When Star Wars was first released in May of 1977 there would have been no reason to add the "Episode IV: A New Hope" subtitle because at the time it was a "one shot" movie. It was only after it was deemed a success beyond anyone's wildest dreams that at least one sequel was approved, and at some point after that someone (probably George Lucas) decided "Star Wars" should be the name of the overall franchise rather than the title of a single movie, and that the episode numbers and subtitles should be added as a method of identifying each specific movie within the franchise.
I have no idea how true this is, but I've read at least a few different "original theatrical" versions of Star Wars (before the Episode IV: A New Hope stuff) were released initially because The Suits at 20th Century Fox were still uncertain about whether or not specific scenes/sequences should remain in the movie; that Biggs Darklighter sequence being one of them. It (and other "test" scenes") was ultimately removed and new prints were sent to the theaters, but some fans like yourself remember seeing it in the movie at least once.I have a memory of seeing a version of Star Wars in ‘77 that included a scene near the beginning of Biggs leaving for the Imperial Academy and telling Luke of his plans to jump ship and join the rebellion.
To my knowledge, no version of this Star Wars was ever actually released, so my memory was probably a combination of reading it in the Marvel Comics adaption and seeing still shots of Luke and Biggs together. It’s a pretty vivid memory, though[emoji848]
"I don't want you livin' with roaches...D-Con kills bugs where they begin." A good friend and I immediately noticed his slightly slurred speech and assumed it was caused by blows to the head during his boxing career; only three or four years later it was announced that Mr. Ali had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Syndrome.
When Star Wars was first released in May of 1977 there would have been no reason to add the "Episode IV: A New Hope" subtitle because at the time it was a "one shot" movie. It was only after it was deemed a success beyond anyone's wildest dreams that at least one sequel was approved, and at some point after that someone (probably George Lucas) decided "Star Wars" should be the name of the overall franchise rather than the title of a single movie, and that the episode numbers and subtitles should be added as a method of identifying each specific movie within the franchise.
Friends and people I've chatted with online recall seeing versions of the theatrical release with the "Episode IV: A New Hope" subtitle added even before Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back was released, but I didn't see that until I attended a screening of Lucas' not-so-Special Edition version of the movie more than 20 years later.
I have no idea how true this is, but I've read at least a few different "original theatrical" versions of Star Wars (before the Episode IV: A New Hope stuff) were released initially because The Suits at 20th Century Fox were still uncertain about whether or not specific scenes/sequences should remain in the movie; that Biggs Darklighter sequence being one of them. It (and other "test" scenes") was ultimately removed and new prints were sent to the theaters, but some fans like yourself remember seeing it in the movie at least once.
I didn't have that experience with Star Wars, but I did with Young Frankenstein. I saw it with friends the weekend it opened, and in that first screening there was a brief moment during the "Puttin' on the Ritz" sequence in which Dr. Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) notices Igor's (Marty Feldman) *hump is missing. When he asks him about it Igor, who is wearing a tuxedo in the scene, indignantly replies, "Never with tails." When I saw that movie a week later with a different group of friends, that scene was missing. And it was missing every time I saw the movie after that. Over the years I asked a number of people about it, but no one remembered it. When the movie was released in 1998 in a DVD set that included deleted scenes, I thought I'd finally have my answer. Nope, not there. I was sincerely beginning to wonder if I had imagined it (my friends and I had been drinking the night we first saw it), or somehow incorporated it into my memories of the movie based on something I'd read. Then they re-released the movie on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2014, and that scene was included in one of the bonus features on the Blu-Ray. Finally, 40 years later, the answer to my question! I hadn't imagined it, it did exist! Okay, so it's not exactly life-changing, but it did make me feel better.
*A little trivia for Young Frankenstein fans: Marty Feldman came up with the "moving hump" gag. Without telling anyone, he had been moving it from one side to the other for several days before someone noticed; everyone thought it was so funny that it was added to the script.
I didn't have that experience with Star Wars, but I did with Young Frankenstein. I saw it with friends the weekend it opened, and in that first screening there was a brief moment during the "Puttin' on the Ritz" sequence in which Dr. Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) notices Igor's (Marty Feldman) *hump is missing. When he asks him about it Igor, who is wearing a tuxedo in the scene, indignantly replies, "Never with tails." When I saw that movie a week later with a different group of friends, that scene was missing. And it was missing every time I saw the movie after that. Over the years I asked a number of people about it, but no one remembered it. When the movie was released in 1998 in a DVD set that included deleted scenes, I thought I'd finally have my answer. Nope, not there. I was sincerely beginning to wonder if I had imagined it (my friends and I had been drinking the night we first saw it), or somehow incorporated it into my memories of the movie based on something I'd read. Then they re-released the movie on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2014, and that scene was included in one of the bonus features on the Blu-Ray. Finally, 40 years later, the answer to my question! I hadn't imagined it, it did exist! Okay, so it's not exactly life-changing, but it did make me feel better.
The "give me liberty ..." was Patrick Henry.
In the climactic scene of "White Heat", he says, "Made it Ma! Top of the world!" So, not so very far off.
