TOD:
I was in Naples, Italy, when "Star Wars" opened (late spring '77). We were all made aware of this phenomenal film that brought back Saturday matinees in a BIG way...and we were all made aware of the John Williams score.
"Made aware how?" you may be asking. Are you asking? I'm gonna tell you:
The Stars and Stripes, the newspaper for Department of Defense personnel overseas did a reprint of The New York Times' rave review as a "double-truck" in one day's paper. For those who don't quite understand that, it's the absolute center of the paper, and the review took up both sides of that one folded sheet of paper, complete with photos from the film.
It was quite exciting. Also, Armed Forces Radio (which was all we had in 1977) informed us that the main theme from "Star Wars" had entered the Top 10 on the charts. Armed Forces Radio was no slouch in keeping us abreast of all musical trends, and we were treated to many different playings of said theme throughout a day for many weeks.
Needless to say, or perhaps it bears telling, I was excited that I was going to be returning to the U.S. of A. in August 1977 where I would surely get my chance to see the film and own the recording.
As it happens, I did see the film in a theater in Greenville SC. I saw it at the Astro II, a bi-plex next door to the Astro Lanes Bowling Center way out on the 291 By-pass.
I have to tell you I was not only underwhelmed by this small-ish screen presentation but also by the behind-the-screen sound...ALL the sound came from behind the screen. There wasn't much to whoop or holler or even get excited about and it all seemed a bit inane to me.
I did visit my favorite record store (Carole's Record Shop on Wade Hampton Boulevard) and buy the 2-LP soundtrack, and I grew to love it very much in the two weeks I was at home before reporting for duty in Washington DC. It was a far cry from what I heard of the score in the Astro II, however.
Once in DC, and after a week or so of settling into the office routine, the guy I was replacing (who was still there pending something or other that was delaying his departure) found out I was a movie and film music lover and demanded to know if I had seen "Star Wars." So I told him about the Astro II experience.
He was beside himself. I had to see it at the theater in downtown Washington he demanded. It's 70 millimeter. It's surround sound (or a pre-cursor of same). He wondered if I hadn't been impressed by the special effects despite the Astro II's less-than-stellar presentation. I told him I hadn't been at all and that it bothered me. He wrote out instructions for me to get to that theater using public transit (my car had not arrived from Italy at that time).
So...on a Saturday morning, late, I ventured out to find this 70mm theater with superb sound that was going to change my whole love affair with movies.
I must say, the interior of that theater was impressive. The curtains covering the screen were massive. Surely, that screen couldn't be as large as those curtains.
It could. It was.
For the next two hours, I was transported. It was as if I hadn't seen the Astro II presentation. When that first spaceship crossed the screen from the top right toward the bottom left, I stopped breathing for a few seconds. And when that second spaceship -- that monster craft -- appeared to chase down and draw in that first spaceship my heart caught in my throat. THOSE were some amazing special effects.
What's more...I could hear John Williams' score. I could hear it loud...and I loved it.
I was totally a "fan", but never a "FANatic." I later saw "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Superman" in 70mm in Washington DC theaters and they were experiences of a lifetime. (I also saw "Damnation Alley"....woof!).
When "The Empire Strikes Back" was released, I was in Indiana...Fort Benjamin Harrison in the community of Lawrence, just north of Indianapolis. A co-worker and I got the afternoon off of the first day of release and went to the former Cinerama theater off Pendleton Pike. I was over the moon with that film. Loved, loved, loved it. One of Williams' best adventure scores.
I was much less pleased with "Return of the Jedi". I saw the prequels on video only. They are handsome and beautifully scored, but they lack "warmth" and some of the heart that resonated in the original film and "Empire Strikes Back"....for me.
