Star Wars IV: A New Hope (1977)

In director George Lucas' sequel to the prequel-trilogy:

• the crawling of the beginning credits ("A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...") into a star-studded area of space
• the spectacle of an exciting action story with landmark special effects and fanciful, unique characters
• the dramatic opening - first the appearance of a small rebel ship belonging to Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), which was being pursued by a gigantic, wedge-shaped imperial Star Destroyer spaceship of the evil Galactic Empire that completely covered the screen
• the entrance (and first appearance) of black-garbed (with a swirling cape), masked, heavy breathing Dark Lord of the Sith - or Darth Vader (with the deep breaty voice of James Earl Jones), a towering, faceless, helmeted leader of the cruel and villainous forces during the assault on the crippled rebel ship; he spoke with a commanding voice - a vision of evil, signaled by the soundtrack
• the anthropomorphic Laurel and Hardy-like robots or 'droids - the beeping R2D2 and gold-plated companion C-3PO, first seen in the corridor during the assault, and later lost in the desert
• the scene of the robots' capture by Jawas and their imprisonment in a sandcrawler with other droids
• the scene at Mos Eisley and its outerspace cantina featuring bizarre and intimidating space creatures and aliens ("a wretched hive of scum and villainy"), with the introduction of the hot-shot mercenary flyer Han Solo (Harrison Ford), who quickly shot bounty hunter Greedo at one of the tables
• Han's flying of his Millennium Falcon with Wookie first-mate navigator Chewbacca or "Chewie" (Peter Mayhew) - and the moment of their light-speed blast-off
• the iconic image of young hero Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) - gazing out at desert planet Tatooine's twin suns
• his meeting to learn the ways of the Force (to become a Jedi knight and wield a lightsaber) from the great Jedi master Old Ben or Obi-wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness)
• the scene in the Death Star's garbage bin crusher
• Han's snarling words to Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher): "Look! Your Worshipfulness! Let's get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person. Me"
• the intergalactic final battle between the forces of good and evil - and the planetary explosion of Alderaan after orders by the Death Star's commanding officer Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) to destroy it
• the "laser" lightsabers duel between Vader and Kenobi, culminating in the slaying of Kenobi
• Han's unexpected reappearance with his Millennium Falcon to save the day ("You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home!")
• the bombing raids by the X-wing rebels across the surface of the Evil Empire's enormous battle station the Death Star and down into a narrow trench toward the target
• Obi-wan Kenobi's telepathic advice to Luke to use his intuition: "Use the Force, Luke" rather than his targeting computer when firing
• the climactic destructive explosion of the Death Star