Mark Hamill
Luke Skywalker
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May 25, 1983 · IMDb provides information and reviews for the 1983 sci-fi fantasy film directed by Richard Marquand and starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. The film concludes the original trilogy with a climactic battle between the Rebels and the Empire.
- (1.1M)
- Action, Adventure, Fantasy
- Richard Marquand
- 1983-05-25
Return of the Jedi (also known as Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi) is a 1983 American epic space opera film that is the sequel to Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980). It is the third installment in the original Star Wars trilogy and the sixth chronological film in the "Skywalker Saga".
- $32.5–42.7 million
- John Williams
- May 25, 1983
- Howard Kazanjian
- Overview
- Plot summary
- Development
- Release
- Reception
"I am a Jedi, like my father before me."
―Luke Skywalker — Listen (file info)
: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, marketed as simply Return of the Jedi, is a 1983 film directed by Richard Marquand and written by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas. It is the third and final part of the Star Wars original trilogy.
Luke Skywalker and friends travel to Tatooine to rescue their companion Han Solo from the vile Jabba the Hutt. The Empire prepares to crush the Rebellion with a more powerful Death Star, while the Rebel fleet mounts a massive attack on the space station. Luke confronts his father, Darth Vader, in a final climactic duel before the evil Emperor.
Vader's arrival to the Death Star
"The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am." ―Darth Vader Almost a full year after the events of The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader lands in the docking bay of the incomplete second Death Star, which the Empire designed to be more powerful than the first. He is greeted by Moff Tiaan Jerjerrod, but demands construction be put back on schedule in order to complete the Death Star on time. Jerjerrod argues that they need more men, but quickly agrees to double their efforts when he learns that the Emperor is coming.
Arriving at Jabba's Palace
"If I told you half the things I've heard about this Jabba the Hutt… you'd probably short-circuit." ―C-3PO to R2-D2 Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and company have arrived on Tatooine in an attempt to rescue their friend Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt's desert palace. First, the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO arrive with a holographic message from Skywalker asking Jabba to release Solo. In exchange, the two droids are presented as gifts to the crime lord; Luke promises that both are hardworking and that they will serve him well, which Jabba agrees to silently. However, when the message finishes, he states that there will be no bargain and that he won't give up his "favorite decoration". The two droids are then sent to their quarters, where EV-9D9 harshly barks at the two when they explain what they can do. 3PO is ordered to be Jabba's interpreter, while R2 is tasked with working on the Khetanna. That evening, the Max Rebo Band (led by Sy Snootles) entertains the Hutt's guests. Jabba, engaged by the graceful gyrations of his collared slave girl Oola, starts tugging on her chain and commanding her to come to him on his throne. Oola fearfully resists him, and in annoyance, Jabba pushes a button on his throne, and Oola is dropped through a hidden trapdoor at the foot of his throne, into the hole of the rancor monster, which immediately devours her.
Saving Han Solo
""Who—who're you?"Someone who loves you."Leia…." ―Leia Organa and Han Solo Later, Princess Leia Organa (in the guise of bounty hunter Boushh) arrives with Chewbacca as her "prisoner" to collect part of the bounty Jabba sought years earlier when he put a price on Solo's head. After much bargaining (including Leia threatening Jabba with a thermal detonator), Jabba settles on a deal, and has Chewbacca imprisoned. That night, Leia releases Han Solo from his carbonite coffin, and after revealing her identity to him, she kisses him. As they prepare to escape, they are caught by Jabba and his thugs. Ignoring Han's pleas, Jabba has the captain thrown in prison with Chewbacca. Although Lando Calrissian (disguised as one of Jabba's prison guards) tries to sneak off with Leia, Jabba stops them and orders a Gamorrean guard to bring Leia to him. Leia warns the Hutt that he will regret capturing the Rebels, but Jabba ignores the threat and licks her face. Leia is forced to become Jabba's newest slave girl, being made to wear a dancing costume and chained to the throne as a trophy.
"When shooting Jedi in the United States we called the film Blue Harvest. Camera slates, invoices, hotel reservations, call sheets, production reports, and crew hats and T-shirts all read Blue Harvest. So when a visitor would ask, 'what are you shooting' and we said Blue Harvest, they went on their way. Can you imagine what would have happened if we had said, 'We're shooting the next film in the Star Wars trilogy'?""
―Howard G. Kazanjian
For several reasons, the working title of the project was Blue Harvest and dubbed "Horror Beyond Imagination" to engender no interest whatsoever in order to disguise what the production crew was really filming from fans and the prying eyes of the press. George Lucas had severed all his remaining ties to the Hollywood system out of a feeling of persecution after the success of The Empire Strikes Back and had become a truly independent filmmaker. Lucasfilm is a non-union company, and despite George Lucas's stature and clout, that, says Howard Kazanjian in Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy, made acquiring shooting locations more difficult and more expensive, even though A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back were mammoth hits.
The title was used in all areas where it seemed necessary. The Blue Harvest ruse, credited to producer Howard Kazanjian, was very thorough, emblazoning the fictitious film's logo on a wide range of film production items including shirts, caps, coats, buttons, signs, invoices and stationery. The Blue Harvest facade did give a bit of a wink and nod to its true purpose, however, as the supposed film's logo (intentionally or unintentionally) utilized the distinctive Star Wars logo lettering style. In particular the ruse was employed during location filming in Yuma, Arizona. The filming took place in the dunes over the Thanksgiving holiday, where there was a reported crowd of 35,000 dune-buggy enthusiasts. After erecting a chain-link fence, employing a huge security force, and dodging a myriad of press inquiries, in the end approximately sixty fans saw through the ruse and refused to leave until they obtained a few autographs and photos.[source?]
The film's director was the late Richard Marquand, who passed away in 1987 of a heart ailment, but reports have suggested that George Lucas was still heavily involved in the shooting of Return of the Jedi and likely directed some of the second-unit work personally when shooting threatened to go over schedule. Lucas admits in the documentary Empire of Dreams that he had to often be on the set due to Marquand's relative inexperience with special effects, but comments by The Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner on that film's DVD audio commentary track suggest that Lucas, who acted more as an advisor on The Empire Strikes Back, had a similar role on the production of Return of the Jedi. Moreover, George Lucas, according to Kershner, called The Empire Strikes Back Kershner's movie, not his.
Some have noted the differences between Richard Marquand's direction style and Lucas's direction style and say that they're dissimilar. The screenplay was written by Lawrence Kasdan and Lucas (with uncredited contributions by David Webb Peoples), based on Lucas's story. Howard G. Kazanjian served as producer.
Merchandise
The novelization of Return of the Jedi was written by James Kahn. While it contains many scenes that were deleted from the final cut, with the release of Revenge of the Sith, Kahn's assertion that Anakin Skywalker's memories of "lava crawling up his back" have proved to be in error. In the novelization of Return of the Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi recounts to Luke Skywalker that he and Anakin Skywalker had battled and that his father "fell into a molten pit." The novelization also erroneously refers to Owen Lars as Obi-Wan Kenobi's brother. Owen Lars is, in fact, Anakin Skywalker's stepbrother. Incidentally, Joel and Nash Edgerton, Owen's portrayer and Ewan McGregor's stunt double, respectively, in the prequel trilogy, are brothers in real life. At the beginning of the confrontation in Darth Sidious's throne room, the Emperor reads Luke's mind and discovers that Yoda completed Luke's Jedi training, and that Yoda is now dead. However, he gives no sign of recognition on hearing Yoda's name. The film was adapted into comics form by Marvel Comics. Unlike the earlier film adaptations, it was not released as part of the ongoing Star Wars series, but as a four-part (1 2 3 4) mini-series of its own. The adaptation was scripted by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Al Williamson. (A manga adaptation, illustrated by Shin-Ichi Hiromoto, was later released in Japan in 1998 and in the United States in 1999.) While the first two Star Wars movies were adapted for radio in the early 1980s, it was not until 1996 that a radio version of Return of the Jedi was produced. The adaptation was written by Brian Daley and was produced for and broadcast on National Public Radio. In November 1983, CBS aired the official making-of documentary, Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi. The popularity of the Ewoks also led to two made-for-TV movies in 1984 (The Ewok Adventure and 1985 (Ewoks: The Battle for Endor) and an an animated TV series that aired on ABC in 1985 and 1986.
Special Edition and home video
As with the other two films of his original trilogy, Lucas issued a Special Edition of Return of the Jedi, released on theaters on March 14, 1997. It makes a number of cosmetic changes and additions, including replacing a piece of music from the closing scene. In Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Anakin Skywalker is played by Hayden Christensen. However, in the original and Special Edition version of Return of the Jedi, a much older actor named Sebastian Shaw played both the dying Anakin Skywalker and his Force spirit. In the DVD release, Anakin's ghost has become a young man, played by Christensen, and this is considered the canon version of the ghost. Lucas explains in the DVD commentary that Anakin has learned to control his life force beyond death, just as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda had before him. (This is briefly explained in Revenge of the Sith.) So rather than appear as the older man who was Darth Vader, Anakin is able to return to the young man he once was before turning to the dark side. The basic controversy arises from critics of Lucas's ongoing changes to all of the Star Wars films. On one hand, the redemption of Luke's father as an older man suggests that this is the image that should represent him after death. On the other, the older man was arguably never Anakin Skywalker until his final moments, and the vision of Hayden Christensen brings the story full circle: Darth Vader defeated, Anakin Skywalker at rest. Still, many fans argue that the insertion of Christensen is disrespectful toward Shaw. On September 21, 2004 the three original movies were released on DVD. There were a few further changes with this release, such as sound effects and improvements to the visual quality of the film. During the sequence when the Emperor's defeat at Endor is announced to the galaxy, an additional scene showing the celebrations on Theed, Naboo was shown. A Gungan can be heard yelling "Wesa free" in this scene. In the scene showing the people of Coruscant celebrating, the Senate Building and the Jedi Temple have been added in the background. With the release of the third episode that depicts how and why Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side of the Force, George Lucas once again altered Return of the Jedi to strengthen the relationship between the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy. Sebastian Shaw played Anakin in the hangar bay and in the final celebration scene in the original film. In the DVD release, Shaw portrayed Anakin in the hangar bay scene, though his eyebrows had been digitally removed so that his appearance more closely resembled Anakin's injured appearance at the end of Revenge of the Sith. However, he was replaced by Hayden Christensen during the final celebration, appearing as he did in Revenge of the Sith prior to his injuries on Mustafar. Instead of simply reshooting the Force ghost of Anakin with Hayden, test footage of Hayden's head was digitally grafted to the body of Sebastian Shaw playing the role. On September 12, 2006, Lucasfilm Ltd. released a two-DVD set consisting of the 2004 Special Edition and the unaltered original theatrical version. This release was limited, lasting through December 31 of that year. The film was re-released in the Blu-ray format on September 16, 2011. Among its bonus features, this released included previously unreleased deleted scenes from the film. This release included a third round of changes to the film, mostly minor visual alterations. On April 7, 2015, the Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, and Lucasfilm jointly announced the digital releases of the six released Star Wars films. As Lucasfilm had retained digital distribution rights to Episodes I through III and V through VI, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Return of the Jedi for digital download on April 10, 2015. On the official promo poster for Return of the Jedi, Luke's lightsaber appeared blue; however, it is green in the movie. Despite the Walt Disney Company's 2012 purchase of Lucasfilm Ltd. and the release rights to all future Star Wars films, Fox was to retain original distribution rights to Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, which they co-produced and co-financed, in perpetuity in all media worldwide. Fox was also to retain theatrical, nontheatrical, and home-video rights worldwide for the franchise's five subsequent films, which Lucasfilm produced and financed independently, through May 2020, at which time ownership was to transfer to Disney. This complex relationship between Fox and Disney, particularly in regards to Fox's perpetual rights to Episode IV, was to create an obstacle for any future boxed set comprising all nine films. On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced that it was acquiring most of Fox's parent company, 21st Century Fox, including the film studio and all distribution rights to A New Hope. On March 20, 2019, the deal was officially completed. On April 12, 2019, a Blu-ray box set containing the nine main installments of the Star Wars saga remastered in 4K was reportedly announced to be in development for a 2020 release.
40th Anniversary re-release
To commemorate its 40th anniversary, Return of the Jedi was given a limited theatrical rerelease in 2023, running from April 28 to May 1 in the United Kingdom, and from April 28 to May 4 in the United States.
While critical reception of the film was generally positive, Return of the Jedi is considered by some critics and many fans as the weakest film of the original trilogy. Some indication of public opinion can be gleaned by its relatively modest 72nd-place ranking in the Internet Movie Database's Top 250 films list. As a comparison, A New Hope is ranked at #20, and The Empire Strikes Back is ranked #12, as of April 24, 2016. In 1983, the late Roger Ebert gave the film a four-star rating, and Gary Arnold of the Washington Post described Return of the Jedi as "a triumph." Some contemporary fans and critics have found the film to be just as weak as the prequel films or just in comparison to the first two episodes.
While the Jabba the Hutt sequence and many of the action set pieces (particularly the speeder bike chase on the Endor moon, the space battle between Rebel and Imperial pilots, and Luke Skywalker's duel against Darth Vader) are well regarded, the ground battle between the Ewoks and the stormtroopers remains a bone of contention. A large number of fans believe George Lucas pushed the "cutesy" factor with the Ewoks, especially with the belief that he did it to make it more marketable to children; and some of the production staff, such as Harrison Ford, felt awkward throughout the filming process about the Ewoks. However, other reasons were cited, such as the Wookiees, which were planned for that instance, being vetoed by Lucas due to the prior films showing that they were quite capable with technology via Chewbacca. In addition, fans seem to be rather divided on the premise that an extremely primitive race of small creatures could, albeit with aid, defeat an armed ground force comprising the Empire's best troops. Some fans call it ludicrous, while others credit the Ewoks' bravery, ingenuity, and determination, and draw comparisons between modern warfare in which familiarity with the terrain and guerrilla tactics can result in the defeat of a numerically and technologically superior force.
In the commentary for the 2004 DVD release, Lucas explained that the Ewoks were an allegory for a technologically primitive force overcoming a powerful Empire, and compared it to examples like the Vietnam War, Attila the Hun and the Roman Empire, and the American Revolutionary War. The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film reveals that the idea emerged and evolved from Lucas's interest in the Vietnam War in making Apocalypse Now, in which specifically the less technologically advanced Vietcong overcame the United States. This has been criticized by some, such as conservative commentator Bill Whittle, in the webseries Afterburner episode "Han Shot First," for its perceived offensive connotations and morally ambiguous implications. However, in the contemporary documentary From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga, Lucas states that the Vietnam War was merely the inspiration from which the subplot evolved, rather than a political thesis. However, a note in the 1973 draft for A New Hope (then simply called Star Wars) did make clear that the events of the film were inspired by "a large technological empire going after a group of freedom fighters" in a clear allusion to the events of Vietnam.
In 2021, the U.S. Library of Congress selected Return of the Jedi for preservation in the National Film Registry, considering it, "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (Episode VI) Rating: PG. Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Live Action, Science Fiction. After a quick trip back to Tatooine, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo are reunited and join up with the amassing rebel fleet to take down the evil Empire once and for all.
The final chapter of the original trilogy sees the Rebels attempt to destroy the second Death Star, while Luke struggles to save his friends from the dark side. Read the full plot summary, cast and crew, trivia, and user reviews of this classic sci-fi film.
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Find out the critics' and audience's ratings, reviews, and where to watch the 1983 sci-fi adventure film. See the cast, crew, trailer, photos, and more for the final chapter of the original Star Wars trilogy.
- (103)
- Sci-fi, Adventure, Action, Fantasy
- PG
Return of the Jedi is the film that first featured Jabba the Hutt, the lovable Ewoks, and one of the most poignant moments in the entire Star Wars saga -- Vader's ultimate sacrifice to...
- Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-fi
