Lucas. You have to isolate Lucas the director from the rest— he only directed six total films. Three films in the 1970’s (all below and in the archives) and the Star Wars prequels in 1999, 2002 and 2005. I owe the prequels another watch (I actually enjoy watching them) and a proper evaluation – but for now, it’s really just the three films in the 1970’s (featuring principally the blockbuster masterpiece of narrative – 1977’s Star Wars) in the archives. That’s a weakness—only 3 archiveable films. But those three films are extremely impressive and both Star Wars and American Graffiti land in the top 100 of the 1970’s. Star Wars is his zenith- and it’s the reason he’s here on this list.
Best film: Star Wars. Those making an argument for another film are trying to be contrary. The world-building in Star Wars radiates– its palpable. It takes parts of Kurosawa (tons of The Hidden Fortress) and John Ford (the tragic scene with the death of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru) with a lot of help from John Williams to combine for one of the great tales of 1970’s cinema.
total archiveable films: 3
top 100 films: 0
top 500 films: 1 (Star Wars)
top 100 films of the decade: 2 (Star Wars, American Graffiti)
most overrated: I don’t have one for Lucas. Lucas has two films ranked in the TSPDT top 1000. The consensus critics have Star Wars at #115 (I’m at #159)- slightly overrated but 40-45 slots isn’t much. And then American Graffiti at #846 which is right where I am I’d guess.
most underrated: Ditto above here on the overrated section. Lucas has only 3 films in the archives and I’m good with all of their spots.
gem I want to spotlight: American Graffiti. A coming of age film paired with an ensemble day in the life—it clearly influenced Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused amongst others. Lucas’ love for the time and place is palpable—from his memory—and honestly in 2019 I can see similarities with Cuaron’s Roma and Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Lucas had good sense to keep it largely plotless and load it wall to wall with rock and roll nostalgia. The film is immensely rewatchable— we should all revisit it every summer.
stylistic innovations/traits: In all three archiveable films from Lucas he creates a world immaculately detailed. Even the high school comedy set in 1962 smells, sounds and feels like a specific time and place- that’s skillful world-building. You also have to give it to Lucas for knowing what he’s doing when choosing the music and/or soundtrack for his films. Both Graffiti and Star Wars are two of the 5 films I’d most like to just listen to from 1970’s (which is saying a lot). Star Wars is narrative bliss- it’s hard to match and ranks up there with the greatest all time—but Lucas didn’t lack for visuals either. Strong compositions abound in his work- like of the dueling moons dusk shot in Star Wars – and Mel’s Drive-In in Graffiti. The establishing shot could be in a museum of contemporary arts.
top 10
- Star Wars
- American Graffiti
- THX 1138
By year and grades
| 1971- THX 1138 | R |
| 1973- American Graffiti | HR |
| 1977- Star Wars | MP |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
@Drake – Hope you and your family are doing well! Just wanted to check in and see if you got the chance to give the films another go, and if you did, what did you think?
@Chase- I was able to catch The Phantom Menace again but not the other two prequels yet- hopefully soon
@Drake – did it make the archives this time?
@Matthew- It is fringy–I wouldn’t have a problem if anyone put it in the archives- I’d push back at anything higher than a Recommend
@Drake – fair enough. It ultimately is a test run for the much stronger digital cinematography and worldbuilding to come in the following 2 films
(I was intending on writing so much, apologies in advance but I think it would be worth a read!)
@Drake – Happy to see you’re open to reevaluating the prequels, I’m sort of astonished by how much of a U-turn I’ve done on them (particularly the second and third films where he really embraces digital) – but not totally astonished because of the promise Lucas showed in his first 4 films. I guess I just now disagree with the common narrative that the “prodigious Lucas” fell off so quickly, I think his experimental impulses and ambition are alive and well during this period (and even better than ever in some areas), they are just unfortunately hidden under some very wooden and cheasy dialogue/acting that I think a lot of people have a hard time getting past. But I think we’re better than that! I used to detract a lot from some of De Palma’s work because of the low quality writing/acting too, ignoring the unique stylistic voice in those films – and I guess that’s sort of where I’m at with the prequels now (especially with the last 2; though I also do think most of the drama in Revenge of the Sith is actually pretty good).
Since Chase and Harry were mainly inquiring about Attack of the Clones I’ll speak to that one and I also think it’s an incredibly visually beautiful/ambitious film – and not in a cliche or derivative way at all. An interesting game to play is to compare the look of this film with other early digital experiments – it’s an incredibly flattering game to Lucas) – he was just in an entire different galaxy from everyone else with AotC, it swamps everything else. So I don’t just think it’s another beautiful film in an ocean of beautiful film.. I think it’s unique in its beauty achievement and a genuinely huge leap forward for the medium. I don’t think you can tell the history of digital cinema (the biggest step the film industry has taken since introducing color) without it
I won’t get into it as much as it deserves as I am still unpacking it, but Chase hints at it and I also genuinely think there is a very meta-cinema, Godardian (I’ve seen a handful of people say it’s George Lucas’ Histoire du cinéma… which I have not seen yet but not plan on doing so) sort of element to the film’s structure where each planet seems to embody the plot, tropes, aesthetic, and even tone of a classical film genre (eg: Tatooine is certainly a western and Lucas draws from The Searchers again with the family-member kidnapped plot line (he even recreates one of the iconic shots from the film here: https://imgur.com/a/2fjJq5H); Coruscant is certainly a noir (or Neo-noir with its cyberpunk aesthetic) with its seedy nightclubs, murder plots, Jedi-detective work, and political corruption; Naboo is the melodrama romance, very Sirkian with the forbidden/suppressed love and their public duty getting in the way of their private feelings; Kamino is an extension of the noir-plot line but pivots into very technologically dystopian sci-fi territory (I’d say Metrolpolis (we know that’s a big influence on Lucas) with its assembly lines and ontological questions (at one point C-3PO says “machines making machines, how perverse”) about technology and industrialization
By cross-cutting between these different planet-narrative-threads, the overarching point of the film is made: the Republic falls into Fascism, not because of a failure on one front, but because of the *simultaneous* failure on all fronts: Institutional/Political Rot (Noir-Corruption of Coruscant), Moral Rot (Western-Frontier-Violence of Tatooine), Emotional Rot (Inability to manage emotions of Naboo) and then the Ethical/Technological Rot of Kamino (this one is a little more confusing so I’ll try to explain concisely: Lucas is very versed on history and the patterns of fascism, and one of those patterns is that rapid growth in powerful technology (that lies in the hands of a small, ill-intentioned few) often goes unchecked because the slow, bureaucratic, democratic process cannot act quickly or effectively enough to understand it and regulate it – the Clone Army is the technological innovation (with a hidden secret: they are brainwashed to kill every Jedi with a mere order) that the flaws of the rotten democracy did not properly handle (no one thinks to question who ordered the creation of the army, why, or if it’s ethical). — the failure on all of these fronts culminates to the final planet of Geonosis which starts out in the classic sword-and-sandals gladiator genre but fully pivots into an all out war film – the republic has spiraled into a doomed war and the Jedi have betrayed their ethic code as peace keepers — it’s fascinating to me, and when I say this is just the overview I mean it haha
wasn’t intending* – oops
@Matthew- Thanks for sharing all this- I’ve added it to my short list to revisit
Sorry Mathew. I just watched the Attack of the Clones yesterday. It’s a big improvement from Phantom Menace, but it is still an almost bad movie. The plot idea is good, but the script and cinematography are not. The CG looks just heinous. There is barely any good shot. I can remember just 1 real stunner in the entire film. The rest are just good establishing shots, made in a very dated cgi.
@Joao – sorry I’m actually just now seeing this response. “The CG looks just heinous. There is barely any good shot” — we can all have our opinions but at the end of the day the evidence is on the screen: https://imgur.com/gallery/lot-of-aotc-stills-fU3KRxe. There’s 35 shots in that album and there’s still a lot more from the film not included
Error with the link in the above post, here it is: https://imgur.com/a/fU3KRxe
Hey Drake, it’s been awhile since I’ve commented, hope you have been doing well!
Me and a couple other commenters on the site, specifically @Harry and @Matthew, recently rewatched Attack of the Clones (the second prequel), and we are a bit confused on how it’s missed the archives; it’s one of the most visually accomplished films of 2002 + has incredible world-building form with each new planet being a different genre of filmmaking (western, Hollywood melodrama, etc.). I get the acting and writing came sometimes be pretty iffy, but I think it’s more than deserving enough to be in the archives. Us 3 all have it as at least an MS. If you haven’t seen it in a while, I’d recommend you revisit it (especially because I saw you mentioned your kids and I’m sure they’d love it as well haha).
To add onto @Chase –
Here’s some evidence
https://imgur.com/a/D0h55NC
I think we could all provide many more screenshots but I struggle that a film this beautiful presumably misses the cinema archives based on non visual elements.
@Chase- thanks for sharing- you make a compelling case. I’ll watch the prequels with the kids soon.
@Drake- Have you ever seen Desperate Hours or The Sicilian from Michael Cimino? Because it’s hard for me to believe Desperate Hours especially is not in the archives with the strength of the narrative and the visuals here. Despite some wobbly female acting performances and a court room scene near the beginning. It even has a reference to The Deer Hunter!
https://imgur.com/a/tW3eae5
@Drake – I’m glad to hear that. I hope you take a look at the imgur screenshot album I posted above. I think there are some of Lucas’ best images – and the day for night shot with the surveillance of the raider camp is quite similar to a shot in The Searchers (thanks to @Youssef for pointing that one out)
Did you count The Empire Strikes Back in any way when ranking Lucas here?
@Anderson – I do the best I can with what I’ve learned over the years to assign some directorial credit here when it is due – including here
I’m aware that you’re planning studies of both Charlie Kaufman and George Lucas. Do you also intend to watch the other two movies of the original Star Wars trilogy (not directed by Lucas, but he was certainly one of the driving forces) or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry’s kinetic direction is brilliant, but I believe Kaufman’s script is the greater artistic achievement in this film specifically)? I am curious.
@Graham- good question– I’m not sure yet- I think I’ll for sure do Empire and Return of the Jedi. Not sure if I’ll do the Rian Johnson and the JJ Star Wars films, the entire universe, or include Kaufman’s screenplays (which at that point you might as well do a spike jonze study)— TBD I guess.
I know Lucas didn’t direct Empire Strikes Back, but I noticed in the list of 500 films you rank it ever so slightly underneath Star Wars. I don’t really mind one way or the other, but what do you think Star Wars does better then Empire other than just being the first of its kind?
@Declan- I don’t have much at all separating the two and if someone wants to argue Empire is superior they won’t get a long argument for me. I do think the world-building and originality of the narrative is one of the great elements of episode 4 or the original. I adore the double moon landscape shot and Alec Guinness’ performance.
@Declan. I know this comment is old, but critics also think that episode 4 is better than 5, it’s not just Drake.
Episode 4 is at # 120 and Episode 5 at # 283.
Literally the only ones who think episode 5 is the best are the Star Wars fans.
That is not an appropriate usage of the word “literally”.
With Matt here. This is a pretty egregious use of “literally,” and it’s not like just because something is the consensus means it is a universal view. I’m sure there’s many critics who think ESB is superior.
I haven’t really seen either of them since I started to understand film style, so I can’t say from memory which is the better one myself.
@Matt Harris and @Zane. Sure there are some fans who think episode 4 is better and some critics think episode 5 is better, but that’s the consensus.
If you are looking for a fan poll of episode 4 vs episode 5, episode 5 is the one that almost always wins the polls.
What i am mentioning is that the narrative that episode 5 is superior, is commented on by its fans.
I’d love to hear your review for THX-1138, I’ve always found it underrated and in the shadow of American Graffiti and Star Wars, it is one of my ten favorite sci-fi films. I know it’s in the archives but I’d like to hear what you think. BTW, I also posted this question in the 1971 year archives, I meant to post it here because there are less comments, sorry
@James Robbins- thanks for the comment. So I’ve seen it- but only once, and before I started the blog so I don’t have a post for it yet. What strikes you so much about it and makes it a top 10 sci-film? It’s me who would like to hear more here.
I don’t know as much about movies as you, but I think visually it is incredible, it is one of those movies that you can just mute the TV and watch. There are a couple shots that are up there with the best of the 70s. This was when Lucas was hungry and motivated like the other movie brats and so it really explores genres that you wouldn’t think of George Lucas doing, there is a number of sex and drugs involved. Another thing that sticks out is the use of black people in this movie, all black people believe they are holograms because that is what the whites have told them and they have just been used for White People’s entertainment. They are the only people on tv as well. Also the music really paints a picture of despair and pure hopelessness, it is a phenomenal soundtrack, and just like Taxi Driver, it’s not too complicated music but it is brilliant for how it is used in the movie. Lastly, the ending with the car chase is phenomenal and shows how talented Lucas really was (he wanted to be a racecar driver when he was younger and it shows in that scene), the ending scene where he escapes the underground building they live in to go outside and escape in the sunset is an absolutely haunting and beautiful shot.
@James Robbins– this is great– thanks for sharing.
in my opinion star wars is like lord of the rings where they are all a collective masterpiece, even if some aren’t as strong. also individually I find the sequels as masterpieces and some of the best films of the past 25 years. the editing, worldbuilding, and expressionistic acting is spectacular. also lucas is a genius director. in particular, revenge of the sith is an absolute masterpiece which touches on the themes of jealousy love betrayal and morality. it is truly art.
@m . Thanks for sharing. That’s an Interesting perspective- one I hadn’t considered until now. I think I make a bit of a distinction between LOTR and Kill Bill and the Star Wars trilogy because with LOTR and KIll Bill (which I count as one film) they were shot at one time and just broken up in post production.
Also all LOTR and kill bill movies were directed by same directors unlike star wars. So they have the same voice and rhythm to them.