Who would've thought that a cue from Psycho, of all films, would end up in Star Wars ? Well, it did, here's the how and where of it.
Kurosawa was an obvious influence on Star Wars, but Psycho? From The Making of Star Wars (p266):
Hirsch did something similar as they were creating the temp track for Star Wars. "The scene where they pop out of the hatch in the Falcon, I laid in a very famous piece of Psycho music there," he says. "It was a three-note motif that Scorsese had insisted that Benny use in Taxi Driver. It was a dark, ominous three-note motif. Curiously enough, Johnny—I don't know if he did it deliberately or what—but it's now incorporated into his cue for that moment in the film. He's got the very same notes that appear in Psycho. they appear in Taxi Driver—and now they're in Star Wars.
WWII was an enormous influence on all kids of the 50s and 60s, and Lucas was no exception. From the general good vs evil nature of the conflict to the specifics of war epics like The Guns of Navarone and air-heroics of The Dam Busters and 633 Squadron, it seems entirely possible that Star Wars would never have existed if not for the war.
With a career stretching almost 60 years, Akira Kurosawa remains one of the most influential directors in the history of the medium. The pinnacle of his popularity however was perfectly timed with a batch of impressionable USC students ready to take on the world, and his impact on George Lucas in particular is the stuff of legends.
