"A Lucasfilm Ltd. Production" -- George Lucas' 10 Best Films
Oct 13 '05
The Bottom Line His movies are corny, often flawed, but audiences still flock to George Lucas' modernized versions of the Saturday afternoon serials of the 1930s and '40s.
George Lucas may never be considered one of the greatest directors in Hollywood history, but when all is said and done, even his harshest critics may have to concede that he is one of the most successful and influential filmmakers of our time. From 1973, when American Graffiti became his first audience-pleasing hit (his first feature film, the dystopian futuristic thriller THX 1138, was not very well-received) to the present, most of the films released under the auspices of his Lucasfilm Ltd. production company have been box office champs. Indeed, 9 of the 10 films listed below have been among the Top 25 biggest grossing movies of all time, starting with 1977's Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, which was the world's biggest moneymaking film until Lucas' friend Steven Spielberg created E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial in 1982.
Although most of Lucas' films won't ever be remembered for their brilliantly-written dialogue, superb acting, or flawless directing, they are a huge part of the American post-Vietnam, post-Watergate popular culture. For instance, utter the phrases May the Force be with you or I have a bad feeling about this, and chances are that many people will recognize them as lines that appear in all six Star Wars Episodes. Or look at a guy wearing a brown leather jacket and a snapbrim fedora and the image of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones will briefly flash in your mind's eye. More subtly, if you watch any film or television series with multiple story threads that switch back and forth until they converge at the end, you can thank Lucas for that; he was one of the first writer-directors to break away from linear plotting -- which was one of the reasons the "suits" at Universal didn't like American Graffiti and demanded that 10 minutes be cut from Lucas' nostalgia-laden comedy/rock 'n' roll "musical." (Also, if you are a collector of movie tie-in toys or other merchandise, Lucas and Star Wars made your hobby possible. Before Star Wars, most studios weren't too keen on licensing spin-off products; after 1977, that all changed.)
Of course, Lucasfilm Ltd. has had its fair share of flops and fair-to-middling productions; it's hard to reconcile the filmmaker's savvy of the creator of Star Wars and the Indiana Jones series with the unwatchable Howard the Duck or the overly derivative Willow, and only a few filmophiles can remember the good but unpopular Tucker: A Man and His Dream, but for the most part, George Lucas, the shy and unassuming guy from Modesto, California, has had a mostly beneficial impact on the film industry. Not only does he believe in finding better ways to create visual and sound effects via advances in technology, but his storytelling and stylistic sensibilities have inspired other filmmakers -- Roland Emmerich, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, and Ridley Scott, just to name a few -- to bring their visions to life on the silver screen.
With that in mind, here are the 10 best films written, directed, or produced by George W. Lucas, Jr., arranged in chronological order from 1973 to 2005.
1. American Graffiti (1973): Lucas co-wrote and directed this comedy-drama about four teenagers (Richard Dreyfuss, Ronny Howard, Paul LeMat, and Charlie Martin Smith) during one pivotal night in the summer of 1962 before heading to college. Based in part on Lucas's experiences as a teenager in Modesto, California, American Graffiti is an often funny and sometimes bittersweet look at the uniquely American mating ritual of cruising, and its vivid recreation of a more innocent era (before Dallas, Vietnam, and Watergate) in American history kick-started a Fifties-nostalgia boom that, among other things, inspired TV's Happy Days, which starred, of course, Ron Howard.
2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977): This film introduced the various characters of what was to become the first of two trilogies and set up the conflict between the evil Empire and the heroic Rebel Alliance. The protagonist, Luke Skywalker, is a farmboy who lives on a remote planet way out in the boonies, not suspecting that he is destined to be a hero in the great struggle between good and evil. He is compelled to join the Rebellion when he joins the legendary Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi on a crucial mission. On the way he will rescue a Princess (Leia Organa) and befriend a pair of smugglers with hearts of gold (Han Solo and Chewbacca), then challenge both the evil lord Darth Vader and the Death Star, the Empire's most powerful weapon.
3. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Set three years after the events of A New Hope, the second chapter in the saga takes a dark and fateful turn as Darth Vader and the Imperial forces strike back at the Rebel Alliance on the ice planet Hoth and scatter the heroes of the Alliance across the galaxy. As Luke Skywalker heads off with his droid R2-D2 to the planet Dagobah to begin training with Jedi Master Yoda, Vader pursues Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO, hoping to either catch Skywalker or to use his friends as bait for a deadly trap set for the young would-be Jedi.
Directed by Irvin (The Eyes of Laura Mars) Kershner, Empire is considered by many fans to be the best film in the six-Episode cycle.
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) This first collaborative project by Steven Spielberg and Lucas (who co-wrote the story with Philip Kaufman) is an exciting, fast-paced, and witty tip-of-the-fedora to the Republic serials of the Thirties and Forties. Starring Harrison Ford as adventurer/archaeologist Indiana Jones, Raiders is a globe-spanning tale centered on a race against the Nazis to find the legendary lost Ark of the Covenant.
5. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983): Some fans might quibble about some aspects of the movie, namely the Ewoks (cute but fierce teddy bears), but all the plot threads from the first two entries in the Classic trilogy are neatly tied up. The Emperor seeks to convert Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side and crush the Rebellion with a new Death Star. But a spark of Anakin Skywalker remains within Darth Vader and in the end, sacrifices his life to save his son's. Thus, Luke becomes a Jedi (and discovers that Leia is his twin sister), a fallen hero is redeemed, and good conquers evil.
Directed by the late Richard (Eye of the Needle) Marquand and co-written by Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan, Jedi is far from perfect; the Ewoks strike some fans as being too "precious" and cute for their taste and it is talkier than the preceding films in the series.
6. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984): Like The Empire Strikes Back, the second film in the series is darker and spookier in nature than the more upbeat Raiders of the Lost Ark. Perhaps -- as even Lucas and Spielberg admit -- a bit too dark and spooky, for even though screenwriters Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz tried to keep the "Saturday afternoon serials" feel and pacing, Temple of Doom's storyline had Indy face off against a Thuggee cult which depended on child slaves to find a set of missing sacred stones and had a penchant for human sacrifices. (This was one of several 1984 films which, because they contained gore and violence, resulted in the creation of the PG-13 rating.)
7. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989): Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones) and Sean Connery (Prof. Henry Jones) were perfectly matched in this fun and exciting sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark as Indy is sent to find both the location of the legendary Holy Grail and his missing father, a tweedy expert on Grail lore who has become estranged from his archaeologist/adventurer son for years. Once again, Nazis, rats, a duplicitous femme fatale (Alison Doody) and strafing Messerchmitts are no match for the Jones boys and their friends (John Rhys-Davies and the late Denholm Elliott).
8. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) Having established in Episodes V and VI that uber-villain Darth Vader had once been a Jedi Knight named Anakin Skywalker (and Luke and Leia's dad), this first of three "prequels" goes back to the beginning of the saga. Set 32 years before the events of A New Hope, Episode I introduces Anakin as a kind-hearted nine-year-old slave on Tatooine with both a knack for fixing anything mechanical and an untapped reserve of Force-derived talents that allow him to drive Podracers and fly starfighters. And when Anakin meets the stranded Qui-Gon Jinn, Padme Naberrie, and Jar Jar Binks in Mos Espa, he is thrust into a series of events that mark the beginning of the end for the Galactic Republic and will set off a fierce inner struggle deep within young Skywalker's soul that will have great consequences for the entire galaxy.
9.Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) The middle chapter in the "prequel" trilogy, Attack of the Clones explores more fully the two issues at the heart of the Star Wars saga, How does a well-meaning, kind-hearted, and brave hero fall from grace and becomes the very thing he fought against? and How does a democracy become a dictatorship? Here, Anakin, now almost 20 years old and a promising-but-troubled Jedi apprentice to Obi-Wan Kenobi, is pushed further down the "dark path" by his inability to let go of his love for both his mother and Padme Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo who Anakin met as a child in The Phantom Menace. His need for power and his desire to hold on to emotional attachments allow Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to gain more influence over the young Padawan and for the dark side of the Force to take root in Anakin's heart and mind.
As for the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, Attack of the Clones is really the story of Caesar's Rome or Hitler's Third Reich thinly disguised as a space fantasy tale; Lucas delves -- perhaps a bit clumsily at times -- into the historic irony of how some dictators have subverted weakened democracies using democratic means. Here, Palpatine manipulates the Galactic Senate into giving him emergency powers when a "Separatist" movement suddenly emerges and sparks the series of conflicts known collectively as the Clone Wars.
10. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) The evil scheme of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (also known as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious) to subvert the Republic and turn Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side of the Force comes to fruition in Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
Starting with what seems to be the daring rescue of an "abducted" Supreme Chancellor Palpatine from an enemy starship, Episode III reveals the Clone Wars that have split the galaxy in two as being nothing more than a gigantic trap for the Jedi Order. Here Darth Sidious reveals himself at last, using both his dedicated apprentice Count Dooku as a sacrificial pawn and his knowledge of Anakin's inner turmoil -- his love for Padme Amidala and his ambition to be the most powerful Jedi ever -- to turn him against his friend and former Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and transform Anakin into the evil Darth Vader. A dark and violent film, to be sure, but its final scenes form an ellipsis that leads into A New Hope.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
alexdg1
|
 in Movies, Books |
 - Top 200 |
|
Member: Alex Diaz-Granados
Location: Miami, FL USA
Reviews written: 1279
Trusted by: 270 members
About Me:
Rest in Peace, Mrs. Barbara Axler Fields. I will miss you lots!
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.