Return of the Jedi – 1983 (WINNER)
This film is part of the iconic Star Wars franchise, a series of films that are known for, among other things, their exciting action and amazing special effects. In this third installment, we get the huge slug-like creature, Jabba the Hut, the giant monster, the Rancor, a high-speed chase through a dense forest on flying motorcycles, an epic space battle, an epic lightsaber battle, and… Ewoks.
I can’t really fault the film’s special effects for the cute, merchandisable teddy bears that could defeat the forces of the mighty Imperial Empire with literal sticks and stones. Director George Lucas originally wanted them to be Wookies, which would have made so much more sense, but he determined that Chewbacca’s people were far too intelligent for what Lucas wanted in these unlikely allies.
But the other creatures we got were much more complex than the short people in bear suits. Jabba was a massive puppet controlled by a team of six puppeteers, cables, air bladders, and other physical mechanics. He looked really amazing, but his only failing was his mouth. It was fine as long as he wasn’t talking. He had a working tongue and his lips could make small, almost imperceptible movements. But like all puppets, his lips could not move enough to believably shape his words. I remember watching this movie as a child and wondering at the realism of his appearance, and yet the failed illusion of his speaking.
The speeder chase through the forest of Endor was amazingly portrayed. I went to the ILM website and found the following blurb. “Rather than build a miniature forest and film Leia’s Endor chase with motion control cameras, ILM had Garret Brown – who had invented the Steadicam – walk through a redwood forest near Eureka, California while shooting a frame every few seconds. ILM then ran the film backwards at twenty-four frames per second, which increased the apparent speed more than five thousand percent. Optical compositing sent Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) – filmed on a blue screen stage – speeding through the forest.”
The lightsaber battle was faster paced and more exciting than we had seen in the first two Star Wars films. But at the end of the battle, we got to see the Emperor shoot blue lightning from his hands in an attempt to kill Luke Skywalker. And then when Darth Vader turned on him and threw him down one of those bottomless shafts that the Franchise is so fond of, the resulting ghostly explosion that accompanied his death looked really cool!
But the exciting space battle and the subsequent destruction of the half-completed Death Star was really the climax of the movie. There were ships of all sizes that filled every inch of the screen with the quick and complex chaos of a real battle, which made for a very exciting sequence, the likes of which had never been seen before! The whole scene must have been a nightmare to choreograph. But unfortunately, despite the perfection of all these visual effects, Return of the Jedi’s Oscar win was nothing more than a give-away. It was the only film nominated.