Wednesday, 12 July 2023

'JEDI' AT 40: INTRODUCING JABBA THE HUTT!


Deep in the heart of Jabba's palace on Tatooine, our unlikely droid pals are finally introduced to the Hutt slimo supreme within his throne room fantasy land of greed, power and ambition, flanked on either side by his dancing pleasure girl Oola (dancer Femi Taylor), and the creepy Kowakian Monkey Lizard called Salacious Crumb (operated by actor/puppeteer Tim Rose).

The first time we see the grotesque but living up to his evildom Jabba on screen in Return of the Jedi, in an arena atmospherically captured by top UK cinematographer Alan Hume (with support from Alec Mills), Stuart Freeborn's incredible skills at realizing this bulky and fascinatingly gross creature, from Phil Tippet's crazy but brilliant maquette, are firmly cemented, indeed it proves itself as a deliberate, direct tribute requested by George Lucas to the classic B/W film baddie Sydney Greenstreet and other odious baddies of similar ilk within the realms of Hollywood noir.  







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