The Story: Back-story. It was all-important in Star Wars (as it was known back then, before it became Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope). It's what made the movie really interesting, and ultimately locked it into a course from which it couldn't move past, cemented it as if if had been frozen in carbonite.And, with the budget had—a relatively paltry 10 million dollars (the same budget 2001: A Space Odyssey had ten years previously)—all George Lucas could do was talk about it.
So, this scene did a lot of duty in a short period of time. While we were learning about the cruelty of Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin (up there in orbit on their Battle Cruiser) on a parallel time-track, Luke had a mystery to solve, and it's all solved...and made much more complicated in this scene, having found the man he's after, "Old Ben" Kenobi.
The story is, he was supposed to seem a little crazy at first, but Alec Guinness didn't want to play it that way—this was at a time when Lucas could be overruled—and Lucas let the veteran actor play it his way—dignified and a little unscrupulous (the "crazy" aspect would be transferred to Yoda, when Luke first meets him in The Empire Strikes Back).
And it paid off in spades, producing a pivotal moment—"a happy accident"—that Lucas took advantage of in deepening the story: the weighty hesitation that Kenobi has before telling Luke the fate of his father—the spinning of the tale that it was Darth Vader who killed his father, true "from a certain point of view."
Or was it "a happy accident?"
An issue of Psychology Today, that came out quickly once Star Wars became a cultural phenomenon, drew parallels with The Wizard of Oz, and noted that "Darth Vader" was a Germanic distillation of "dark father," making the Old Sith-heel an apposite father figure in Luke's life-journey. Two years before the revelations of Empire, they hit it on the nose of the wheezing face-plate.
Bear in mind that, even though we know nothing of Obi-Wan except what he tells us, we don't know what he knows. And he knows everything. He knows who Luke is, who his father is, and the whole sordid story, and has been biding his time until this moment of connection. This is what he's been waiting for, hiding out, for the last 20 years. So, he's a little pushy, manipulating Luke in the direction of His Destiny, smiling as Luke falls right into the inquiry about "The Force," applying "The Guilt" when necessary, and using psychology rather than a "Jedi mind-trick."
At the time of the first movie, all this past was in the future, and this was just a pause for exposition. In retrospect, it's a heady scene. Did Lucas know all this when the scene was written and shot?
Does it matter?
The Set-Up: Young Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) has had the entire Universe fall from the sky into his care. Two droids have crashed on the planet Tatooine, that have information that could prove the undoing of the Galactic Empire's most vicious weapon, the marauding planet-killer, The Death Star. By chance, the droids, with the enigmatic holographic message from an unknown dignitary (Carrie Fisher), have made their way to him, and he has followed them to their intended receiver, General Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), who has resided for many years on the planet as "a crazy old hermit." But, soon, the answers—and many more questions—will be revealed on Skywalker's Hero Quest.
Action!
The small, spartan hovel is cluttered with desert junk but still manages to radiate an air of time-worn comfort and security. Luke is in one corner repairing Threepio's arm, as old Ben sits thinking.
BEN: Yes...
Ben gets up and goes to a chest where he rummages around. As Luke finishes repairing Threepio and starts to fit the restraining bolt back on, Threepio looks at him nervously. Luke thinks about the bolt for a moment then puts it on the table. Ben shuffles up and presents Luke with a short handle with several electronic gadgets attached to it.
LUKE: Sure, go ahead.
BEN: Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight.
Luke is cut short as the recorded image of the beautiful young Rebel princess is projected from Artoo's face.
Luke stops his work as the lovely girl's image flickers before his eyes.
STAR WARS: Episode IV—A NEW HOPE (From THE JOURNAL OF THE WHILLS)
Words by George Lucas
Pictures by Gilbert Taylor and George Lucas
Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope is available on DVD (in all sorts of versions) on 20th Century Fox Home Video.
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