With apologies to Gwynith

[Bob Sullivan]

I'm going to steal her discussion topic for her upcoming film project (on which I hope she will return with a full report later)

So when did a film change your world?

[Bob Sullivan]

By my best calculation, I was 12 when I saw STAR WARS first-run in the movie theater (At the long-gone Eastwood movie theater 70 MM screen on the east side--now those were good times). Star Wars didn't change my world--it's more accurate to say that at that impressionable age it INITIALLY MOLDED my world. For those too young to remember, this was years before a summer "blockbuster" season would be anxiously anticipated prior to a half-expected letdown, before any 14-screen megaplexes (at least here in Indy), and before the buzz-hype overkill we take for granted today. STAR WARS was quietly released with expectations of being a failure, and it pretty much blindsided and knocked out the world on its opening weekend and spread like a virus for over a year afterwards. For myself and the millions of other kids who became "infected" that year--for it was the pop culture equivalent of a DNA reprogramming for many of us inclined to fall under its spell--it set us on a course for life which we were powerless to resist and all to eager to follow.

Prior to Star Wars, six months earlier, the "big" sci-fi movie was LOGAN'S RUN, a ho-hum and now almost forgotten film of modest budget and shaky special effects. STAR WARS set the bar, followed by CLOSE ENCOUNTERS soon after, then SUPERMAN THE MOVIE, the first big screen STAR TREK film, EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (a very fine sequel!) and more. By the arrival of the 80s, big screen sci-fi was taken for granted, and the genre enjoyed its most creative and explosive output ever (another discussion for another time).

But it all started with STAR WARS. Before STAR WARS, I watched TV reruns of Star Trek, Space 1999, and Twilight Zone. After STAR WARS, everything changed.

Just yesterday, I rewatched STAR WARS with my children. (Yes, the DVD "re-imagining" with the Chapter IV title and the CGI inserts.) And maybe in a few years I'll show them the parade of sequels and prequels. But what surprised me yesterday is how well the movie still has a way of capturing a child's imagination. I saw, on my 9-year-old's face, the same look of awe and wonder I remember pointing at the big fat curved screen over 30 years ago. It may no longer be a film that changes a child's world, but it's still doing it's part to instill a sense of magic and wonder that only the movies can bring.