean
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Re: Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#11 Post by Paul MacLean »

Edmund Kattak wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:49 am I was admitted through the back door and chose my seat in an empty theater of 500 seats. That was the best experience I've every had with a movie :)
That was similar to my second screening of Star Wars. I went to see it for the second time on a frigid February night in the middle of the week. My friend and I were the only people in the theater!
Edmund Kattak wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:49 am ATTACK OF THE CLONES
Clifton Commons, Route 3, Clifton NJ. Saw it at the midnight showing with my wife (then my fiancée) sitting to the right of me and my work boss (on the left). This was uncomfortable, and the movie didn't make it any better. To make things more worse, I had to be on a plane for Vegas by 8:00am the next morning.
My CLONES screening was similar -- I caught it with Andy and Joanne at the 10:00 am matinee, then said goodbye to them at the theater and got on the road back to New York!

That was a weird week for me. Visiting Andy was great (as usual) but while in RI I got a call from my then-girlfriend who told me her brother came close to shooting himself, but reconsidered at the last moment. :shock:

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Re: Where (and when) did you first see each of the Star Wars movies?

#12 Post by tjguitar85 »

The original trilogy I first saw on VHS as my parents had the tapes. I watched them more or less back to back, so I didn't have the experience of the previous generation who had to wait 3 years in between each film.

This had to have been in the early 90s. I remember getting the Star Wars Anthology 4CD set around that time. I do remember seeing the special editions in 1997 in the theaters.

Prequel trilogy - I know I saw one of the first two films twice in the theater - but don't remember which one. Revenge of the Sith would have been during college, the first two I was in middle and high school. All in Orange County, CA

The Force Awakens - I can't remember if I got stuck watching it in 3D or not - is that 3d fad finally over? Seems like I'm not stuck watching things in 3D as often. I probably also saw this in Orange County, but it could have been Riverside.

The Last Jedi is the first one that I've ever seen on opening day. No humongous lines, I got there 30 minutes early nad still was able to get an aisle seat. The theater still filled up fairly nicely. Saw a few lightsabers, thankfully not turned on. I saw it in the "Cine Capri" , allegedly the largest screen in Arizona with 600 seats.

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