Topic: movies that influenced Star Wars

[JDeck]

      I spent most of today watching the old 1930s and 40s serials, including Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and commando Cody. I would say Buck Rogers was very similar to Star Wars. I had seen some episodes before but never paid any real attention to them. It starts off with the rebels being chased by Kang's ships, then they're shot down over a desert planet resembling Tatooine. The rebels survive the crash and the first thing the lady says is "what a desolate place this is" just like C3PO. Then Kang orders his men to check the crash for survivors. they get down to the site to find the ship empty. Then they start fighting the rebels and that's where the similarities end for a while. There are a few other scenes similar to Star Wars like there is a scene that has these primitive people who look like ugnauts called the zuggs worshiping this "robot" and this guy says "they think he's some sort of god" very similar to the Ewoks worshiping C3PO in ROTJ.  Then the whole first series Kang is trying to find the "Hidden City" much like Vader's search for Yavin or Hoth. The list goes on just a lot of small similarities like Buck and Bud dressing up like imperial soldiers to infiltrate Kang's fortress, similar to Han and Luke. And Bud's recovery after being injured reminded me of Luke in TESB. As well as Kang's briefing room scenes similar to the Death Star briefing scene, he gets mad at his commander and sends him to the robot brigade similar to the Kessel spice mines where people are wiped of their memory and perform hard labor.
 Commando Cody was the inspiration for commander Cody but the story and costume more resembles the Rocketeer which by the way its rumored Disney will remake The Rocketeer doesn't surprise me they're remaking everything nowdays. Flash Gordon had a few similarities to Star Wars like the cloud city and a few other things, like a lot of trap doors and monsters reminded me of the rancor pit and the sarlaac. But I haven't finished watching there's like 12 hours and I fell asleep and my blueray player got stuck but I'll watch the rest sometime in the future. I think its cool watching the movies that inspired Star Wars.
 Next week I'll get some old Samurai movies supposedly Yojimbo inspired the cantina scene. 

[Tamer]

Well now this is some interesting stuff I didn't know!

[JDeck]

  I knew the serials had some influence on Star Wars but hells bells. I was watching the last couple chapters of Buck Rogers and it reminded me of the battle of Endor/Yavin. Kang finds the location of the hidden city and plans to attack the rebels using every ship at his disposal. So Buck steals an imperial shuttle and infiltrates Kang's base while the rebels distract Kang's fleet. And it just goes on.  I read an article about Lucas really wanted to do a Flash Gordon movie but he couldn't get the rights for it, so he made his own movie. I'm not saying Lucas ripped off Buck Rogers, that would be blasphemy, but its pretty daggon close. I would suggest to anyone, to watch these serials they're very interesting. Especially if your a fan of Mcquarrie concepts.
 .  The pics on the bottom shows some of the similarities between star wars buck rogers flash Gordon and the mcquarrie concepts the first is the opening crawl for Flash Gordon exactly like Star wars and Buck Rogers.  Second is Flash Gordon with the lion man very similar to Han and Chewy. The next is a comic book cover for Buck Rogers very similar to Luke and Leia on speeder bikes. The last is Ralph Mcquarrie's concept of Starkiller very similar to the female on Buck Rogers I forgot her name something like Wilma, but anyway its pretty cool.

[Tamer]

I am liking this informative series. Talk about grass roots!

[JDeck]

   I'm watching Flash Gordon conquers the universe (1940), and its so much like The Empire Strikes Back its not even funny. Flash foils another one of Ming's evil plans so Ming orders a bounty on Flash but he wants him alive. So his imperial officers are chasing flash across the galaxy. Flash is able to evade the imperial ships much like Han evaded the star destroyers. So Flash lands on an ice planet called Frigia (Hoth). The imperial officers bombard them and the officers go back to Ming telling him Flash is dead but then another officer comes in saying Flash is still alive. Just like when Han lands in the asteroid and the TIE bombers sweep the area and the officers are convinced he's dead but Vader knows he's not. So Ming is pissed I was waiting for him to force choke the officers but he gives them one more chance. So the officers return to fragia. Since its a cold planet they send remote controlled robots culled "walking bombs" they are totally indestructible but can explode remotely. Wow this is totally a cross between imperial walkers and the imperial probe droid. When Flash hears Ming's ships he says "they're not one of ours must be Ming's ships". Just like Han on echo base when they hear the probe droid signals. So then the walking bombs show up and kills a bunch of dudes and captures Flash's girlfriend in order to trap Flash knowing he'll come and rescue her. It all sounds familiar. Then Ming spares the life of professor Zarkoff (Zarkoff is the scientist working with Flash) "for his abilities". Hoping Zarkoff would join the empire. Much like Luke being wanted for his abilities.
 This gives me a new perspective on Lucas and Star Wars. Not in a negative way but sort of a broader enlightened understanding of Star Wars that I've never had before.  But all sci-fi movies ripoff one another all the way back to the grandfather of sci-fi Jules Verne. I can't wait to get my Samurai movies by Akira Kurosawa to see how he influenced Star Wars Ive seen most of them before but again never really paid much attention to the details. Supposedly Hidden Fortress inspired R2D2 and C3PO.

[JDeck]

    What do you think of my theory of the Imperial Walker/probe droid origins. That it was inspired by Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940) as far as the idea not the actual design. When the indestructible remote exploding robots called "Walking Bombs" invade the ice planet Frigia. As you can see the bottom two pictures show the similarities between general veers periscope and the periscope used to direct the Walking Bombs. Also note the vauge similarities of the armor.

[Tamer]

Makes a lot of sense to me.

[JDeck]

  I know I can get long winded with these posts so I'll keep this one short, to the point. Today Im showcasing Yojimbo by Akira Kurosawa (1961). first I'll say this is a terrific movie said to be one of the most influential movies of all time. And that's where Star wars comes in. Lucas pays homage to this wonderful Samurai classic by using it in the beloved Cantina scene we all know, the scene were  Obi Wan cuts the arm off walrus man (Ponda Baba). It comes directly from the scene where Sanjuro (a wandering Samurai who takes residence in a currupt gambling town run by two rival gangs) Approaches a group of thugs to show the rest of the town he can handle them. So he tells the thugs they look adorable, so they get mad and start bragging about how they're wanted men and if they get caught they'll be put to death. So the Samurai is unamused and talks some more trash so the thugs draw their swords and attack the samurai. So he (Sanjuro) instantly kills two and cuts the arm off a third. Now there is some  speculating here Lucas doesn't confirm or deny anything, but its clearly taken from this movie. If you've never seen a Samurai movie and you like westerns especially Clint Eastwood flics (as I do) I highly suggest this movie. Word of warning it is black and white with subtitles but who cares. Here's some pics to go with.

[Rezikai]

I got to say I'm loving this thread, seeing the old call backs filled me with nostalgia. JDeck I appreciate the work done to gather this up. I remember the episode of the Clone Wars dedicated to Akira Kurosawa's "7 Samurai". It triggered a memory of something I read waaay back when someone said George was also influenced by Kurosawa's 1958 "The Hidden Fortress". I've heard recently that some at Lucasfilm have dismissed this connection but *shrugs* the similarities are strangely familiar.


p.s.
I've watched Kurosawa since high school taking in as much as possible even his slice of life/emotional films like One Wonderful Sunday, The Lower Depths  and Ikiru.



The Hidden Fortress-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Fortress

One Wonderful Sunday-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Wonderful_Sunday

The Lower Depths-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lower_Depths_(1957_film)

Ikiru-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikiru

7 Samurai-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Samurai

[JDeck]

Thank you Rezikai for your encouraging words. I'll be showcasing 7 samurai and Hidden Fortress in the next couple of days. I'm really enjoying watching these great classics I haven't seen Kurosawa's movies in a long time but I'll have to check out Wonderful Sunday I'm not familiar with it. And the lower depths looks cool too.
As for Lucas and co. They claim they're paying homage to these movies and like you said denying it later but that's show business I guess.
 Again thank you for your time. And I'm glad you enjoy.

[JDeck]

 Today I'm showcasing 7 Samurai, when I think of a samurai movie this is it. This movie has inspired movies from A Bug's Life to the Magnificent 7. As fas as star wars very little is inspired from this movie but if you look closely you can see the similarities. First I believe Ralph Mcquarrie's rendition of Han Solo looks a lot like Toshiro Mifune's character. Remember Han was originally a Jedi much like a Ronin Samurai. A Ronin is a samurai without a master therefore he's solo hence the name Han Solo. Mifue's character also acts similar and has the same swagger as Han. Also both characters starts off as a scoundrels but end up  great warriors and heroes. They both have massive egos, and are arrogant, boorish and over confident.
       This film also has some imigery influence in Episode 1. The scene where the bandits come over the top of the hill to attack the village resembles the scene in TPM where the droid army is coming to attack the Gungans.
  As you can see the top 2 pictures compares Mifune's character with Mcquarrie's concept of Han. Very similar to me. The bottom 2 pics are the similarities between the Bandit army and the droid army. I couldn't find a better pic of the bandits when they come over the Hillcrest. But you get the idea.

[Wookie lover 101]

the second to last one really looks like its from the movie

[Tamer]

Sure does seem legit to me.

[JDeck]

One could argue that the leader from 7 samurai inspired Obi wan Kenobi. The leader knows its his last fight so he takes on an eager apprentice to show the ways of the warrior. Mcquarrie's depiction of Obi wan (pictured) is indeed similar but its a common theme among samurai movies.

   If you've never seen 7 Samurai its very similar to Saving Private Ryan. A rag tag group of soldiers fighting for a seemingly useless cause, but end up doing something great as a result. Some of the characters are very similar as well.

[Tamer]

It  has been forever since I have seen this movie. I might have to go back and watch it.