A Gallery of 100 Vintage Color Photographs of Behind the Scenes From the Making of the Film 'Star Wars'

George Lucas's Star Wars saga first wowed audiences back in 1977, and since then the lightsabers, Jedi Knights and Death Stars have become firmly embedded in the pop culture parlance.

After the 1973 success of American Graffiti, filmmaker George Lucas made the fateful decision to pursue a longtime dream project: a space fantasy movie unlike any ever produced. Lucas envisioned a swashbuckling SF saga inspired by the Flash Gordon serials classic American westerns, the epic cinema of Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa, and mythological heroes. Its original title: The Star Wars.

The rest is history, and how it was made is a story as entertaining and exciting as the movie that has enthralled millions for more than thirty years.

Here's a gallery of 100 rare color photographs of behind the scenes from the making of the film Star Wars.