Word: kenobi
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...menacing as ever, as will Princess Leia, Han Solo, the Wookie Chewbacca and computerdom's cutest robots, Artoo Detoo and Threepio. There will also be several new characters, "of various genres," as Creator George Lucas phrases it, together with "aliens, robots and others, including humans." What about Obi-wan-Kenobi, the role that last week brought Alec Guinness an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor? Lucas is suddenly circumspect. "Obi-wan's aura will be there," he says cautiously, "his essence, if you like...
Certainly the contours and resolution of the plot proved to be one of the most irresistible appeals of the film. No ambivalent finale lies in store for the moviegoer in search of escapism; aside from the necessary sacrifice of a leading hero (Alec Guinnes' venerable elder, Ben Kenobi), the spacemen in white hats (or helmets) prevail in the end. A thoroughly unnpretentious narrative, the story succeeds in asassuring its audience that all modern movie need not be full of existentialist greys to attract reasonably discerning cineastes...
...acting in Star Wars will never make the movie stick in anybody's memory. Aside from the usual polish with which Guinness coats his role of the elder Kenobi, both the performances of the cast and the cast itself add up to a forgettable sum. Many of the actors' names appear in a film's credits for the first time or one of the first times as the Star Wars cast is ticked off: Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill. Admittedly, the quality of many of the characters imposes severe restrictions on the range of dramatic possibilities available...
...gosh! No hermit he, but that former rebel general, Obi-wan Kenobi, for whom they had been looking. Together, the four of them are even now setting out to deliver the secret plans to rebel headquarters, light-years and parsecs away. But will they be in time to save the lovely Leia? And, anyway, what can a punk kid, a has-been general and a comedy team of robots do against the dark, illimitable powers of the Galactic Empire...
...Solo, the cynical mercenary captain of the Millennium Falcon. "I told him: 'You can't say that stuff. You can only type it.' But I was wrong. It worked." The only actor whom Lucas allowed to change anything was Alec Guinness, who plays Obi-wan Kenobi. Originally, old Obi-wan was supposed to start off crazy and then turn into the wise old wizard of Good. Guinness felt that that transition was not right for his method of acting or for the character, and Lucas relented. Now Obi-wan is wise from beginning...