Customer Reviews

The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Length:: 1:03 Mins

This book is finally out after being postponed for a few times. It's actually 362 pages, slightly thicker than the previous book, The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film, which is already a massive book. It seems that no paperback edition is available yet at the launch.

Once again, I'm marveled by the amount of information packed into the book by author J.W. Rinzler. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of research and effort is needed to put everything together, after the movie was screened 30 years ago.

The book details the arduous journey in the making of the film from the first story conference up to screening, and to the film awards won after that. The writing is excellent, filled with all sorts of stories and quotes. You get to read about the technical aspect of creating the movie, the little tricks used to create something believable on screen - see how they use fiber optics for lighting spaceships, painting the backgrounds, fixing up Yoda, and much more including production diaries of how they shoot.

The pages are also loaded with concept art, sketches, storyboards, memos, film stills and photos. All well reproduced, very detailed. There are lots of fun stuff happening behind the scenes captured on camera.

While the book is pricey, yes, it's well worth the money. With so much material, it will take more than one sitting to go through them.

Definitely a "must have" for Star Wars fans.

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Note that in the previous book, they took out some content from the paperback edition. Not sure if it's going to happen here again.

Having purchased the Making of Star Wars book when it was first released, my expectations were high for this Empire Strikes Back edition. But Jonathan Rinzler has again delivered an account of the making of the film that is way, way beyond anything that has been done before. The book contains literally hundreds of photos I've never seen before, facts I have never heard, and behind-the scenes insights that are priceless. All this is new to me even though I already have just about every Empire Strikes Back book ever published.

This book focuses less on the evolution of the Star Wars universe and characters, as this was well covered in the Star Wars book, so there is more room for what I find most compelling - the story of the actual artwork creation, production and post-production. I think this book is a little stronger in that respect than the previous one. I found the sketches of Darth Vader's castle (yes) particularly fascinating. Beautifully printed, well laid out and expertly researched, this is a must-own for the serious Star Wars fan or those interested in the business and process of filmmaking in general. The cover price of $85 is admittedly very steep, but the Amazon price (as of this writing) is more like $50, making it well worth it.

In short a massive undertaking and a beautiful book. A Making of Return of the Jedi book of similar quality is hopefully in development, and I eagerly await the results.

I picked up this book at the local book store...started reading it and couldn't put it down. There's lots of great art, matte paintings, and model shots that I've never seen before. There's also quite a few photos of the actors and crew on set which were a lot of fun to look at. I think one of my favorite things about this book however, is the honest portrayal (and sometimes word for word transcripts) of the conversations between the Director Irvin Kershner and his cast...Hamill, Fisher and Ford. There's several pages devoted to the filming of the carbon freezing scene which is an absolutely terrific read. You really get a good understanding of the actors' personalities while seeing the struggles that the Director and Producers went through to bring this masterpiece to the screen.

The book is a very good quality and seems well bound. The artwork and pictures are printed very well with good color and resolution. All in all, this is definitely a must have for Empire fans. Enjoy it.

Let me start off by saying that The Empire Strikes Back is one of my favorite movies of all time. As I am writing this review I am about halfway through the book, but I feel somewhat compelled to write a review due to the recent passing of the director, Irvin Kershner.

One of the included quotations from Kershner regarding his approach to the making of "Empire" illustrates why this movie is so well-loved by Star Wars fans, and in my opinion reflects what exactly was so frustrating to many fans about the Prequels:

"The thing that you learn in directing is that when you're on the floor, no matter how complex the shooting is...you have to remain absolutely sensitive to every nuance of the behavior of the people around you. Because, ultimately, if you don't keep in mind the overall humanity, then the machine takes over and suddenly all you have are technically fine shots, technically good performances. The story's being told, but something's lacking, something mysterious, indefinable." --Irvin Kershner


"Empire" had this "indefinable humanity" in spades, and the book really shows how the director was able to craft such a tale. Kershner really played with the tensions between Lucas and Vader, and between Leia and Han. He (along with Frank Oz and Mark Hamill) made us all believe there is a soul underneath that puppet (Yoda). The lack of this "indefinable humanity" in the Prequels is what made me so sad about how the those movies ultimately came out (but perhaps this should better be saved for another review).


Back to the book: I highly highly recommend this. From the inclusion of amazing archival behind-the-scenes photos, gorgeous concept art and sketches (most notably by Ralph McQuarrie), to in-depth first-hand accounts by most of the important cast and crew, it really brings you so close to what everyone went through in the making of the movie.

Another top notch making of book from Mr. Rinzler. Incredible behind the scenes photos-- I thought I had seen them all after 30 years being a fan of this movie. Terrific artwork-- concept drawings, storyboards, models, you name it. The narrative is terrific-- you get not only the behind the scenes info during filming, you also get a very interesting look at how Lucasfilm was created on the business side-- I didn't think I'd find this interesting, but it was one of the best parts. Also covers those years between the first two movies and the speculation about what the "Star Wars 2" would look like-- it was really fun to remember a time when we didn't know the rest of the story. In this case, even George didn't know yet. Sadly, it also brings home how bad the Prequel Trilogy is-- George stopped listening to his own advice-- get someone else to write the screenplay and to direct. But I digress... Thank you Mr. Rinzler for your exhaustive research!

Wish list for Jedi: please put the narrative into electronic form. Reading this book is a physical challenge-- I would have loved to have been able to thumb through the narrative on my Kindle.

Well, this review will be short. If you are a fan of Star Wars and of how cinema is done, you simply need this book. This book contains everything to show you and explain why The Empire Strikes Back became the most beloved movie of the Star Wars saga. You get notes, old pictures, fun comments, etc. But also, there are some old ideas about what characters would be, what planet would be visited, it's actually fun to see how the saga was building itself one step at a time instead of being completely thought out right at the beginning. Some decisions were made here that changed cinema forever!

Simply brilliant photos and nice insights from the making of episode V.
I'm tempted to say it's a must have for any true Star Wars fan :)

There's a lot to get through but I haven't been able to find fault yet.

It was a real hard decision for me to order it but as soon as I got it I knew I would love it.
I am not finished reading the book just performed a real thorough overview.
Lots of details, stories and pictures.
I think this book takes the reader to the time and place of the making of the movie.
Real built sets, stages, costumes, models, creating aliens and the entire struggle to make the whole movie believable.
You can see all the hard work behind the great success.
I would love to read a similar book about the making of The Return of the Jedi.

My son's favorite Star Wars Movie is "The Empire Strikes Back" so when I saw this book I knew that he would enjoy it. Many fans consider this the best movie of the series and if you are or know someone who is a fan this is a wonderful purchase. Tons of information.

Hard to do a review like this that doesn't sound like forced, paid-for gushing. But I'll spare all the examples and longwinded "whys" and simply say that if you, like me, love this movie and grew up wondering about how they made it (and the stories behind Yoda, Boba Fett, the Imperial Walkers, tauntauns, how they built a life-size Millennium Falcon and a Dagobah set, etc.), spend the $53 and get this book.

I've had it since Christmas Eve and I've not put it down. If it was just the text part, it would be worth the price. But the fact that it's packed to the gills with photos, drawings, script excerpts, behind-the-scene/on-set photos, models and prototypes, costume sketches, candid photos of Lucas, Kirshner, Ford and all the rest, etc. just puts it over the top.

If you're a true fan of this movie, you're crazy if you don't get this book. You're missing out on one of the most interesting "making of" stories out there!