6 Movies That Directly Influenced the Making of Star Wars

When it came to the creation of Star Wars, George Lucas took inspiration from many sources. Those sources included Edgar Rice's John Carter of Mars novels and Flash Gordon serials.

But, of course, there were also several movies from which Lucas took inspiration for his iconic franchise. In this piece, we'll look over six such examples and review them accordingly.

This is actually one of Lucas' own movies and is considered by many to be a classic sci-fi flick in its own right. Lucas built a world in which humanity appears to be controlled by some kind of dystopian bureaucracy, where robots serve as friendly faceless policemen.

The human populace is devoid of family ties, and freedoms and is controlled by mandatory drugs which cause obedience and reduce the sex drive. This is literally population control where reproduction is carefully managed.

The plot follows the title character “THX 1138” as he and his female “mate” try to escape the rat race of the future. Viewers discover how society functions as he rushes around discovering his true identity.

Lucas later applied this naming concept to Stormtroopers and the concept was more fully fleshed out in The Force Awakens when audiences learned Finn was only named as Poe refused to call him “FN-2187.”

For many a viewer, this was not new territory. Many sci-fi novels and movies like this one have covered similar ground. You have to wonder, however, how interesting this movie would have been to a fresh young mind in 1971.

Apparently, it wasn't initially a particularly popular movie but, following the release of Star Wars six years later, its popularity slowly started to increase as it was discovered by viewers of Lucas' masterpiece – it's now considered something of a cult movie.

If there's one gripe with this movie, it's that the last half an hour before the “big chase” scene is quite long and slow. While some points of discovery are quite chilling (his mate's organs appear to be recycled after she is put to death), it's a hard grind to get to the end.

Be warned, there are major spoilers from here on in…

The faceless robot Policeman gives up the chase of THX 1138 when he is ordered to do so because the allocated budget to capture him has been exceeded by six percent and it's considered cost-effective to let him go. It's a brilliant way to end the movie as the whole point of the story is to demonstrate population control as governed by bureaucracy.

It's a great movie and it's fun to see how Lucas was shaping up as a director. If you're a fan of sci-fi movies and are prepared to sit through a little bit of plodding along at points, it's definitely worth watching.

It was Kitbashed who noted how this movie had a significant influence on George Lucas.

It's a long war movie starring the impeccable Gregory Peck. Peck plays Mallory as he leads a band of soldiers to seek and destroy giant guns that overlook a strait of water that is a crucial strategic asset during World War II.

The idea is that Peck's mission is to destroy these guns to allow the US warships a safe passage through the strait to rescue 3000 soldiers marooned on an island. The Germans are planning to attack that island and kill the men so timing is crucial.

The destruction of said guns is the key to everything. Does That Seem Familiar?

Yes, Lucas was indeed influenced by this concept and adapted it somewhat for the finale of Star Wars. The Death Star (with its supergun) must be destroyed in time before the Rebel base is blown to smithereens.

That's pretty much the only influence The Guns of Navarone appears to have on Star Wars, but it's undoubtedly a significant one.

It is a fantastic movie. Peck as Mallory is an inspired character just oozing guile and brains against some pretty hostile German troops. That man just possesses a cool-as-hell gravitas.

There are some great conflicts between the characters and their German opposites and they provide a great discussion about the evils of war and the things that men (and women) do in times of great stress.

Q.E.D indeed, David Niven, Q.E.D indeed.

Metropolis

It's very enjoyable (there are no bad movies on this list) once you get used to the narrative of a silent movie. It has an engaging story – which is basically the classic tale of a brave individual up against a giant corporation.

For its time, the special effects were brilliant.

So the Star Wars takeaway is the inspiration for C-3PO. Metropolis features a robot called Maria, who is a Maschinenmensch robot. Concept designer Ralph McQuarrie used the look of this robot as part of his initial design work for C-3PO and the rest is history.

The Hidden Fortress

The Hidden Fortress is arguably the film that had the most influence on George Lucas – and it's been saved for last here.

The name Akira Kurosawa may ring a bell with movie aficionados. He's considered one of the great filmmakers and his work is hailed by many film critics. He caught Lucas' eye while he was at film school and that was that.

Let's take a step back and have a look at Star Wars for a moment – and let's first consider the plot. It's a story seen through the eyes of two bumbling robots who help a princess fight an evil overlord. That's almost the story you'll see if you watch The Hidden Fortress. It's the tale of two bumbling idiots as they help an exiled Princess take on an evil General. Lucas arguably lifted the whole plot from it.

He also nabbed Kurosawa's scene wipes and sprinkled them throughout his own movie, making them his own (as the general American, not the rest of the world) didn't watch Japanese movies.

But it's not just The Hidden Fortress that Lucas borrowed from. He took many ideas from Kurosawa's movies:

• The famous fight in which a certain alien gets his arm cut off in the Cantina by Obi-Wan Kenobi is straight from Yojimbo.
• The hiding-under-the-floor trick is a lift from Yojimbo's sequel, Sanjuro.
• The Empire Strikes Back features a lot of the plot and imagery from come from the Oscar-winning Dersu Uzala.
• There's a moment in Revenge of the Sith when Yoda rides in a gunship. He runs his hand over his head, sadly pondering how the Jedi Council's request for Anakin to spy on Palpatine has riled Anakin. This mimics the character Kambei Shimada’s motion in Seven Samurai, one of Kurosawa's most famous movies.
• Rian Johnson also continued this Kurosawa influence in The Last Jedi.

Other Movie Influences on Star Wars

There are plenty of other noteworthy movies – including Ben Hur, The Dam Busters, and Lawrence of Arabia – that have had some direct influence or inspiration on George Lucas' movies.

• For Ben Hur, the comparison between the chariot race and the pod race is unmistakable.
• The Dam Busters features a bomb being landed in an impossible place, like Luke's Force-inspired torpedo blast shot to destroy the Death Star.
• Lawrence of Arabia serves as the inspiration for the sand backdrop of Tatooine. We also understand that Lawrence of Arabia director David Lean studied The Searchers for inspiration on how to film landscapes.
• One more Lawrence of Arabia reference was snuck into Attack of the Clones. That part where Padmé and Anakin “walk and talk” is filmed in exactly the same place (Plaza de España in Seville) as where a similar scene happens in Lean's movie.
• Seven Samurai (Kurosawa again) casts a large shadow over Star Wars – while it's arguable that the concept of Jedi came from John Carter of Mars, the way the Jedi carry themselves with a noble dignity arguably comes from this movie.
• The Cantina scene in A New Hope was probably inspired by the events that happened in Rick's Cafe in Casablanca (and also from Yojimbo). And Han Solo's use of “kid” when he talks to Luke is possibly borrowed straight from Humphrey Bogart's character. Speaking of Bogart, have you ever wondered how the Millenium Falcon got its name?
• The medal ceremony at the end of A New Hope is apparently inspired by the Nazi propaganda movie Triumph of the Will. Indeed, Nazism inspired much of Star Wars. Think of Darth Vader's costume design, that speech General Hux gave in The Force Awakens and of course, even the name Stormtrooper was lifted straight out of Hitler's playbook.

This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.