Star Wars Memories from Mexico

By Saúl Arellano Montoro

(Editor's note: This article first appeared in the June, 2002 issue of Universo Star Wars, the magazine of the Official Star Wars Fan Club in Mexico. Written by then managing editor of the magazine, Saúl Arellano Montoro now freelances as a movie analyst -- see his web magazine here -- and wrote this piece commemorating the 25th anniversary of Star Wars in Mexico. The following is a selection of translated excerpts from his original story, titled "It's been 25 years since Star Wars...and it only seems like yesterday". For other content about the Mexican Star Wars experience, see this link here.)

It was 1977.

As kids, we knew about new movie releases from newspapers, TV, and theatrical trailers. We had heard things about Star Wars such as it's "The greatest movie ever!" and it's "A great action space adventure", but nothing more. We still had to wait a few months before finding out what it was all about. The paperback novel was available from Argos-Vergara, although it was a limited printing. However, many people bought the book trying to find out more about the movie.

Time went by and autumn arrived. In November, the 8th International Film Festival began, bringing 13 films of which Star Wars was among them. On the morning of November 23rd , Latino Movie Theater was already crowded, with long lines turning around the block, even after it had been announced in newspapers that they were sold out. Needless to say, scalpers made a great deal by raising ticket prices from 20.00 pesos at the window to 200.00 on the street.

Twentieth Century Fox executives, as well as Organización Ramírez, owners of the theater, were very pleased with all this, since the first-day earnings of 250,000 pesos justified their decision to release the movie as soon as possible. That same day, El Heraldo de México published an article by Mauricio Peña, saying:

"From all the movies we had this year in the Film Festival, none of them had raised so much expectation as Star Wars...Sci-fi fans will be pleased by the revival of this genre with a film that can still astonish after seeing it several times."

On November 23rd, El Heraldo de México had a note about the press conference Twentieth Century Fox and Organización Ramírez staged in which they announced the nationwide release of Star Wars on December 23rd, as well as the remodeling of La Raza movie theater in order to improve the sound system to the high quality standards required by the presentation.

Exhibitions regularly began at 4:00 pm and the last one was at 10:00 pm; however, due to great demand, many movie theaters had to be opened at 10:00 am and closed after midnight. Ticket scalpers inflated the window ticket price ten-fold, and would be inside the theater saving whole rows. The candy stands couldn't even satisfy public demand.

In 1978, Star Wars products began coming slowly to us: Besides the novel, which, by the way, had become a national bestseller, all sorts of T-shirts and posters were filling kids' rooms. National magazines published many articles about the movie and the phenomenon, and Mexican Novaro Publishing House reprinted the American Marvel comics series. The Coca Cola Co., by then a Star Wars licensee, launched a soda caps album; these caps had images underneath and one could stick them onto a collector's board. There were trading cards with stone-like chewing gum; the movie's illustrated book from Norma Publishing House from Spain; and, of course, a stamp album made in Spain that is memorable for all the stamp imagery being printed in reverse. There was also the disco version of the movie's theme by Meco, complete with sound effects. Oh, those seventies days!!!

We still had to wait almost a year for the toys to be launched, so many tried to get them from abroad; or were tempted by the illegal bootleg figures available in the street markets. [Toy company] Lili Ledy was preparing the great set of 12-inch figures so highly valued nowadays, as well as the smaller 3 3/4-inch versions that resembled those from the U.S.

Through all these years, Star Wars has been an important part of our memories; it's a common topic in regular conversations and has made people some very good friends; there are many women who still remember being in love with Luke Skywalker. Many tell stories about the many times they went to the see the movie, while others regret the day their mothers thought it was time to get rid of those "old dolls" and gave them away.

Star Wars has been the origin of many great friendships through the years, including marriages. And let's not forget the non-official clubs created all over the country since 1993 -- since the first one born in Puebla to the last in Cancún, there are more than 20 in Mexico [as of 2002], and still growing. And it has created such an interest that the two last national conventions [prior to 2002] gathered more than 16,000 people!

Star Wars is a story that has reached our own Mexican folklore. Haven't you ever seen piñatas made out of Star Wars characters? Most of us have dressed as Star Wars characters at parties. And if you ask anybody about Darth Vader or Princess Leia, they are sure to have heard of them. Star Wars belongs to both the old and new generations, and still causes chills every time those words appear on the screen: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

(The author also included a list of the seven theaters in Mexico that played Star Wars):