Guest evenflowDDT Report post Posted April 29, 2003 OK, this is probably just me, but I found out the other day that George Lucas didn't direct or even solely write The Empire Strikes Back (many fans' pick for best Star Wars film) or even Return of the Jedi (my personal favorite Star Wars film). Interested by this, I loaded up the ol' IMDb profile and find he hasn't really done a whole lot of anything. Even for Indiana Jones he only came up with the story and characters, not any of the actual script or anything (unless I'm misinformed on this, which could be very likely). So... what's the deal? Why do people care so much about George Lucas? Does anyone consider him anything resembling a credible director or writer or anything? Maybe I'm just mistaken in thinking people care about him. I hope so, because if they care, I just don't get it. At all. DISCLAIMER: I've never seen all of American Graffiti, but even if that's the best film ever, how is it someone can attain "elite" status based on one film? I mean rarely do people clamor over Victor Fleming (at least that I've seen), and he directed friggin' Gone with the Wind and did most of The Wizard of Oz! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest IDrinkRatsMilk Report post Posted April 29, 2003 I'm with you, fuck George Lucas. This sort of things seems to happen with a few directors, they somehow get credited with being an all time great when they really haven't done much of anything. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest SP-1 Report post Posted April 29, 2003 It's very possible that the humongoid success of Star Wars singlehandedly put him on the pedastal. Though, the main storyline was his, even if he didn't specifically write the screenplay. It's like Roddenberry. He created Trek, it's his and he's a semi-legend (depending on who you talk to) for it. But he had little to do with the best episodes and movies. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Lethargic Report post Posted April 29, 2003 I think more people hate Lucas at this point than like him. Nobody holds him on a pedastal but himself. The fans are fans of Star Wars, not really Lucas. This is the #1 problem with the new trilogy. He's doing it all himself. Basically the only other person around him is Rick McCallum who does absolutely nothing but kiss Lucas' ass all day. He should get massive amounts of credit for actually coming up with Star Wars. There's really nothing else like it in TV or movies where EVERYTHING about it is completely from one person's imagination. This isn't some Earth people going into space. There is no mention of Earth ever. This is a whole other galaxy and it all fell out of his brain. I don't know of any other movie where the entire thing is completely created from somebody's imagination from the ground up. It's an amazing universe he created. It takes a lot of brains to come up with all the different planets, characters, aliens, ships, etc. He should also get a lot of credit for all the tech advances that he's helped create with ILM. But the truth of the matter is that he's a terrible director and a terrible writer. When he has somebody he can feed his ideas to and they mold them into the final product, he's a genius. When he does it all himself, he's a fool. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest mach7 Report post Posted April 29, 2003 Lucas IS a hack who pays no attention to details. In the sublime words of Randall Graves, "I want my eight bucks back..." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Mole Report post Posted April 29, 2003 Everything that Lethargic said is very true. I believe that Lucas is so high is because special effects today, were Lucas' starting. That whole ILM, yeah that's him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest godthedog Report post Posted April 29, 2003 (edited) OK, this is probably just me, but I found out the other day that George Lucas didn't direct or even solely write The Empire Strikes Back (many fans' pick for best Star Wars film) or even Return of the Jedi (my personal favorite Star Wars film). Interested by this, I loaded up the ol' IMDb profile and find he hasn't really done a whole lot of anything. Even for Indiana Jones he only came up with the story and characters, not any of the actual script or anything (unless I'm misinformed on this, which could be very likely). So... what's the deal? Why do people care so much about George Lucas? Does anyone consider him anything resembling a credible director or writer or anything? Maybe I'm just mistaken in thinking people care about him. I hope so, because if they care, I just don't get it. At all. DISCLAIMER: I've never seen all of American Graffiti, but even if that's the best film ever, how is it someone can attain "elite" status based on one film? I mean rarely do people clamor over Victor Fleming (at least that I've seen), and he directed friggin' Gone with the Wind and did most of The Wizard of Oz! you just found this out? that's kind of odd. after '77, the amount of input lucas has becomes inversely proportional to how good the movie is. that is: the more he's involved, the worse it gets. i'm GLAD he didn't direct or write the dialogue for 'empire', cause it's a great fucking movie and it's NOT a coincidence that the best of the series is the one he has the least to do with. 'empire' had a good flow, nice structure, and pretty good dialogue; lucas is capable of none of these things. he's good with designing his own comic-book worlds, and editing battle scenes; that's really about it. lucas has spent most of his time through the years honing his little 'star wars' world and working with special effects technology. he's a total techie, which is why his characters are all hollow and his dialogue sucks. he's a lot like james cameron, except james cameron is a more competent director. Edited April 29, 2003 by godthedog Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
