In 1942, before Ronald Reagan became president, he starred in a movie that helped inspire ‘Star Wars’

In 1942, before Ronald Reagan became president, he starred in a movie that helped inspire ‘Star Wars’

There’s no bridge between Old and New Hollywood starker than John Williams’s stirring score for Star Wars. Cinema’s Golden Age felt increasingly distant as the 1970s wound down. The romance, valour and moral clarity that once ruled the box office had been upended by the counterculture and a new generation of moviegoers shaped by the era’s political radicalism. The studio system suddenly had next to no understanding of the market, and eagerly loo…