The 4 Best Movies of 1977

 

The 70s brought us afros, bell-bottoms and summer blockbusters. What more could you want? Here are the best films that 1977 had to offer:

4. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Christopher Robin, Tigger and the rest of the 100-Acre Wood's most famous residents go from adventure to adventure in about a year in their first feature film.

3. Pumping Iron

Before becoming the biggest movie star in the world (literally) and later serving as governor of California, a young Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off his film career in earnest (after a couple of false starts) with this documentary chronicling the road to Mr. Olympia. The Austrian Oak vies with Serge Nubret, Franco Colombu, Lou Ferrigno and more for the most coveted title in bodybuilding.

2. The Hobbit

Though director Peter Jackson did a bang-up job with (most of) the later parts of the Middle-Earth saga, this animated gem is still the definitive cinematic adaptation of the beginning of the story. Humble Bilbo's recruitment into a band of dwarves determined to reclaim their kingdom from a fearsome dragon has never looked better.

1. Star Wars

When Star Wars was originally released in 1977, it became the highest-grossing movie of all time and remained so until 1982. It was also nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture, and actually won seven. There's virtually no chance that a sci-fi fantasy film would be nominated for anything more than a couple of technical awards these days.

Star Wars pioneered the tangible, worn look of spacecraft and sci-fi equipment that would inspire future projects such as: the Alien films; Space Hunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone; The Ice Pirates; and Guardians of the Galaxy. Up to that point, sci-fi entertainment tended to feature exceedingly clean, glossy, boring-looking spaceships and cockpits.

Star Wars' influence didn't stop at science fiction either. Replace the galaxy far, far away with London and you've got Harry Potter. Think about it: When the story begins, Harry is a young, nerdy orphan (Luke) who's barely tolerated by his aunt and uncle (Beru and Owen). A wizard (Obi-Wan Kenobi) convinces him to leave home in order to cultivate his heretofore unknown magical abilities (Force powers). Along the way he meets a guy (Han Solo) and a girl Hermione (Princess Leia) who will eventually become his closest friends and fall in love with each other. His magical mentor (Kenobi) is killed but continues to communicate with him throughout the series. The villain is a powerful and disfigured wizard (Darth Vader) who murdered Harry's parents (Kenobi tells Luke that Vader murdered his father; it's eventually revealed that he was responsible for the death of Luke's mother) and is referred to as a "Dark Lord". Said villain has also undergone a name change -- from Tom Marvolo Riddle (Anakin Skywalker) to Lord Voldemort (Lord Vader). Harry's, and every wizard's, weapon of choice is a wand (lightsaber).

Conceived out of necessity when Lucas was denied the rights to Flash Gordon (which ironically received a big-screen adaptation as a result of Star Wars' success), his idea for what he called a "space fairy tale" was rejected by United Artists, Universal and Disney before 20th Century Fox finally agreed to back him. 

The original idea underwent a myriad of changes before becoming the final product that debuted in the late 70s. Reportedly, Han Solo was initially intended to be green and Billy Dee Williams, who would portray Lando Calrissian in the 2nd and 3rd installments of the trilogy, originally auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker. Lucas' insistence on filling most of the parts with relatively unknown actors resulted in Broadway veteran James Earl Jones voicing the iconic Darth Vader, who wouldn't be nearly as menacing had he opted to go with any of the other choices he'd considered.

Something to think about given the information that's eventually revealed in the final movie of the trilogy, Return of the Jedi: Princess Leia gives Luke the first of three kisses (the second and third are in The Empire Strikes Back) in the series in Star Wars. 

The original, unmolested, non-Special Edition Star Wars is deceptively entertaining. I've been told more than once that it "changed the world" forty years ago, but when I think about watching it it feels like work. I guess you had to be there. The thing is, it manages to draw you in not long after it starts. And by the end it's GREAT. When I was a kid, I saw it countless times on HBO but I'd never watched it chronologically, from beginning to end. I'd always see it in parts, which was fine with me. I experienced it more as viewing the events of whatever galaxy it takes place in, as opposed to a linear story. I think I prefer it that way, to tell you the truth.