BOOK REVIEW: BFI FILM CLASSICS: STAR WARS by Will Brooker

A MINOR SPOILER BOOK REVIEW:

BFI FILM CLASSICS: STAR WARS by Will Brooker

Photo by Chris Mich; sand castle by Mary Mich

Oh, I know what you’re thinking. Star Wars is a classic film? Yes.

Not only did I establish this in no uncertain terms in a recent Ticklish Business Old Hollywood Podcast, but BFI put this book out with this front-page proclamation:

“The BFI Film Classics series introduces, interprets and celebrates landmarks of world cinema. Each volume offers an argument for the film ‘classic’ status, together with discussion of its production and reception history, its place within a genre or national cinema, an account of its technical and aesthetic importance, and in many cases, the author’s response to the film.”

So, yes, Star Wars (1977) is a classic film. 

Brooker wastes no time admitting there are way too many Star Wars books but, like any decent academic worth their salt, he offers new contributions including an in-depth analysis of George Lucas’s film career leading up to Star Wars: A New Hope, deconstruction of the film as a self-contained, reference-rich classic film library (much like we do here at Digging Star Wars), and new theories on the film. His "dirt vs. clean" theory is my favorite. 

Brooker hits many, many classic film titles that preceded and inspired Lucas – many of which we’ve also explored on Digging Star Wars. Brooker also adds some new ones to the conversation. One film that influenced Lucas – 633 Squadron (1964) is slated to be covered by our current blog guest writer Phil Congleton later this year.

Physically, the book is thin but printed in small type. In other words: it’s travel-sized but packed with information. It is also incredibly-smile-inducing for any Star Wars fan that is also a classic film fan. And, if you’re like me and Threepio is your favorite character, there’s this beautiful sentence on Page 25:

“Threepio, cast out of his spacecraft into the desert, is not just on the wrong planet, but in the wrong film; he is a Metropolis (1927) robot in a hopeless exile from the city, and wandering into The Searchers or Lawrence of Arabia (1962).”

Yes, we covered Metropolis, The Searchers, and Lawrence of Arabia on Digging Star Wars. But seeing all three titles in one sentence about Threepio -- well, it made me very, very happy!

Brooker makes minor mistakes here or there, such as confusing the term “transmitter” with “motivator” in the famous TK-421 quote – but his brain and heart are most certainly in the right place. He wants us to take George Lucas and Star Wars seriously and look past marketing, Disney, EU, Special Editions, so on and so forth and just analyze the film. 

He also respectfully references all of the other Star Wars films minus Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) – which is a real shame since he spends a good amount of time analyzing the character of Han Solo.

Die-hard Star Wars fans will recognize a lot of the legendary behind-the-scenes stories from the production of the first Star Wars film. Yet, Brooker seems to dig up fresh material from interviews with crew members and friends of Lucas plus soundbites Lucas made off the cuff. Brooker even provides “notes to self” that Lucas scribbled in the margins of his yellow steno pad, handwritten screenplay of A New Hope.

In other words, the Force is with Brooker. This is worth the read. 

Special thanks to Out of the Past blogger Raquel Stecher for hosting the 2022 Classic Film Reading Challenge. This post is an official entry. To join us in this fun summer endeavor, visit her blog for more details. 

#classicfilmreading