“They’re coming in too fast!” “If I had a nickel for every time I’ve had that problem.”
theminingbat
Really shows you the talent that John Williams possesses. While not a major theme song, everyone instantly recognizes it when they hear it. I’m told George Lucas modeled this scene on WW2 air battles between B17s and fighter planes.
seanpowers
"I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you. "
scottslimmon
The scream of those TIE Fighter engines always sends a shiver up my spine, in a good way. Such incredible sound design
Wingedtravesty
That damn John Williams. Works every time!
VickStarkiller
When four TIE fighters vs the Millennium Falcon is a far more engaging battle than the final space battle at the end of TROS.
killerad
For some reason that I can’t explain, this scene, the battle on Hoth, and the final Luke vs Vader scene make my eyes water. I’m not sure if it’s the music, the nostalgia, or what, but it’s cinematic *perfection* to me.
Nmudkip
I’m 55. Always remember my mother telling my sister, brother, and myself about this great movie coming out “Star Wars”. My mother loved every movie ever produced, so we just chuckled. 10 yes. old in 77’ and after initial viewing, Mom, you hit a home run, never doubt you again! RIP, Thank you for these memories.
patrickgeraghty
Even as a kid in 1977, I loved Peter Cushing in his role. Because he was classically trained and he added the right amount of weight/gravitas to the character. He made it believable.
Movierebel
"Hey, Han!"
"What?"
"Why do they call them TIE fighters?"
"No idea!"
BarberShave
This is one of the greatest scenes in all of the movies. Those TIE fighter roars make it 💎
kylegems
Holy crap TIE fighters are so damn COOL! TIE fighters, their sounds and their pilots have such AWESOME designs!
ramblinnernd
The music build up from John Williams at 0:33-1:06 is so good
EaglePersonified
When your whole planet just exploded, but a boy you meet half an hour ago is sad because his space kung fu teacher died.
welshboi
Only 1K VIEWS??? This was one of my favorite scenes when I was a kid.
katerugh
This in one of my favourite moments in the whole movie and the whole Skywalker Saga too. While yes, it may not be visually striking.
But the reason why I love, no, ADORE this moment is we see our heroes, Luke Skywalker a farm boy from Tatooine, Leia Organa the princess of Alderaan and Han Solo a smuggler who is only in for the money with his co pilot and friend, Chewbacca, working together fending off the Tie Fighters. This is also where the three characters have developed. Luke Skywalker, who got overpowered by Tusken Raiders and almost got into a fight with two Cantina patrons and had to rely on Obi Wan to help him out, actually shoot down his targets and fending for himself. Princess Leia, who just lost her home world to the Empire and wasn’t impressed with her rescuers at first, is helping Chewie out in the cockpit with the shields and readings of the Tie Fighters. Han Solo, who was only part of this journey because Luke and Obi Wan named the right price, is now helping Luke and giving him advice on the cannons. This was the point where the characters propelled further into their journey. Luke lost his mentor and father figure, Leia lost her home world and Han got more than he bargained for.
That is why A New Hope is not just my favourite Star Wars movie, but my all time favourite movie.
keirjarvie
Reading Rinzler's book on the making of the film really helps you appreciate all the hard work that went in to making this scene so perfect. First they had to script and storyboard the gist of the battle, knowing that editing would make changes and technical limitations and difficulties would prevent some things from going as desired. Then they had to shoot the various live scenes which of course are often done in story-arbitrary order for cost efficiency purposes - and plenty of shots were quick and not clear as to where they would be used. As an added burden, the entire special effects plan had been to use front projection (pre-done effects projected into the live-acting scenes as they were filmed), but when that proved impossible the entire thing had to be re-worked on the fly for bluescreen.
Even then, Lucas and the rest of the filmmakers only at that point had a collection of footage. Typically some initial editing would have been done as scenes were being shot, but the original editor proved to not be in sync with Lucas and all the work he did was tossed out to start from scratch. With the special effects team needing some general editing framework with which to plan and execute their work, editing had to work overtime to make an initial run of the on-set shots while planning for the desired special effects, then the special effects team had to produce their work, and then it all needed to be merged together all while the editors had to be prepared to continue to adjust for flow, continuity, excitement, etc.
And even after all that, audio needed to be mastered or redone, all while mister Williams himself was waiting to then craft the music that would power the scene in the background.
There are so many ways this could have gone wrong or disappointed, and as perfect as the final product fitted together it's easy for us to not appreciate all the many elements that needed to be fitted and adjusted. The sequencing and timing and such of the scene that we take for granted as intuitive now was a tabula rasa that needed to be carefully guided there. Amazing stuff!
redsoxu
I can’t imagine what the audience reaction to that last scene was in 1977, with the reveal that their daring escape which cost Kenobi’s life was a ploy all along. Within the context of this film, stormtroopers have extraordinary aim, being able to convincingly look like they’re trying to kill you while also being confident that they won’t accidentally shoot our heroes. You have no idea how much I despise that misconception among the general public, particularly when the New Canon decided to roll with it in _Rebels_ and subsequent shows. The Empire was lucky it lasted so long.
But I digress. I also enjoy how this scene made the TIE fighters into enough of a threat that it took a few minutes just to get four of them, which shows the skills of the pilots, and also because Luke, and to an extent, Han himself, are getting used to the _Falcon's_ turrets. It takes them about a minute to destroy the first TIE, and after that, they’ve seem to have gotten a hand at coordinating, and they destroy the last TIE by having Luke and Han trap it between their turret fire.
Daniel_Huffman
Everyone doubted George. And yet he took us to a new age of cinema. Thanks buddy.
heydavedawson
Love that everyone has something to do. Leia making call outs, Chewie piloting, R2 maintaining the ship, Han and Luke defending and 3PO just being 3PO
