Star Wars (1977) - 56 trivia entries

The Imperial officer's uniforms were patterned after the uniforms of Nazi officers to add to their "villainous" image.

Harrison Ford wasn't an original candidate to play Han Solo. He was originally brought in simply to feed lines to the other auditioners. After watching Ford, George Lucas realized he was the perfect Han.

Luke's line "I can't see a thing in this helmet" was not scripted. Mark Hamill said this to Harrison Ford when he thought the cameras had stopped rolling. But, the filmmakers decided to leave the line in.

When George Lucas was mixing the American Graffiti soundtrack, he numbered the reels of film starting with an R and numbered the dialog starting with a D. Sound designer Walter Murch asked George for Reel 2, Dialog 2 by saying "R2D2". George liked the way that sounded so much he integrated that into Star Wars.

Luke says "Prisoner transfer from block 1138" on the Death Star - a reference to George Lucas' film THX-1138.

The scene in which Luke and Leia swing across a shaft in the Death Star was filmed in one take. The stunt itself was performed by Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.

James Earl Jones' name did not originally appear in the ending credits. At the time of the film's release, Jones felt he hadn't done enough for the film to deserve a credit. His name was added for the film's re-release.

Mark Hamill annoyed Alec Guiness so much on set because his youth and excitement that Alec paid him a dollar to go away.

In the bar on Tattooine (where Luke and Obi-Wan meet Han Solo), you see lots of aliens at the bar. Look carefully in the background of these shots, and you'll see a NASA astronaut in full space walk gear (helmet etc) walking across the back of the shot, complete with American flag on his arm. It's quite obvious once you know where to look.

Billy Dee Williams, who later played Lando Calrissian in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi," auditioned for the role of Han Solo.

"Vader" is Dutch for "father."

The film's screen tests were spoofed in a 1997 episode of "Saturday Night Live," which included Kevin Spacey playing Christopher Walken auditioning for the role of Han Solo. Walken really was considered for that role before Harrison Ford was chosen. Spacey also played Walter Matthau auditioning for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jack Lemmon auditioning for Chewbacca.

The name of the planet Tatooine came from the town of Tataouine in Tunisia where the movie was filmed.

Denis Lawson, who plays Wedge Antilles, is the uncle of Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequels.

C3PO was named after a post office which is located at reference C3 on a map of Lucas' hometown. R2-D2 is an abbreviation of 'Reel Two, Dialog Two'.

During Han's conversation with Greedo, the line "Even I get boarded sometimes - do you think I had a choice?" was lifted from his conversation with Jabba that didn't make it into the original release. If you pay attention you'll notice that when he says that line the camera is on his hand cocking his gun, not on his face. When the Jabba scene was put into the Special Edition they left the line in both scenes, which is why the Jabba scene seems a bit repetitive.

George Lucas decided to release "Star Wars" in May 1977 instead of the start of the summer movie season (in the 1970s, it was a new concept as the result of the success of "Jaws" in 1975) in June because he wanted kids still in school to talk about it so as to spread word-of-mouth.

The heavy rifle used by Chewie in the Death Star is a German WW2 MG 34.

According to the documentary "Empire of Dreams," as well as interviews on the "Revenge of the Sith" DVD, George Lucas originally wrote the "Star Wars" trilogy as one long serial titled The Tragedy of Darth Vader, which ran about 200 pages. He then broke it into three separate stories, and focused solely on the first part, which became "Star Wars."

All the dialogue when Han is on the console talking to some of the commanders was all ad libbed. Harrison Ford deliberately didn't learn the lines, so that it would sound more spontaneous.

When Ben Kenobi is deactivating the tractor beam, the set Alec Guinness was on was only six feet above the floor.

The opening title crawl was inspired by the Flash Gordon serials, which is partially what inspired George Lucas to write Star Wars.

The reason why C-3P0 lets R2-D2 go in front of him as they enter the Skywalker's residence right after being purchased from the Jawas, is because the set guy operating R2-D2 by radio control kept on hitting C-3P0 from behind and pushing him down the stairs, so in the final shot, C-3P0 suddenly steps to the side, waves R2-D2 past, and the shot cuts out right before R2-D2 goes flying down the stairs.

While filming the desert scenes, Anthony Daniels' C-3PO costume kept falling apart, especially the legs. In many of the close-ups, Daniels was in costume only from the waist up. Notice as Luke and Obi-Wan pick up the damaged droid following the Sand people attack - the film cuts to the next scene with an upward vertical wipe, to avoid having to show his legs.

During the trash compactor scene, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) held his breath so long that he broke a blood vessel in his face. That's why many of the shots show only one side of his face.

When Luke goes to his room we see C-3PO saying he told R2-D2 not to leave. In the room there is something visible that looks like the bonnet of a car with a Mercedes Benz sign on it.

The sound that is made when they power up the Death Star's hyperlaser to destroy Alderaan is the same sound used in the THX Certifier on many DVDs.

Carrie Fisher has stated that her scenes as Princess Leia with Grand Moff Tarkin - Peter Cushing - were not easy to play. During filming, Peter, as Tarkin, would speak so demeaningly to her. When the cameras stopped, he would converse with her in such a gentlemanly fashion and she would find it hard to play her part against him when filming commenced again.

The sound of Luke's landspeeder was made with the recording of the sound of a Highway in Los Angeles mixed with a vacuum cleaner.

Anthony Daniels is the only cast member of the trilogy to voice his character in the trilogy's National Public Radio's dramatizations (while Mark Hamill and Billy Dee Williams voiced their characters for "The Empire Strikes Back," they were replaced in "Return of the Jedi" by Joshua Fardon and Arye Gross, respectively).

Before signing on as the film's sound designer, Ben Burtt auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker.

On the Death Star, just after Darth Vader speaks to the stormtroopers, one of them, in the background, moves and looks stupidly around him while the others are straight.

I believe it is at the house of Obi Wan Kenobi in the background you can see, on a table or shelf, part of a Volkswagen heater duct. It's a part of the car that goes under the rear seat. Most people wouldn't know what it is. It's black and standing vertically on the table

In the Jawa's Sandcrawler, a shiny droid says "Je t'ai coupé les patates avec des choux," something in French that means "I cut your potatoes with cabbages."

Luke Skywalker's name was originally going to be Dirk Starkiller.

The interrogation droid has a protruding metal object at the top that resembles salad tongs. These are Simpson forceps, which have been used for centuries to deliver babies. Certainly a torture device if the expectant mother has no anesthesia.

Just before the film's completion, Mark Hamill was cast as David Bradford on the TV series "Eight is Enough." Hamill believed the film was going to be a hit, and wanted to focus on his film career. Hamill played David in the series' pilot, and was replaced by Grant Goodeve for the rest of the show's run.

While not as beset by disasters as Lucas's previous movie American Graffiti, there were some setbacks. Firstly, filming in Tunisia was delayed when the region experienced its first winter rainstorm in fifty years. Getting R2-D2 to work also proved very problematic, and at one point it started picking up Tunisian radio signals.

The uniforms of Alliance pilots ressemble the uniform of US Navy pilots in the 60's and they were made with racing pilot's clothes. They also have distress rockets on their ankle like Luftwaffe pilots in the second world war.

In the Death Star scenes (yes, all of them), whenever the Imperials walk, you can hear their footsteps. But when Tarkin walks, you can't hear him. This is because Peter Cushing (Tarkin) found his Imperial boots so uncomfortable, he didn't wear them. He wore carpet slippers, so you can't hear him. The only shots in which he can be seen wearing boots are shots in which he remains stationary.

As Luke and Obi-Wan enter Mos Eisley via Luke's speeder, a ship that eventually became Dash Rendar's ship, the Outrider, in "Shadows of the Empire," can be seen lifting off from the space port.

Han Solo's gun is a Mauser pistol (Schnellfeuer model), a copy of which was used in the Chinese Army.

The first time Chewie gets into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, he hits his head on a small set of dice. They aren't seen in subsequent shots, nor are they seen in the rest of the trilogy.

When Star Wars was first written, the studio thought that it would be so unpopular that it was planned to be cut up into 20 minute shows and shown on Saturday mornings as a childrens' program.

George Lucas wanted to do a Flash Gordon remake, but couldn't obtain the movie rights and developed Star Wars in its stead - hence the opening title sequence. Following the success of Star Wars, the owners of Flash Gordon decided to make a movie after all. Released in 1980, the same year as The Empire Strikes Back, it flopped.

The wide-angle shots of the rebel base before the final battle and before the award ceremony at the end of the film show buildings rising out of a jungle. These are shots of the ancient Mayan city of Tikal, now part of the Tikal National Park located in Guatemala.

Not really a mistake, but apparently if you go up to a telegraph pole and hit one of the metal wire support cables with a piece of solid copper it will make a laser blaster sound. I take no responsibility for major internal or external injuries or loss of respect from peers. For a safer alternative, if you have a spring type garage door just tap (or even flick with your finger) the spring.

The Stormtrooper guns are actually British Sterling submachine guns.

Nick Nolte was considered for the role of Han Solo.

For a Star Wars laser sound, hold one end of a metal Slinky around your ear, and let the other end drop and hit the floor. It is neat. I would suggest you avoid letting others see you do this unless you have a chance to explain!

Lightsabres are made out of a selection of camera parts - apparently you can get the schematics for them somewhere on the internet, and make your own. NO, I haven't got the faintest idea where to look. However, I have heard that the right camera parts are very hard to get hold of, because firstly they were around in the 70's/80's, and also because Star Wars fans keep buying them. [For more info, check out: http://members.aol.com/yodashous2/building.htm; http://members.aol.com/ctlaw74/galactic.htm; and to buy a lightsabre replica: http://larbel.amer.net/index.html] [A better bet might be www.edcstudios.com - apparently here you can get the plans and most of the parts]

In the scene where R2D2 is having his restraining bolt attached the tool that is used is a small brazing tool you can pick up any Radio Shack.

If you compare the battle between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan in this one to the battle in Episode 1, this fight seems very slow and careful. There's a couple of reasons for this - partly, while David Prowse got replaced by an expert sword fighter (Darth Vader was played by, in total, about 5 or 6 people for different things like stunts, voice, etc.), Alec Guinness had to stay himself, and he probably wasn't capable of leaping all over the place. However, more important is the fact that the lit up blades of the lightsabres in Episode 4 were made of wooden doweling (not unlike a broom handle) and if they hit them together, they snapped. These were replaced in the subsequent films with much stronger carbon fibre rods (similar to fishing rods) which explains the ferocity of the lightsabre duels in the later films. The motor within the handle spun the blade which was wrapped in reflective tape, creating the flickering effect. This only showed up when the lighting used was at the right angle. Thus during the Ben / Vader duel it explains why their lightsabres disappear at various points when they point the blade almost directly at the camera.

The Millennium Falcon's design was modeled after a hamburger with an olive next to it.

During Han Solo's conversation with Greedo, the last thing Greedo says before Han shoots him is "Yokuuskaa." This is a tribute to Mark Hamil having graduated from Yokosuka High School, located on Yokosuka U.S. Navy Base, Yokosuka, Japan.

Special Edition Only: There was a problem with the new scene with Jabba. Harrison Ford walks around the person who portrays Jabba, but when they digitally replaced the character with Jabba, he couldn't because of the tail, so he walked through him. George Lucas fixed the problem by making him step on the tail.