Star Wars (1977) reviews

The Fuzzy Mushroom take on Star Wars

By Fuzzy Mushroom · Updated 10 November 2026 · The Pros 95 · The Punters 100 · Spore Score 96 · How we write our takes

Why The Pros and The Punters agree

Star Wars is a film that both camps have taken to their hearts. The Pros give it 95, The Punters 100, and the Spore Score is 96. Critics admire it as a perfectly built adventure that changed what cinema could do. Audiences simply love it, and have done for nearly fifty years. When both camps are this high, there is not much of a fight.

What it does well

George Lucas took the shape of old Saturday morning serials, westerns and samurai films and set them in space. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), a farm boy on the desert planet Tatooine, finds a message hidden in a droid from Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), who has been captured by the Empire and its enforcer Darth Vader. With the old Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), the smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca, he sets out to rescue her and help the rebels destroy the Death Star.

It is beautifully simple and beautifully paced. The opening shot of the Star Destroyer passing overhead, the cantina full of aliens, the escape from the trash compactor and the final trench run are all perfectly judged. Ford's cocky Solo gives the film its humour, and Guinness gives it gravity. The used, scuffed look of the ships and droids made space feel lived in for the first time, and John Williams's score, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, is arguably the most famous film music ever written.

Anything wrong with it?

The acting from the younger cast is broad in places, some of the dialogue is famously clunky, and the pacing on Tatooine is slow by modern standards. There is also the question of which version you watch: the Special Edition changes Lucas made in 1997, such as the new digital creatures and the altered shoot-out with Greedo, still annoy many fans.

Who it is for

Everyone. It works for children as a thrilling adventure and for adults as a masterclass in storytelling. If you have only seen the prequels or the later films, go back to where it all started.

Context

Star Wars has a strong British connection. It was shot largely at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, with desert scenes in Tunisia, and its cast included Guinness, Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin, and Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker inside C-3PO and R2-D2. It opened in the US on 25 May 1977 and in the UK that December. It won six competitive Oscars, and Lucas set up the effects company Industrial Light and Magic to make it. The subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope was added for its 1981 re-release.

The Fuzzy Mushroom verdict

Must-see, with a Spore Score of 96. A near-perfect adventure film and the start of the biggest franchise in cinema. The Pros and The Punters agree, and so do we. If you have never seen it on a big screen, take the chance whenever it comes round.