Howard,
I was mentioning this to eric in Chat earlier. Lucas wanted to make a 50's style, up to date, matinee for kids like the ones he grew up on, a la Flash Gordon. He took pieces of many stories and crafted them together with his own touches. He set out to make something specific and he did that. The people it affected were kids, who had never seen anything like it and the generation who grew up on the stuff. He met his goal and he did it well. If he had tried to make the Citizen Kane, he would have failed. If you see the movie on video and/or after you have heard everyone talk about it, it will never live up to your expectations. Episode I looked bad to so many people because it wasn't as good as they "expected" it to be. But kids loved it. Many adults went into it as "adults" and not the "kids" they were who saw it first. As a kid, you don't notice that the acting isn't that great and that the story is not exactly original. And the 50's generation grew up on low budget stuff at the matinee, so Star Wars seemed to be a grand version of it. I see eric's point of view, but I don't hold it myself. Seeing these films now, for the first time, after seeing so many films that it inspired, I would probably be unimpressed by all but maybe Empire.

Eric, what clichés are you referring to? Pre-1977 or ones that Star Wars originated?

An example of what I mean by the director's vision is similar to Star Wars. Tim Burton made Mars Attacks because he wanted to make a 50s sci-fi like the director's of the time would have made if they had today's technology. Burton changed the effects but not the storytelling technique. Some people hated it but they often didn't know what he was trying to do, and, even if they did, in today's movies of bigger explosions and more fighting, they were unimpressed. In that way, Star Wars has ruined the way Hollywood works. I thought the Mars Attacks was great.

Just 2 more cents,
Fer"not a diehard Star Wars fan, but someone who it affected"rick

> Sometimes I wonder if anybody noticed the parody in the first Star Wars flick. Everything -- absolutely everything -- in that picture was a take-off on the old black and white Saturday westerns. Maybe you have to be over 60 to catch it. Suffer through a few of those old horse operas and you'll see Star Wars everywhere. Comments?
> Howard