WLS Channel 7 - Eyewitness News - "Return of the Jedi Opening" (1983)
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- Direct from a Umatic tape, here's what appears to be the pre-air copy (without supers or ending voiceover?) of a news piece on the opening of Return of the Jedi at the Esquire Theatre (Plitt Esquire Theatre). Includes lots of neat footage of fans in line and talking about the movie.
Candace Hasey reporting.
This aired on local Chicago TV on Wednesday, May 25th 1983.
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www.fuzzymemori...
HEY! THAT'S ME!!! (0:30)
I knew there was footage out there, and people said they saw it, but have never seen it until today.
Who's you? What time do you appear in the video and what did you look like? :-)
@@FuzzyMemoriesTV
The Luke Skywalker standing on the barricade. Photographer from Sun-Times asked me to stand up there 5 minutes before the doors opened to get a shot with the marquee behind me, and the news camera suddenly showed up and shot about 5 seconds. Check out Chicago Jedi sometime?
@@FuzzyMemoriesTV Thats my dad, It was at 0:29 mark for a second. LOL I sound like a proud parent.
Were you shocked to see yourself on the news when the movie came out 40 years ago?
@@patrickwilson1459, I was actually pleasantly surprised, as it was a nice random birthday gift in a way. I wish I had known, the previous May the 4th before I found it, which channel aired it, as I appeared with Chicago Jedi on the ABC's Chicago morning show and could have given them some idea to look for whatever footage they might have had.
That is me and my friend Johnny as ushers at minute 1:25 of the video, when we were ushers at the Esquire. It was crazy!
Your a lucky guy. I was born 12 years later so I didn’t get to experience this but as a huge Star Wars fam I’m looking at the excitement on these people’s faces and the pandemonium and it looks insanely fun
i love seeing old videos like this
I love how all these guys are droppin spoiler alerts lol
So glad they didn't show mine. I suddenly turned into some stick up the butt movie critic then on top of it gave a major spoiler. So, really glad it wasn't shown. :)
Not a big fan of Star Wars, but the fact that you have all of those people there and excited for something is joyous. A nice bright spot in these rather rough times, makes you wish we had more good moments like these.
Saw the first showing of this on opening day at a local theatre, but they didn't have midnight shows. First show was something like 11:00 A.M. My sisters and I got up early in the morning, got to the theatre, and the line was already halfway down the sidewalk in front of the multiplex. The first people in front were in lawn chairs; they had probably been there for who knows how long. Fortunately, they were showing the movie on a couple of screens at the same time, so we did get in to the first showing. Party atmosphere on line. Inside, it was insane, just like you see here. People were applauding every character (even Vader) when they first appeared. At the end, people were yelling at the screen, screaming, jumping up and down and spilling out into the aisles while the movie was still playing. Won't ever forget it.
They witnessed history.
The Stranger Things kids at the beginning! Lol.
I miss those days of waiting in line for movies.
There was a sense of community talking to the other people in line while you waited (4 hours for us at the time). You don't get that today with the reserved seating.
While all what you say is correct, I love reserved seating so much because I can get the seats I want and not some crummy side or front row seats, as I usually arrive late.
@@faisalmemon285 Well, this is about as close as you'll get to that kind of feeling of community, and it's not the same as being in person for that time prior to the film running.
@@danmccann8813 I was alive before reserved seating. Reserved seating just started around 5 years ago. I remember having to come to Avatar early for the best seats. But before that I got to mingle with the other people in line, asking which movie they were gonna see and etc. Heck I miss Blockbuster where you could run the isles and see movies I’d never heard of. Like I found out of The Big Lebowski only by going to the movie rental place. I resisted Netflix movie rentals for so long (before it went streaming) because I couldn’t understand how can you browse for movies without Blockbuster. But you can’t stand in the way of technology and the future.
A lot of revisionist history these days, but let me tell you the truth as somebody who was ten in 1983 and saw the movie 5 times in the theater in the Summer of '83 -- ROTJ was the universally accepted greatest movie of all time, everybody loved the Ewoks, and people were counting down the 4-5 year waiting period until it would air as a Sunday Night movie on ABC so they could record it with their top-loading VCR to watch at home on-demand.
Movie theater soda in 1983 $ .75
Large theater popcorn $ 1.25
Ticket to see movie in 1983 $3.15
Seeing Return of the Jedi in true 70mm before the Lucas changes in the 1990's Priceless
Back when 'Star Wars' was about good storytelling, and not about identity politics.
Or strictly about Sith Lords fighting Jedis.
Yep. Liberals ruin everything.
RELEASE THE PINOCHLE CUT
That Revenge of the Jedi shirt the girl is wearing is definitely worth some good money!
I saw ROTJ in theaters when I was 5. I was very afraid of Salacious B. Crumb and hid in my moms lap where ever he came on. The audience would laugh whenever he laughed cause they found him funny, but it scared me out of my wits. Rest of the movie I was gaping at the screen.
Those were the good old days!!!
Man, and on the big screen, too. 70mm 6-track. Me, my mom, my brother, and his dad, we had to wait outside to go in the theater. It was the River Oaks Theater. One had the big carved screen and the other screen was a regular sized screen. We might have seen Return Of The Jedi in 70mm. That was the IMAX of its day. I really enjoyed it. I saw it again with my sister when I think she came home from collage for her brake. This time, it was at the General Cinema. There were two of them. One across from Venture and Frank's. And Payless was over there too. It was like a strip mall but much classier and much more nicer than the average strip mall. And there was another one down the road. And that was in the same area as the grocery store. Now it's a huge parking lot. So yeah, that was awesome.
How long did you have to wait in line the first and second time around?
I saw that opening weekend at the Esquire. That was the movie that introduced me to Dolby Stereo and 5.1 sound.
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), courtesy of 20th Century-Fox and Lucasfilm Ltd.
Wow,when starwars was special...the 1 St movie I saw where I didn't wait a year after to see it., I went in nobody around saw it came out the line was 5 blocks long , good times ,saw it with my friend
0:46 is that George Lucas lol
Can't be. He wasn't wearing plaid. ;)
@@TheKennethECarper He came there thinking they were showing a documentary on molten salt.
ah the days before reserved seating ;)
It made for a fun community experience.
I saw both Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi on opening day...front row center of the balcony each time at the Esquire...amazing experiences that I will never forget.
A pity it was chopped into smaller theaters later...
They always do that
Did you see Star Wars maybe a couple weeks after it first opened in theaters? My parents did but not on opening day I assure you that.
@@patrickwilson1459 - I wish I had…especially there. It was an awesome theater.
I remember when empire came out to the drive ins..man I was instantly Hooked,,I really wish George would have made more films back in the day..the new Disney movies are garbage and I fear I will never see another good Star Wars movie again.
What do you mean you fear never seeing another Star Wars film again? Of course there will be no other Star Wars film again. So you don’t have to fear anymore. No Director wants to touch it, and it’s the movies with the most studio interference. It’s gone dude, it’s gone. Gonna have to get used to those crappy tv shows.
I forgot about the pinochle game.
2:23 - Ummm... SPOILER ALERT???
Looks like bill nye in the clown wig
@@mrawesome3915 I was about to say the same thing ima find out lol
Actually it’s more than likely he was referring to the climax of The Empire Strikes Back since he said unveil which is what Darth Vader did to Luke Skywalker (Luke, I am your father). Yoda is the one who told him that Vader was indeed his father.
At 1:32 .......that’s Jeffrey Dahmer!!!
"It was a fantastic movie but it was good?
Kind of a letdown really. Especially coming after the fantastic "Empire Strikes Back".
@RaulHernandez-sj3wi
Most people get nervous in front of a video camera, especially the huge contraptions & very hot, bright lights back then.
Makes it more difficult to spontaneously say what you really mean ;-)
That would soon to be "Episode VI-Return Of The Jedi." In fact,it
became "SW Ep. VI-Return Of The Jedi" for years.
Then the force went to sleep, no Jedi were ever trained, and then it awoke. Imagine the end of Return of the Jedi being Luke saying I won’t train any Jedi.
Luckiest people in the world!!
Classic80s.