Cinema: STAR WARS The Year's Best Movie (May 1977)

As a third grader when Star Wars came out, I can honestly say it changed every kid in my school. Not everyone was a sci-fi or comic book geek, but EVERYONE was playing Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker on the playground for years afterward.

Like Lucas said, there weren't many fantasy heroes for the average kid back then (not counting comic book figures. I was never into comics). I had my Evil Knievel lunchbox and Six Million Dollar Man action figure, but Star Wars was a whole new universe to play in. The toys were simple and fun.

Watched the original 3 movies with my kids during the week. They hadn't seen them before, but loved them. I thought it would be interesting to dig up old reviews and see what people thought of them when they first came out; before they'd accumulated 30 years of hype