Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

After rescuing Han Solo from the palace of Jabba the Hutt, the Rebels attempt to destroy the Second Death Star, while Luke Skywalker tries to bring his father back to the Light Side of the Force.

Director:

Richard Marquand

Writers:

Lawrence Kasdan (screenplay), George Lucas (screenplay),

Stars:

Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

Top 250 #80 | Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Hamill	...	Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford	...	Han Solo
Carrie Fisher	...	Princess Leia
Billy Dee Williams	...	Lando Calrissian
Anthony Daniels	...	C-3PO
Peter Mayhew	...	Chewbacca
Sebastian Shaw	...	Anakin Skywalker
Ian McDiarmid	...	The Emperor
Frank Oz	...	Yoda (voice)
James Earl Jones	...	Voice of Darth Vader (voice)
David Prowse	...	Darth Vader
Alec Guinness	...	Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kenobi
Kenny Baker	...	R2-D2 / Paploo
Michael Pennington	...	Moff Jerjerrod
Kenneth Colley	...	Admiral Piett

Storyline

Darth Vader and the Empire are building a new, indestructible Death Star. Meanwhile, Han Solo has been imprisoned, and Luke Skywalker has sent R2-D2 and C-3PO to try and free him. Princess Leia - disguised as a bounty hunter - and Chewbacca go along as well. The final battle takes place on the moon of Endor, with its natural inhabitants, the Ewoks, lending a hand to the Rebels. Will Darth Vader and the Dark Side overcome the Rebels and take over the universe?

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Plot Keywords:

Rebel | Death Star | Empire | Princess | Battle | 

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Taglines:

Return To A Galaxy... Far, Far Away

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for sci-fi action violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 May 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Return of the Jedi

Filming Locations:

Buttercup Valley, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$32,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

ITL 1,095,587,000 (Italy) (2 May 1997)

Gross:

$309,125,409 (USA) (6 June 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lucasfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min 135 min (special edition)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When preparing to work on the special edition one of the ILM employees was talking to a friend and mentioned in passing that they were extending the musical number in Jabba's palace. The friend happened to be the brother of Femi Taylor, the dancer that played Oola (the slave girl/dancer who is fed to the Rancor) and suggested that they get in contact with her as she was in even better shape than she was when they originally shot the scene. They ended up using her, and the scene is a combination of footage that they already had and the new footage recorded 15 years later. Femi Taylor also has the distinction of being the only cast member from the original movies to reprise her role for the special edition.

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Goofs

When Leia points the cannon at the deck, she runs to Luke who says, "Come on!" but his lips do not move.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Shuttle captain: Command station, this is ST321, code clearance blue. We're starting our approach; deactivate the security shield.

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Crazy Credits

To compensate for the longer credits, later versions of the film like the special edition and DVD release extend the piece of musical score that plays over the credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
Broomstick chase scene directly references the speeder bike chase through the Endor moon forests.

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Soundtracks

"Jedi Rocks"
(1997 Special Edition) (uncredited)
Composed and Arranged by Jerry Hey
Remix Engineer Thomas Vicari
Produced by Nick Redman

User Reviews

...and the trilogy is finished with yet another great film.

After "Star Wars: A New Hope" redefined science fiction, and "The Empire Strikes Back" redefined "Star Wars", it's hard to believe that the third and final film of this trilogy can manage to be as good as the other two, but this one really does a nice job. The first part of the film resolves the cliffhanger left by the previous one, with an elaborate escape plan that is in keeping with the incredible suspense and action of the first two films. Then the film moves back to the rebel alliance and what's going on in the war. There is a lot of action in the scenes building up to the rebellion's final confrontation with the Emperor. When the battle begins, the audience is already on the edge of their seats from everything leading up to it, and this final battle is even more intense than those from the other films. This climax is definitely more dense with action than any other part of the trilogy, with the most at stake for the rebellion. This is continually changing between a ground battle between the rebel strike crew on land (including Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Leia), the battle raging on in space (including Lando), and a confrontation between Luke and the Emperor on the new Death Star, which leads up to another duel with Darth Vader. It is really intense since the rebels constantly seem to be losing the battle that will determine the outcome of the war, and there seems to be no escape. Although I think the idea of Ewoks overpowering stormtroopers is a bit far-fetched, it didn't seem very unrealistic since they were more of a distraction that the rebels could use, rather than an actual threat to the stormtroopers, although they did have some luck fighting them. There is also a twist or two at the end that nobody saw coming, which may not be quite as stunning as that of "The Empire Strikes Back", but still complete a very spectacular trilogy very well. With the light tone of "A New Hope" and the more sinnister tone of "The Empire Strikes Back", this film really completes them by combining the two in this grand finale. The Special Edition for "Return of the Jedi" concentrated on what would have been nice to change, since not much of the original really needed it. Fifteen years of technology advancements didn't seem to make up for fifteen years of deterioration as far as the rancor scene is concerned, and there still is the occasional disappearing TIE fighter, but other than that it was good. The gaping non-threatening Sarlaac's mouth was given moving tentacles and a huge fly-trap looking head that emerged, which definitely added to the suspense. Also, the disco was taken out of Jabba's palace, and the lame ending of the original was replaced by a huge victory celebration spanning the entire galaxy, instead of just a small Ewok village, which was the case of the original and that didn't really end a story this big the way it deserved. It's hard to say which of the three films was the best, but since it's all part of the same story, the over-all trilogy is like one big, outstanding film. A THIRD must-see for film fans.