Just discovered that the world’s greatest Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back, was 35 years old this month. Its a sobering thing when movies get old. Or maybe that’s the wrong way of putting it; Empire will never get old, its me suffering ravages of age while Empire stands pretty much as fresh as ever. 35 years though- that’s pretty frightening. I remember before the film came out buying the paperback and my mate bringing the soundtrack album round my house. Hearing Darth Vader’s theme made it all seem suddenly real (and incredibly cool too). Good times.
the ghost of 82 
Quite by coincidence, I watched it just the other week. Thing I’d never noticed before: it’s beautifully shot. In particular, the Falcon’s cockpit when they’re in the asteroid and the carbon freezing chamber are fantastically lit.
Yep, its a work of beauty alright. It was really crafted like a prestige movie- on the one hand its understandable (sequel to the biggest film ever) on the other hand, it might still have been considered a silly space movie for kids back then. The culture has changed so much since then its weird now that the geeks have inherited the multiplex with so many movies based on toys and comics. But yeah its a gorgeous movie. I’m going to have to watch it again when I get chance…
Too weird. I had the novelisation as well – learned the “I am your father!” reveal as a spoiler. And a friend had the soundtrack album before I did: used to listen to it at his house.
It is a beautiful-looking film. I like it a lot, though I have always fidgeted a bit during the Yoda scenes.