Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)

Getting ready for the new Star Wars Episode VII, I am reminded what made the original a classic.  I always loved the description of Star Wars as a space opera.  It is truly a soap opera playing out in the wonders of outer space.  George Lucas created his own universe where aliens and droids mingle with humans, where there is a dying religion based on The Force, and where you could travel at light speed.  This year, Lucas received a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime achievement and an enormous contribution to the pantheon of American culture.  Consider just the sheer number of iconic characters that have emerged from this film: Darth Vader, R2D2, C3PO, Chewbacca, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, all well known to all American households.  This film produced iconic visuals: the two moons of Tatooine, the X-Wing Fighter flying in the Death Star, the Millennium Falcon reaching light speed, the Mos Eisly Cantina.  This is a film so ingrained in American culture that it has become an American rite of passage.

My favorite part of Star Wars is John Williams's legendary score.  It is immediately identifiable, readily hummable, and utterly unforgettable from the moment you see the opening titles scrolling up the screen.  Star Wars was a pioneer in special effects, culminating in the explosion of the Death Star. The visual effects were unprecedented for their time and I expect the new Star Wars sequel trilogy to continue extend the bounds of what we know as special effects.  And this new trilogy will introduce Star Wars to the next generation--after all, isn't that why we wait so long between trilogies?

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

As far as epic films go, this is the most epic of them all.  The ambitious scale of every aspect of this film is so enormously grand (including the length running nearly 4 hours), and it plays extremely well on 35mm film on the big screen.  You get a real sense of the expanse of the unforgiving and treacherous desert. Many shots show a tiny figure on the horizon or in a small corner with the rest of the screen is disproportionate amounts of sky and sand.  From start to finish, this is a visually stunning movie, capturing WWI-era Middle East, from the small port of Aqaba on the sea, to grand streets of Cairo.

More so than a film about the Arab revolt, this is really a character portrait of an enigmatic, complicated man.  There are times when his humanity is questioned, when his invincible God-complex takes over, and still others when the audience sees right through it to his ordinary core. Lawrence develops on both sides of the spectrum, presenting a nuanced story of a man affected by war.  In some ways, Lawrence can be compared to American Sniper, another portrait of a legendary war hero.  But Lawrence is more thoughtful about the effects of killing on the mind and politics of war.  Peter O'Toole gives a masterful performance, transforming emotionally and mentally and embracing the Arabian dress rather nicely to play Lawrence.