Who here saw the original Star Wars in the theater? How old were you and where did you go? Who were you with? What memories do you have still of the first showing?

I was only six, and I was taken by my Dad to the old Woodfield Theater outside Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. It was located just off now I-290/355 and was highly visible from the highway. For me, there was no better movie theater. They had the best popcorn and the best movies. All the great movies from the late 70s and early 80s I saw there. As a kid, I was totally mind blown with the movie, starting with the rolling credits and the first shot of the star destroyer and the planet. There was never anything seen like that before---a child's dream. What I still remember seeing in the theater is Han coming out of nowhere with the Millennium Falcon and Darth Vader colliding with the other tie-fighters and spiraling out into space. That was the coolest scene. When you heard "I have you now" from James Earl Jones, that was it for Luke. And then, of course, Han comes to save the day and Luke. It was uncanny to me how well James Earl Jones' voice matched the costume of Darth Vader.

I remember there were long lines to get into the shows in those days. The showings were totally full. The inside of the theater had red carpet and always put up the cardboard displays and posters of the movies being shown or soon to be shown. That level of entertainment with a movie in a big theater hasn't been reached since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEkqaisRNLg

saw it in 1977, was 11. don't remember which theatre...probably the norridge.

remember going to see superman in late 78/early 79 at the gateway theatre in jeff park. cold, long lines out the theatre.

I'm told by my mom that she took us to it at the Cascade drive in in West Chicago shortly after we moved from out west. I was 2 so I have no recollection of this although I do remember seeing it in a theatre before Empire came out. Probably when it was reissued in 79. That would have been either Foxfield or the Arcada.

My Grandma took me to see The Empire Strikes Back in the movie theater when I was 7. She died later that year. It is honestly the one memory I have of spending time with her.

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