#david acomba

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

Have you seen The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)?

Yes

No

Haven’t even heard of this movie

Voting ended onApr 20, 2025

[diabolikdiabolik]

Grave Misdemeanours aka Night Life (1989)

[harrisonarchive]

Photo 1 courtesy of Cooper Owen Auctions, photo 2 by Henry Grossman.

"I proposed filming one concert in this new, high definition video, where you could shoot and transfer to 35mm right away — and then do a satire of the music industry in between those numbers. [...] He just lit up. He said, ‘Absolutely, let’s do this!‘ It all made sense to him, the idea of breaking new ground both musically and filmically. ‘It’s not sacred, come on, it’s not that important.‘ The first order of business was to shoot one concert, and we set everything up for The Forum in Los Angeles. [...] Dylan saw a rough cut of the film later on and apparently told George that it should never see the light of day. That was how down the whole period was. He wanted to move on." - David Acomba (director), ‪George Harrison‬: Behind The Locked Door

Auctioned in 2014 by CooperOwen: George Harrison’s handwritten text for what appears to be the planned tour film/documentary that never materialized in full. (Some footage from the tour can be seen in the documentary Living In The Material World.)

George wrote: "Voice overs (re-write) 16 to 14 I assembled musicians I knew and respected — Andy Newmark - drummer Jim Keltner - drummer Willie Weeks - bass Ravi Shankar - the man who brought the sitar and Indian music to the world - with Alla Rakha and 15 great Indian musicians and singers. 26-27-31 Perhaps, in a strange way, it was the critics that helped bring the band closer together..... We certainly weren't that together for the first couple of weeks.The audiences may have come to see and hear George Harrison - an ex Beatle - Instead I was just another musician up on the stage - I suppose that confused some of the audience — but in spite of pressures — internal and external — we tried to continue as planned — tho during the tour Ravi was taken to hospital with an alleged heart attack — which made me realise we don’t control ‘the plan.’ All of us were deeply concerned for Ravi’s health - and the effect his absence would have on the spirit of the tour —" (x)

Q: "The footage of George's 'Dark Hoarse' tour [1974] is not easy to watch..." Olivia Harrison: "No, that was not fun to revisit. It was not a good time for George. He had a new manager who didn't know him very well. And this tour — 45 shows in less than two months — it was grueling. And it was not really what George was about. George had just organized the Ravi Shankar Music Festival in India. He'd produced his own album, the Splinter album. He was getting divorced. Everything was changing for him. If it was up to me I wouldn’t have gone there. But Marty [Scorsese] and [George and Olivia's son] Dhani convinced me. You have to have a balance, the dark and the light." - MOJO, Nov 2011

"[David Acomba] presented an edit of his tour movie to Harrison the following year, but 'he didn't want to go ahead with anything,' says Acomba. ‘He said the tour was such a drag for him and his voice was so bad he just couldn't face it. [Bob] Dylan saw the rough cut of the film later on and apparently told George that it should never see the light of day. That was how down the whole period was. He wanted to move on.' In 2007 Acomba recut his director's copy, and screened it for Olivia Harrison. Brief excerpts surfaced in the 2011 Martin Scorsese documentary Living In The Material World, and he hopes the entire film may one day be available. 'It's not really a piece of entertainment, it's a time capsule,' he says. 'It's a story of George and his music and the times he lived through. It was a pretty important period in his life, an amazing focus of different energies and crises coming at him. The film has a lot to say about all of that.'" - George Harrison‬: Behind The Locked Door (x)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

Those who have never heard of the Star Wars Holiday Special, are lucky. They will never be tempted to seek it out. They say it’s so bad that the entire cast and George Lucas himself disowned it, called it the kind of thing you use to clear out guests at a party. This must mean it’d be fun in a "so bad it's good" way… right?

Originally aired on CBS on November 17, 1978, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) wants to return home to celebrate Life Day with his wife Malla (Mickey Morton), father Itchy (Paul Gale) and son Lumpy (Patty Maloney). When Chewie and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) are spotted by the Empire, they're unable to let the Wookies know why they're being delayed. Searching for answers, the family contacts Luke (Mark Hamill in way too much makeup), Leia (Carrie Fisher, who looks as though she’s on drugs), C-3P0 (Anthony Daniels, who spares himself some embarrassment by wearing a mask), and R2-D2. And don't worry kids, Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones) will appear as well!

If I tell you this is one of the worst films I’ve ever seen, will you be persuaded to avoid it? Every second screams CHEAP. Although “screams” isn’t right. Screaming is loud and exciting and above all else, this movie is boring. You need the patience of a saint to make it all the way through. Not just any Saint, one that knows they’ll live to see their 1,000th birthday and still has at least 900 years to go.

Between the few, brief moments where Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford embarrass themselves by pretending they care about the hellish dialogue and "shoot me now" plot, we are treated to several short variety-show type segments, each of which makes you wonder if anyone involved ever saw, or even heard of Star Wars before. Ear-splitting songs, romantic subplots between creepy aliens you won’t care about, unconvincing sets, costumes and creatures, agonizingly long choreographed dance segments by acrobats that probably pictured this as their big break but became hated by their children instead; that’s what you get.

Some may claim that a short animated portion, the first appearance of fan-favourite Bobba Fett makes it all worth it. They’re either lying, disillusioned or have gone mad from the fumes emanating from this rotting waste. That “cult classic” bit? It’s nothing special. The animation is ok, the story is ok, the character designs are ok... but it doesn’t add anything to the characters or to the universe. It’s a penny at the bottom of a bucket of piss. Hardly worth the effort.

Words fail to express the despair that grows within you while watching. George Lucas, who wasn't involved in the creation of this special in any way, wishes he could smash every copy of it into bits. Unfortunately, the Internet means the Star Wars Holiday Special is never going away. There’s always going to be some fool who somehow becomes convinced this is “so bad it’s good”. No. It’s so bad it makes you wish you were dead. It makes you pray that George Lucas will invent a time machine, travel back to the past and kill you before you hit “Play”. (December 22, 2017)

[screencapsus]

Star Wars: Droids S00E04 "The Story of the Faithful Wookiee" (1978)

Originally part of The Star Wars Holiday Special, this short follows Chewbacca searching for a cure to the virus that put his friends to sleep. He encounters an unexpected ally: bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Star Wars: Droids S00E04 "The Story of the Faithful Wookiee" (1978)

[harrisonstories]

'On so many of these shows I've just about been able to stand up onstage, but the weaker I am the more I have to own up that personally as a human I just could not make it,' [George] said at the end of the tour. 'That's where my belief, my spiritual belief has become stronger and stronger, because the more I realise I can't do it, the more I get this surge of energy which upholds me. It's magic.' Was the tour a kind of prolonged spiritual firewalk? 'I never met a more tortured person in my life,' says David Acomba. 'Never. Between the material world and this other quest, this was the whole dichotomy of the tour, back and forth, back and forth.'

The Dark Horse Tour, George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door