Elstree 1976

The timing of this movie couldn't be better. With The Force Awakens hype at a feverish pitch, this nostalgic look back at the stories of ten individuals whose acting jobs during the summer of 1976 forever changed their lives. No one knew it at the time, but this American Sci-Fi project they were hired for would go on to be one of the highest grossing franchises in the history of cinema. While none of these actors has found worldwide success in film or had their life cut tragically short, Elstree 1976 is a touching story about their common brush with fame as pioneers in the Star Wars universe. If you're a fan of the 1977 classic, you will love this film. If you're not a big fan, but appreciate a great character driven documentary, this would also be for you. There is enough here to keep everyone happy as we travel back a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

I'll make my review of this film short and sweet and without much care to finesse the details. I usually like documentaries about people, and a movie about the extras of Star Wars should have been right up my alley. Unfortunately, the film focused on the lives of few extras, some of whom were interesting and some of whom were not. I found a few of the anecdotes of working on the actual film or conventions amusing but there was an awful lot of rambling on by people who I could care less about. I could care less about some guy playing squash with Kiera Knightly's father, or about the guy who had a backache and ended up taking too much Valium. While I often find the stories of regular people interesting,this put far too much focus on people telling mundane details of their lives and careers. A better movie would have been made by interviewing more people and including more interesting details, or alternatively, to follow the lives of one who had a particular unique story or path of this life. You might like this if it covers one of your very favorite favorites, but if you want something more than just filler, i don't recommend it.

Well, after reading the pouty petulance of half a dozen butt-hurt sci-fi nerds in this forum, I figured a grown-up ought to weigh in.

This is a great movie. Yeah, it has "Star Wars" in the deck. No, it isn't really about Star Wars. It has that in common with life.

Elstree 1976 has a novel premise: let's sit down and talk with several people who had uncredited bit parts in one of biggest smash hits in history. What is it like to have had a tiny, expendable role in a huge cultural event?

In other words, it's not really about the movie. It's more about that old Patricia Rozema line: "Isn't life the strangest thing you've ever seen?" This is a meditation on living, working, hoping, striving, failing, changing your mind, and growing old. The interviewees are engaging, funny, personable, and wholly aware they're "nobody". And a little bemused that anybody wants their autograph, or to interview them. And refreshingly grateful for that, every last one.

In sum, Elstree 1976 is a pleasant evening spent with people not much older than those of us who saw Star Wars first-run, talking about things people our age can understand.

I like Star Wars. I went into this expecting another rehash of Star Wars lore, which would have been mildly entertaining. What I found was something much rarer than that. If you're more than half an inch deep, you'll appreciate it.

As a lifelong Star Wars fan I sat down and watched this DVD with great anticipation but other than a few positives it unfortunately fell way below my expectations and was very disappointing. As the name of the title suggests ..... Elstree, I was hoping to get an insight into the studio and get a better understanding of what it was like in 1976 working on the original film set with some behind the scenes original footage / photos etc but it didn't offer that. Having said that, I appreciate that the film was focusing mainly on the original extras and supporting actors as opposed to the studio itself and listening to each of their interviews there was some interesting stories particularly Dave Prowse but overall it just seemed to drag on and sadly became quite boring. Most of what they had to say was about what they did before been in Star Wars and what they did after. It including their appearances in the conventions which was one of the few highlights. This film had so much potential but I feel it was simply put together cheaply and in a hurry which is such a shame. If you are a genuine Star Wars fan you will find some parts of it interesting but in my opinion it's not one of the best documentary on Star Wars you will ever see.

Various bit players and extras from 'Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope' (1977) talk about their lives before and after the movie. Some of the filming took place at Elstree Studios. There are stories from the set and the hierarchy that these minor actors find themselves with the fans. This is really only compelling for Star Wars fans. The bits of stories about these actors are not that compelling. It does paint a picture of post-war Britain and there is surprisingly quite a few Canadian connections. The movie should really concentrate much more on the set stories as well as the fans and conventions afterwards. Those are the money and has the most connection to Star Wars. That's what's important and not the random life stories of these minor actors.