AndrewWickliffe

If any of you all remember seeing "Return of the Jedi" in the theater
back in 1983 and want to write a little thing (250-500 words), I'm
trying to put together a 'zine (printed, contributers get a copy
obviously) with a bunch of such recollections...

Please let me know if you have any questions or interest...

(to the Mods--if this is out of line, sorry)

devilshalo

Sadly, I remember ESB more than Jedi.

GoldenJCJ

There was a thread just a few days ago about peoples first movie going experience. Return of the Jedi popped up quite a bit (myslef included).

Though I'm not really up to writing an essay on it maybe others will be.

yojimbo44

sure...count me in - have been in an essay writing mood of late...let me know what you need and when and where you need it.

Joe Molotov

I wasn't quite born at that point.

The Valeyard

I remember getting in line at 6am for an 11am showing. My aunt was there the night before staking out a spot for the entire family. About 5 minutes later, my Aerospace teacher got into line behind us. I was in Jr. High back then and was scared shitless because I was failing his class. I pretended not to notice him because I didn't want him talking to my uncle about my shitty grades.

Later, my mom showed up 10 minutes before showtime and bought a scalped ticket to get in. Then she dropped an entire bucket of popcorn on the way to the seats.

It was pretty exciting before the movie even started.

Fincher Fan

My first memory from Return of the Jedi? Fucking Ewoks.

JP5683

All I remember is that it played 5 times a day for three months and every show seemed to be sold out, lines wrapping around the theater. 2,000 seats even.

TGM

I was 9, and went with my dad. What I remember most is a bunch of rowdy teens in the front row reading out-loud all of the captioned dialogue from Jabba's palace, thinking they were hilarious. I thought they were shitheads.

rw2516

Stood in line opening day for 7pm showing which went on sale at 10am. A local news crew was there and people skipping work were hiding from cameras. Unlike the first two this one wasn't an exclusive and was playing all over town. Went a few days later to see it again at a matinee and there were maybe 12 people in the theater.

Nick Danger

I was in my mid-20s. I saw it with a friend. We thought it was okay, but not great. We thought the ewok closing his eyes and dying was particularly stupid.

wendersfan

I thought it was the stupidest thing I'd ever seen.

GuessWho

I was 9 and saw it a week early since my dad won screening tickets from a local radio station. The next day at school, the teacher made me stand in front of the room and hold a ROTJ Q&A session with my 3rd grade class.

Brian Shannon

Yes I was there

Doughboy

I was 5 going on 6 at the time, so all I can remember is Vader's mask being removed and his pink head underneath.

Now The Phantom Menace I was much older when I saw, so I remember that disaster of a night vividly.

eedoon

Man I envy you all who does sees ESB on the theatre for the first time. The first time I saw ESB is on my tiny, tiny screen and even then I was being captivated by the story. It must've been awesome to experience it on theatre during the 80s.

Which reminds me of one episodes of The Simpsons. You know which one I'm talking about.

Hiro11

I definitely remember it. Specifically, I remember:
1. The advance posters and teasers all calling the movie "Revenge of the Jedi" and me being confused about the title when "Return of the Jedi" appeared later.
2. The movie was rereleased shortly after its first run. I remember the ads: "Return for the excitement. Return for the adventure!" Etc.
3. Seeing the speeder bike sequence for the first time and wondering WTF that bizarre booming noise was after the bikes went by.

The Ewoks ddn't bother me when I was a kid and I still think it's the second best Star Wars film.

james2025a

I remember going to see it with my friend Daniel who i still keep in touch with. It was shown at the now defunct ABC cinema in Leeds, England. It was the first week and they had a double bill of the Empire Strikes Back followed by Return of the Jedi. Also before the movies started they had this weird movie on about a black horse that was crazy as shit. We still laugh about that movie. Thinking back i don't know how the hell we managed to last it all out.....we must have been in the cinema all day long. We were only 10 at the time. I do remember that the cinema was pretty empty as well. I had seen clicks of ROTJ on a TV show called Number 73 and it looked amazing. Being a typical kid of the time i loved Star Wars toys and this movie looked like it would be as good as the others. The things that stand out for me are Jabba, the speeder bike chase of course and the red costumes of the Imperial Guard for some reason. At that age i wasn't as bothered by the Ewoks......but with hindsight it would have been a hell of a lot better if there had been a planet of Wookies. The 80s was probably the best time of my life and definately a period in my life that i will never forget.

Shannon Nutt

I remember thinking I had not gone into a Star Wars movie, but the latest film from Jim Henson.

SmackDaddy

Caught it with a few of my friends opening day. We got dropped off at 8am for the first show at noon. We were already about 100 people back! We were just so excited to be there. My friends mom came back a little later with some food and chairs for us.

That was the first time I recall seeing a line that big for a movie. This was a small 4 screen theater in a mall parking lot. The line snaked through the parking lot and then around the building. Good times!

stingermck

I was there, and I was 5 years old. My dad took me to see it, but he was tired from just getting off of work. He fell asleep sometime around Jabba's palace. He woke up at the end credits, and said his first thought was that I had probably run off somewhere. He looks over and sees me staring at the screen, mouth wide open, and I hadn't moved. Jedi is still my favorite

Giles

I remember seeing it in 70mm at the Jenifer Street theatre here in upper northwest DC

dom56

I remember going with my brother at opening day, we have pizza for lunch then went to the theater. It was not packed because school was not out yet and I believe we went on Friday early noon. We both enjoyed it however I thought the Ewoks were dumb and what up with the ending? Seem it's was pretty much anti-climatic and poorly done of the ending of the trilogy.

cleaver

I'm 28, this and Annie are the first 2 movies I can remember seeing, and I walked out of Annie, although maybe that's because I was crying. I brought toys to the theater when I saw ROTJ, which I saw at the corner or Democracy and Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda, MD where there's now a DSW. I left a few toys in the theater and we couldn't find them when we came back a little later. In fact, I was distracted most of the movie looking for my toys. ROTJ might have been the low point in terms of the original trilogy, but Star Wars toys were the cat's ass back then.

Giles

oh I remember that theatre (it actually wasn't the DSW part, but the inner middle section of the mall where the healthclub is now), my dad and mom dragged me and my sister to see 'The Elephant Man' there, ahhhh, we never forgave them for subjecting us to that - we were much too young - it give us nightmares. The funny thing about that was my parents thought the movie was playing over at the theatre at Old Georgetown and Woodmont (if you went there, you might remember there was an indoor carousel in that small mall), it turned out they had the wrong theatre and we trekked over to the Democrary theatre where it was playing.... needless to say we didn't miss much, just the harrowing opening where John Merrick's mother is trampled by the elephants (now that would have warped my frail young mind).