“Star Wars” The First Time

May 25th, 1977, I went to the Cooper Theater in Denver.  It was a Wednesday, so tickets before 5pm were a just a dollar.  "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was supposed to be playing, but it was stuck in post production. "Star Wars" was the fill in and the rest is movie history.

Let's take a trip in the "Way Back Machine" to 1977.  I saw "Star Wars" at the Cooper theater in Denver.  The first showing was at 3pm and since movies before 5pm were discounted (only a dollar), a bunch of my friends and I decided to go.

The Cooper Theater was the first of three Cinerama theaters built by the Cooper Foundation in the early-1960’s. Known as the Golden Triangle, the three theaters were located in Denver, Omaha, and Minneapolis. Complete with massive screens and the latest sound technology, all three were designed to exhibit films made in the 3-strip Cinerama process.

The screen was 108 feet wide, 35 feet high and the auditorium held 815 seats.  It was huge.  For some reason, I loved being in the front row, so I got in and snagged a seat, dead center, front row. The big letters came across the screen and then the Battle Cruiser. Movies like I knew them were over.  I watched "Star Wars" at the Cooper theater at least 25 more times. I drug friends to see it, I took dates to see it. Funny, now that I think of it, none of the dates I took ever went out on a date with me again.

"Star Wars" was incredible, the story, the effects, the music. I bought the soundtrack to "Star Wars" on 8-Track tape. I suddenly realized, I'm a total geek.  But this total geek got to be there the first time "Star Wars" came around.

Tell me about the first time you saw "Star Wars."