Why was this the first movie?

Thanks for the informative reply, ExTech.

I've often wondered if there was a film that inspired Lucas. I will have to watch THF some time just to compare it to SW.

I suppose I don't mind so much that Lucas decided to create a new story for the sequels, I really liked them. I thought it was great story-telling.

However, I can see why Lucas thought 4-6 would be the better stories... the prequels are really awful with the exception of Ep3, ROTS was a pretty good movie.

"it's clear that "Star Wars" was written as a stand-alone story."

Rubbish. How else would Lucas have made his billions from sequels if the Star Wars story was done and dusted in ONE movie? Don't forget, sequels in movies had lasted a long time prior to Star Wars.

yes, I agree they were just winging it after the first.

The original book publish:
It was first published on November 12, 1976, by Ballantine Books, several months before the release of the film. In later years, it was republished under the title Star Wars: A New Hope to reflect the retroactive addition of a subtitle to the film in 1981.
For some, this created the urban myth that Star Wars was a book “first,” which semantically speaking, in terms of public release, is sort of true. The novel's author is “George Lucas,” which again, is true in a roundabout way since this book was based on his screenplay.

Don't forget The Sword of Doom!!!

Lucas's official story is that he'd had a nine-film arc planned out from the start, but thought that the middle three films would be the "most interesting."

Yep I agree , thats a total load of horseshit .
I think he first mentioned that when the prequels began filming, over 20 years too late for it to have credibility

Don’t forget, Lucas originally wanted to do a Flash Gordon film, but couldn’t get the rights, so Star Wars was basically Lucas’ love letter to Flash Gordon.

Leia kisses Luke. That proves what exactly?
1-she does not know he is her brother.
2-a sister can kiss her brother, or even fuck him, even if she knows they are brother and sister.
It is not illegal, I think. Quite revolting, but not illegal.

Luke-Leia becoming sibling was a change to the original storyline. Lucas had planned all along for Leia and Solo to be together to fit his original story. Fans kept writing that it was Luke and Leia that should be together. He made them siblings so he could proceed and stop the fans. Of course, that was put on hold because the next series of films were not made for decades. It also required a massive change to the outline for the prequels.

Luke confronting Vader has always been the core of Star Wars to me. That's why things started getting good in The Empire Strikes Back. I don't care for Han Solo, the droids, Leia or Boba fucking Fett.

Why Lucas choose to make this one first, is probably because it was possible with the least amount of money. People are arguing whether Lucas had only one movie in mind at a time or did he have the entire saga finished in 1977, that's stupid. The truth is most likely somewhere in the middle. Of course he had some background story sketched before cameras rolled.

Well, that is a valid point, pji69.

But were we not under the impression that the Empire was destroyed or at the very least, they were no longer able to wage war against the rebels at the end of 4?

It was such a climactic ending that it made it seem like the war was over.

And I think they were expecting this movie to flop anyway. So, I don't know for sure if he had plans to make the sequels and eventually the prequels.

He never said he split the story into 9 parts though.

not he didnt , drop the act its boring

Untrue, Lucas originally wanted to do a Flash Gordon film, but couldn’t get the rights, so Star Wars was basically Lucas’ love letter to Flash Gordon.