"Empire Strikes Back" lives on in the National Film Registry
A towering figure with an electronic voice like a storm soldiers into the room with all the authority of a galaxy. The force is so powerful within him that he is able to choke some to death with a mere hand gesture. His eyes are empty. His armored body like a black knight is without a soul.
These are the first scenes with Darth Vader as he attempts to carve a path in his search for Luke Skywalker while setting a destructive streak through the rebellion base on the snow-smashed planet Hoth.
If any of this sounds familiar, it should. These are scenes of the film “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” which has been a staple of film history for the last twenty-eight years. Now it’s making history once again.
The film is being chosen as one of twenty-five to be added to the National Film Registry, as announced by the Library of Congress on Tuesday. The purpose of this is to safeguard films of cultural interest and preserve them for future generations to be able to view them.
The films in question must contain a heartbeat of artistry. The film must have a sense of worth. It must have some uniqueness about it.
“Empire Strikes Back” has all these elements and more. It is the film that has the very least to do with George Lucas as a contributor. The directorial duties were transferred to the much more skillful and better Irvin Kirschner who chose to give character embellishment to the league of rebels such as the rouge pilot Han Solo and young Jedi Skywalker. Their faces and voices have become iconic in film history.
But none would be able to forget the shadowy presence of Darth Vader who continues to hover as one of film history’s greatest villains.
Even if one didn’t much care for science fiction or Star Wars in particular, “The Empire Strikes Back” still holds a very impressive artistic vision that deserves a place in the National Film Registry.
One of the key points of the film is the introduction of a mysterious mentor named Yoda who now lives in hiding on a swamp planet in the outer reaches. It is there that Skywalker resumes his training as a Jedi. The excellent puppeteering skills, coupled with Yoda’s familiar voice, creates another alien culture we could not even begin to imagine. His wide-eyed glare and on-cue gestures makes him every bit as human as the other characters.
I could care less if Yoda can’t get his grammar correct. He’s one awesome little Jedi Master. And he’s powerful enough to influence Luke Skywalker in the right direction.
There is so much to say about the film: some very beautiful scenes such as the wondrous Cloud City which hovers in peace in the skies to the very darkest corners of Dagobah. The film brings to us reflections of otherworldly ideas that continues to haunt us to this very day.
But it is the relationship of Han Solo and Princes Leia which becomes the epicenter of the film as we are drawn to a fairy story of a princess falling in love with a pauper. There is a magnetism between the two which gives the story romantic reflection that seems so very real. When Leia admits that she likes only nice guys, Han steps in with a remarkable delivery by Harrison Ford when he said with plenty of rougish quality on it, “I’m a nice guy.”
The film also introduces the first black man seen in the entire Star Wars universe: Lando Carrisian who adds to Han’s back-story as they are old friends. I really like how the film seem to play with many ideas and suggestions of what happened in the past including a card game where Han won “fair and square” the Millennium Falcon.
The entire Star Wars films does have an impressive stock of six installments which creates a theatrical vision from start to finish. And the prequels do have their faults only because Lucas was far too involved in them. But it is his creative vision. And the films are his own for better or worse. But “Empire Strikes Back” remains the top of its game for the longest time and reminds us that Star Wars has great artistic value as well.
How does Lucas rate as an artist? He sucks. He isn’t interested in the acting or the writing. Just the special effects. That can have serious fallbacks. But his vision is really a remarkable one when he first conceived it by using all the well known icons such as cowboys, ninjas, samurai and bounty hunters. It is a powerful throwback to the old serials of the 1930s as well.
The original copies of the film are prepared for long storage at the Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center near Culpeper, Va. By doing this would beat out the eventual deterioration of films such as losing color or simply breaking apart. One would hate to see the same thing happen to “The Empire Strikes Back.”
Other films will be seeing the light such as “The Exorcist” from 1973 and “The Pink Panther” from 1964 which is a very nice knowing nod to Blake Edwards who recently died this year.
This is a thankful gesture made for this particular film which has been in the popular culture for years—you see Star Wars on glasses, silverware, toys, games, posters and nearly everything else you can think of. Most fans would have all the films, and this one in particular, lovingly locked away for future viewing in their own homes.
But the National Film Registry is doing us all a favor by doing this. They are also saying that they know the value of the Star Wars film and wish to retain its star-studded qualities. The force is strong in this one.
And just think, Star Wars almost came to theaters with a disco music soundtrack. Wouldn’t that have been awful? Imagine John Travolta in space. It was thankful they turned to John Williams who gave us one of the most familiar cues of all time with his musical gift. It feels complete now. The music, the scenery and the cutting special effects.
By making “Empire Strikes Back” a part of the National Film Registry makes it complete indeed. I’m sure Chewbacca would have chimed in a growl of approval here.
These are the first scenes with Darth Vader as he attempts to carve a path in his search for Luke Skywalker while setting a destructive streak through the rebellion base on the snow-smashed planet Hoth.
If any of this sounds familiar, it should. These are scenes of the film “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” which has been a staple of film history for the last twenty-eight years. Now it’s making history once again.
The film is being chosen as one of twenty-five to be added to the National Film Registry, as announced by the Library of Congress on Tuesday. The purpose of this is to safeguard films of cultural interest and preserve them for future generations to be able to view them.
The films in question must contain a heartbeat of artistry. The film must have a sense of worth. It must have some uniqueness about it.
“Empire Strikes Back” has all these elements and more. It is the film that has the very least to do with George Lucas as a contributor. The directorial duties were transferred to the much more skillful and better Irvin Kirschner who chose to give character embellishment to the league of rebels such as the rouge pilot Han Solo and young Jedi Skywalker. Their faces and voices have become iconic in film history.
But none would be able to forget the shadowy presence of Darth Vader who continues to hover as one of film history’s greatest villains.
Even if one didn’t much care for science fiction or Star Wars in particular, “The Empire Strikes Back” still holds a very impressive artistic vision that deserves a place in the National Film Registry.
One of the key points of the film is the introduction of a mysterious mentor named Yoda who now lives in hiding on a swamp planet in the outer reaches. It is there that Skywalker resumes his training as a Jedi. The excellent puppeteering skills, coupled with Yoda’s familiar voice, creates another alien culture we could not even begin to imagine. His wide-eyed glare and on-cue gestures makes him every bit as human as the other characters.
I could care less if Yoda can’t get his grammar correct. He’s one awesome little Jedi Master. And he’s powerful enough to influence Luke Skywalker in the right direction.
There is so much to say about the film: some very beautiful scenes such as the wondrous Cloud City which hovers in peace in the skies to the very darkest corners of Dagobah. The film brings to us reflections of otherworldly ideas that continues to haunt us to this very day.
But it is the relationship of Han Solo and Princes Leia which becomes the epicenter of the film as we are drawn to a fairy story of a princess falling in love with a pauper. There is a magnetism between the two which gives the story romantic reflection that seems so very real. When Leia admits that she likes only nice guys, Han steps in with a remarkable delivery by Harrison Ford when he said with plenty of rougish quality on it, “I’m a nice guy.”
The film also introduces the first black man seen in the entire Star Wars universe: Lando Carrisian who adds to Han’s back-story as they are old friends. I really like how the film seem to play with many ideas and suggestions of what happened in the past including a card game where Han won “fair and square” the Millennium Falcon.
The entire Star Wars films does have an impressive stock of six installments which creates a theatrical vision from start to finish. And the prequels do have their faults only because Lucas was far too involved in them. But it is his creative vision. And the films are his own for better or worse. But “Empire Strikes Back” remains the top of its game for the longest time and reminds us that Star Wars has great artistic value as well.
How does Lucas rate as an artist? He sucks. He isn’t interested in the acting or the writing. Just the special effects. That can have serious fallbacks. But his vision is really a remarkable one when he first conceived it by using all the well known icons such as cowboys, ninjas, samurai and bounty hunters. It is a powerful throwback to the old serials of the 1930s as well.
The original copies of the film are prepared for long storage at the Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center near Culpeper, Va. By doing this would beat out the eventual deterioration of films such as losing color or simply breaking apart. One would hate to see the same thing happen to “The Empire Strikes Back.”
Other films will be seeing the light such as “The Exorcist” from 1973 and “The Pink Panther” from 1964 which is a very nice knowing nod to Blake Edwards who recently died this year.
This is a thankful gesture made for this particular film which has been in the popular culture for years—you see Star Wars on glasses, silverware, toys, games, posters and nearly everything else you can think of. Most fans would have all the films, and this one in particular, lovingly locked away for future viewing in their own homes.
But the National Film Registry is doing us all a favor by doing this. They are also saying that they know the value of the Star Wars film and wish to retain its star-studded qualities. The force is strong in this one.
And just think, Star Wars almost came to theaters with a disco music soundtrack. Wouldn’t that have been awful? Imagine John Travolta in space. It was thankful they turned to John Williams who gave us one of the most familiar cues of all time with his musical gift. It feels complete now. The music, the scenery and the cutting special effects.
By making “Empire Strikes Back” a part of the National Film Registry makes it complete indeed. I’m sure Chewbacca would have chimed in a growl of approval here.
posted by K.M. Paters at 4:07 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home