I’m wondering if a bootleg print from the stolen footage, paired with other scenes from legit prints to fill it out, might have contained the Biggs scene.
How old were you when you saw this print, and where in the country did you live?
I was ~9 at this drive-in.
Sis was 14; I doubt she remembers, likely having been distracted by her friend asking a question at that moment.
And don’t forget the classroom scene at the end where Leia comes in and she’s a kid again, too!
Considering that:
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Photos and book versions of this scene are known to have existed at the time;
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People are known to have conflated things in their memory before (Mandela effect)
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Despite long-standing rumors, no “odd edit” versions of the original Star Wars have ever been shown to exist
…it’s safe to assume that all these recollections of having seen such scenes in 1977 are likely false. Unless a copy of the film that can be indisputably dated to 1977 is found, that shows these scenes, those who recall them will simply have to accept that they are mistaken.
Conversely, those who have been saying none of these scenes were ever part of the film should acknowledge they are mistaken.
The two sides are not equivalent.
I’m not sure what you mean by that. Were they filmed? Yes, of course, some of them have even shown up in the later editions. Photos exist, and were used in other media.
But there’s no evidence, other than memories almost 45 years old, that these scenes were used in any copy of the film released in 1977. And when considering the amount of time devoted to Star Wars by fans in all that time, if evidence were available, it’s a safe bet that it would have been found by now.
The burden of proof clearly lies on those claiming they saw these scenes back then, and so far they have entirely failed to meet that burden. Barring further evidence, it’s perfectly reasonable to dismiss their recollections as nothing more than conflating two memories together.
Disregarding the absence or addition of scenes, were the prints received by drive-ins different from those received by other theaters?
I saw it the first week. None of the scenes were part of the movie.
It’s unlikely that there were different versions in different theaters. The studio made the prints for distribution from a master. It would be expensive and pointless to vary them. A theatre could cut out scenes, but why?
There are official lists of what changes were made before, during, and after release in 1977, but they are all minor things like audio improvements or slight tightening of cuts. There’s no way a print was released including this scene without an official record, or being mentioned in this amazing and exhaustive book by JW Rinzler (RIP).
Do not trust your memory. A HUGE portion of what you remember didn’t happen that way.
Today is the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Remember what you were doing when you heard? There’s about a one in three chance that memory is totally wrong.
Given that, I struggle to believe a memory of a movie watched in 1977 is very reliable.
I remember accurately what I was doing on 911, and I noticed (probably) every change in Star Wars in the 1980 re-release. My momeory is fine.
And the Biggs scene was never there.
Typically drive-ins got the same prints but last because the stronger lamp would pillow the frames. As RealityChuck has said, there was no motive for making the scenes different as a print but I have seen scenes clipped.
When I saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid the first time, the scene where Butch is watching the salesman extol bicycles as the way of the future was clipped, possibly due to damage. When he shows up to pedal Etta around to a stupid BJ Thomas pop song, it was very confusig – where in hell did the bike come from?
The second time, definitely due to damage, the start of the Pinkerton chase was clipped. Their train pulls up to a stop and suddenly the gang is running for their lives. I therefore have never seen all of that movie in a theater.
I was reading a thread on the SDMB. When I saw the title, I thought “Terrorist attack on the WTC? That’s old news, why is someone asking about that now?”, because I was remembering the truck bomb from years earlier.
This scene?
Wow, even now I haven’t seen some of those.
The Gilligan hat! I’m glad they excised those scenes.
Another woman in the SW universe? With LINES? Can’t have that! (My alternate theory- that’s Rey’s mom. Better than anything in canon, that’s for sure.)
Nit pick: the events of the entire movie take, what, a couple days max? How could Biggs get off planet, find the rebellion, end up on Yavin IV, become established and trusted by the Rebellion in that short a time? It’s actually better they left those scenes out. And Mr. “I knew your father”. When? How?
When that scene (with Red Leader) was added in, for the “Special Editions” in 1997, part of his line about Luke’s father was not included (there’s a jump-cut, partially disguised by someone passing in front of the camera, to conceal it).
IIRC, the original, full line has Red Leader saying something about him having met Luke’s father “when I was just a boy.” And, of course, that doesn’t really fit with how old the actor playing Red Leader was (presumably in his late 30s or 40s), versus how the Prequels came together, with Anakin only being about 22 when he became Darth Vader, and only 41 at the time of A New Hope.
Presumably, he met Anakin at some point in the latter stages of the Clone Wars, when he (Red Leader) was a young pilot, and before Anakin became Vader, but I don’t believe that there’s a canon explanation as to the exact circumstances.
Naturally, Lucas had none of this worked out, but Anakin had no children when he would have been fighting in the Clone Wars and met Red Leader.
If they just pretend that line never happened it’s all the better. 
Who knows, it may have taken hundreds or even thousands of parsecs to get from Tatooine to Alderaan. Heck, it was long enough for Obi-Wan to brainwash Luke into believing in the Force, which he had just heard about.