Star Wars at 40: The Force is still strong

How a low-budget 'indie flick' became an influential classic

LOS ANGELES - The date was 1977, and no one had yet worn a copper bikini to bed, made "whooshing" lightsaber noises with a broomstick or yelled "May the Fourth be with you" at strangers.

But that was all about to change as a 33-year-old Californian filmmaker named George Walton Lucas Jr. prepared to release his third feature - a far-fetched, slightly corny intergalactic saga of good and evil starring a sulky farm boy with daddy issues.