8 Major Cinematic Influences On Star Wars: A New Hope

The Searchers

If 2001: A Space Odyssey gave A New Hope the aesthetics of outer space, the films of John Ford donated the aesthetics of the earth. Lucas has cited Ford’s The Searchers in particular as influential on the design of the desert planet Tatooine, where Luke is raised. As with 2001: A Space Odyssey, simply watching the two films back to back with a view to the aesthetic will establish just how influential Ford was on Lucas’s vision.

The Searchers lends its expansive desert vistas to Tatooine, as well as the contrast between the close, interior environments of Luke’s family farm and the external wasteland without. The journey around the desert wasteland further references westerns in general and The Searchers in particular, as when R2-D2 is set upon by Tusken raiders, who are none too subtle in their parallels with the stereotyped Indians of Ford westerns. The death of Luke’s aunt and uncle also reference the destruction of the homestead in The Searchers, Luke’s rage paralleling the rage of John Wayne when he discovers his friends murdered.