7 Star Wars Scenes Deleted For The Dumbest Reasons
4. Han Solo Doesn't Shoot First Because George Lucas Thought He Was "John Wayne" - Star Wars
It's pretty well known at this point that Han Solo shot first during his confrontation with Rodian bounty hunter Greedo in the original Star Wars.
However, George Lucas then decided to go back and tinker with that moment a few times over the years, deleting what was once a perfectly fine sequence showing just how ruthless this charming smuggler could be when he needed to.
Why did the director foolishly decide to awkwardly have Solo dodge an added in blaster shot from Greedo in various re-release updates then?
Well, according to Lucas (via The Washington Post/Wired), after wondering whether the bloke who would eventually marry Princess Leia was a "cold-blooded killer" or "a cowboy" like "John Wayne", he ultimately opted for the latter.
And in Lucas' mind, if you were John Wayne, you didn't fire your pistol off first. You waited for your enemy to blast and then viciously murdered them soon after, of course.
As far as reasons behind deleting certain scenes go, this one is seriously dumb.
Solo's decision to initially pull the trigger first showed how dangerous this smuggler genuinely was, how he couldn't be trusted early on, and the growth his character experiences throughout the picture - going from unpredictable killer to Rebel Alliance hero by the end of the movie.
Erasing it just gifted the franchise one of its silliest looking moments.