60
The most interesting part of Elstree 1976 comes when these actors express ambivalence about their odd celebrity.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
Screen International by Charles Gant
Elstree 1976 entertainingly explores the world of the character actor and bit-part player.
70
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
The best parts of "Elstree," not surprisingly, are the war stories these nine men and one woman share, their vivid memories of a shoot one calls "as primitive as it gets."
38
Elstree 1976 is an amazing experience. I’m shocked that a documentary revisiting the making of “Star Wars” could be this boring.
80
The New York Times by Neil Genzlinger
"Star Wars” fans will, of course, love this film, but it’s also a thought-provoking exploration of the dawning of our current age.
50
It too often fails to examine how the long shadow cast by Star Wars affected its its background actors' lives.
75
Visually, Elstree 1976 is often striking, thanks to some haunting extreme close-ups of these actors’ Star Wars action figures.
75
The Playlist by Oliver Lyttelton
Without patronizing or condescending, it’s an examination of how fame can change us and haunt us, and of the complicated relationships that survivors of something like “Star Wars” can have with it.
75
The whole adds up to a charming portrait of the micro-fame and full, rich (not that rich) lives of the big actors who played little roles in the most carefully watched and memorized movie since “Citizen Kane.”
60
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Dalton
This is a genial, humane project with obvious fan appeal. But for anyone expecting a definitive behind-the-scenes film about the making of Star Wars, this is not the documentary you have been looking for.