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I don't know at what point the elements from "The Searchers" came into it (you are clearly better versed in the minutiae of Lucasiana than I am) but I think in the final product it's pretty obvious - we've gone over this before elsewhere, but I got sh!t else to do today.
The Searchers was a big influence, especially the Tusken Raiders (the settlers call them the derogatory "Sand People" to show their disdain), but it's subtle in ANH. In Attack of the Clones, Tattooine takes on an obviously more Death Valley look, and Anakin's approach on the Tusken camp is shot-for-shot from The Searchers.
The first draft of Empire Strikes Back was written by Leigh Bracket, the screen writer who wrote The Searches; however, Lucas eventually rejected her take on the Han/Leia relationship, and hired Lawrence Kasdan to re-write it.
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He spends the rest of the movie searching for a kidnapped female relative (nice bit of slight variation here - in The Searchers, the girl isn't his sister, although he feels like she is - in Star Wars, the girl is his sister, although he doesn't know it.)
In an early version of the script, Luke is looking for his father on the Death Star. Leia doesn't come into the picture until almost the final draft.
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And niftily, Martin Pawley is 1/8 Comanche while Luke is 1/2 Darth Vader.
The original inspiration for Vader is the wounded samurai in Hidden Fortress who lets Makabe and the Princess escape. He was wounded and disgraced by Makabe, and holds a serious grudge because of it, just like Obi-Wan is the reason Vader has to wear that suit, and he holds a grudge for it. Vader is always spouting off about Obi-Wan. "Your powers are weak, old man."; "Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. His failure is now complete." etc...
However, originally, Vader was a regular guy. They developed the suit as a way for him to travel between ships, and when that idea was scrapped, the suit was so cool they decided to have him wear it all the time.
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think it's even arguable that the Comanche ambush of the posse is a bit like the raid on the Death Star, especially when they pilots fly into the canyon on their way to the target compared to when the posses get surrounded and make a break for the river.
I wouldn't say that. If you ever seen the Myth and Magic tour, they show you the original WW2 footage Lucas spliced together as a mock-up of the Death Star battle. It was more of homage to WW2 dogfights than anything else.