Isegoria

Since I had just watched The History Channel’s Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed — which revealed very little — and The Searchers — which was one of Lucas’s influences — I decided to read up a bit on the subject.

SparkNotes only mentions two major influences — neither new to me: Akira Kurosawa’s samurai movies and John Ford’s The Searchers.

Samurai movies are known in Japan as period dramas, or jidaigeki, and that is where Lucas got the word Jedi.

Lucas also lifted a number of characters and scenes from Kurosawa movies:

Lucas has said in the past that the inspiration for the characters of C-3PO, R2-D2, Han Solo, and Princess Leia could be found in Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress, in which two bumbling friends help a roguish hero rescue a brave princess from captivity. More specific still, Lucas includes a direct homage to Kurosawa in the scene in which Ben defends Luke in the Mos Eisley cantina. The shot of the ruffian’s arm on the floor, severed by Ben’s blade, is a reference to a similarly severed arm, filmed in the same way, in Kurosawa’s Yojimbo.

The other major influence mentioned is The Searchers:

The scene in which Luke approaches the burned-out farm and finds his aunt and uncle murdered is shot in such a way that it echoes a similar scene in Ford’s film, in which the young hero also returns to his family’s farm to find the buildings burned and his aunt and uncle murdered. Like Luke, the hero of The Searchers is drawn into a relationship with a relentless father figure, bent on evil. And like Darth Vader, the father figure in The Searchers, played unforgettably by John Wayne, experiences a last-second moral regeneration. Like the Star Wars trilogy, The Searchers is essentially a quest story, one in which the son must ultimately redeem the father, and it also approaches the grandeur of myth.

The Wookieepedia lists some influences I was not aware of (or less aware of):

The climactic scene in which the Death Star is assaulted was modeled after the 1950s movie The Dam Busters, in which RAF Lancaster bombers fly along heavily defended reservoirs and aim “bouncing bombs” at German manmade dams in a bid to cripple the heavy industry of the Ruhr. Some of the dialogue in The Dam Busters is repeated in the Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope climax and in fact the cinematographer for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Gilbert Taylor, also filmed the Special Effects sequences in The Dam Busters.

Scenes from the Death Star assault are also reminiscent of the film Battle of Britain, particularly in showing the face of the pilot in the cockpit, and the radio dialogue between teams named after colors. Another inspiration comes from Battle of Britain‘s long combat scene near the end of the movie which is presented without dialogue or sound effects, but with a classical movie background.
[...]
Lucas has made mention of the film 633 Squadron directed by Walter Grauman when citing movies that inspired themes or elements in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The “trench run” in A New Hope wherein Luke flies his X-wing through a “trench” on the Death Star and destroys the ship was inspired, at least in small part, by the finale of 633 Squadron, which involves several Royal Air Force planes flying at low level up a fjord against heavy, ground-based anti-aircraft fire, to attack a factory located at the base of a cliff at the canyon’s end.

It also mentions one less pleasant influence:

The scene where Princess Leia gives Han and Luke medals is very reminiscent of a long scene in Leni Riefenstahl’s 1934 film Triumph of the Will. Both scenes have large and enthusiastic crowds seated in a shallow amphitheatre bounded by columns, with a low dais where the leader stands.

Of course, Star Wars shares many elements with Frank Herbert’s Dune too.

John Wayne’s 100th birthday was last Saturday, but I only got around to watching The Searchers almost a week later.

It’s arguably the greatest movie ever made — but I am not one of the people making that argument. Roger Ebert opens his review with elements that make the movie great:

John Ford’s ”The Searchers” contains scenes of magnificence, and one of John Wayne’s best performances. There are shots that are astonishingly beautiful. A cover story in New York magazine called it the most influential movie in American history.

But the movie is not unalloyed greatness; it’s quite uneven:

”The Searchers” indeed seems to be two films. The Ethan Edwards story is stark and lonely, a portrait of obsession, and in it we can see Schrader’s inspiration for Travis Bickle of ”Taxi Driver;” the Comanche chief named Scar (Henry Brandon) is paralleled by Harvey Keitel’s pimp named Sport, whose Western hat and long hair cause Travis to call him ”chief.” Ethan doesn’t like Indians, and says so plainly. When he reveals his intention to kill Debbie, Martin says ”She’s alive and she’s gonna stay alive!” and Ethan growls: ”Livin’ with Comanches ain’t being alive.” He slaughters buffalo in a shooting frenzy, saying, ”At least they won’t feed any Comanche this winter.” The film within this film involves the silly romantic subplot and characters hauled in for comic relief, including the Swedish neighbor Lars Jorgensen (John Qualen), who uses a vaudeville accent, and Mose Harper (Hank Worden), a half-wit treated like a mascot. There are even musical interludes. This second strand is without interest, and those who value ”The Searchers” filter it out, patiently waiting for a return to the main story line.

A few elements you’re unlikely to notice in a casual viewing:

• A significant portion of the film’s labyrinthine plot is revealed on a throwaway prop that most casual viewers rarely notice. Just before the Indian raid on the Edwards homestead, the tombstone that Debbie hides next to reveals the source of Ethan’s glaring hatred for Native Americans. The marker reads: “Here lies Mary Jane Edwards killed by Commanches May 12, 1852. A good wife and mother in her 41st year.” Sixteen years earlier, Ethan’s own mother was massacred by Comanches.
• The medal Ethan Edwards gives to Debbie is not a Confederate or Union Army medal. It is a French medal awarded to mercenary soldiers who fought between 1865 and 1867 for the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. This medal implies Ethan served in the French Mexican Expedition during his mysterious three year absence and also explains his fluency in Spanish.
• According to John Wayne in a 1974 interview, John Ford hinted throughout the movie that Ethan had had an affair with his brother’s wife, and was possibly the father of Lucy and Debbie. This meant Ethan’s thirst for vengeance stemmed not from the murder of his brother, but of the woman Ethan had loved. This was so subtle that many viewers at the time missed it altogether.

Wikipedia notes the real-life basis for the story:

The story of the original novel version of The Searchers is often said to have been inspired by the 1836 kidnapping of nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker by Comanche warriors who raided her family’s home at Fort Parker. She spent twenty-five years with the Comanche, married a war chief, and had three children, only to be “rescued” against her will by the Texas Rangers. James W. Parker, Uncle of Cynthia Ann, spent much of his life and fortune in what became an obsession of searching for her. This certainly matches the obsession of Ethan in the movie in searching for his niece, as James Parker did Cynthia.