Favorite Star Wars Movie?

When I saw Star Wars in the theatre when it was released, it was call Star Wars. None of this "New hope" BS. And it was the one where Han shot first!

And lets also not forget Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress" (which I never saw in theaters but I *have* seen)

So get off my lawn you young whippersnappers.

How could this not be an option?

The movie started and ended in an exciting way in the middle of an ongoing story. The rebels had just dealt a mighty blow to the empire but were now fleeing from the might of the empire's retaliation. The characters and special effects were developed nicely versus A New Hope. It was a fairly dark movie, the main protagonists were on the run and not in control of things. A major character loses a hand and the big fight at the end of the movie, but lives to fight another day.

And it had AT-ATs, and no Ewoks or Jar-Jar. What's not to like?

Best Star Wars movie ever.

My fave is still the original Star Wars. It was fresh, it was new, yes, it was hokey, but it worked. Check your sophistication at the door and enjoy the ride!

I find the prequel movies unwatchable.

Some things never change: when The Empire Strikes Back was imminent, they re-released Star Wars in the theatres to get some buzz going. It was accompanied by a short, a trip to the Moon, assembled from NASA footage. Some younger members of the audience expressed loud displeasure at the "fake" movie. They didn't read the credits where it said "Filmed on location by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration".

...laura

Was pretty darn good as I remember. Not a movie I know, but worth mentioning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S... [wikipedia.org]

I recently watched thru all 6 episodes in the order they "should be" (started at Episode 1, went straight thru to 6), and I have to say that I have a new perspective on them all. It was NOT what I expected and remembered thru the fog of memory.

• Episode 1 -- still very terrible. easily the weakest of all movies. Does a poor job setting up the story, the characters, the universe, the Force (a very vague reference to bacteria, but nothing beyond that -- what does that even mean?), everything. Not very much action; one of the "biggest" moments is the podrace which is neither in the Stars nor is it a War. Whenever a character tried to explain something, Jar Jar would appear and scream over the lines and take away focus.
• Episode 2 -- much better than I remembered. Jar Jar is not a significant character. It actually does have a fair amount of intrigue/mystery (where the clones came from), and the battle of Geonosis is pretty decent. The main downside -- and probably why most think of it as lower than it actually is -- is the chemistry between Anakin and Padme. It's a little rushed and unnatural, but even that on a second viewing wasn't quite as bad as I remembered. It's more of a pacing issue than anything, and I think Episode 5 has a lot of the same problems.
• Episode 3 -- I actually like what they tried to do with setting up the Jedi Council and the President/Emperor as being suspicious of each other, and tried to keep it vague who was working for who (even though we know the answer, the movie itself I think handled it well). The fighting and battles were much better, the characters finally seemed to be a lot more developed. The main part I didn't like was Anakin's turn so quickly -- again, it actually wasn't too badly done, he has a lot of good motivation if you can keep up, but its a pacing issue. Having characters like Chewbacca show up at the end didn't quite make sense with the continuity, but actually overall I thought it was a strong movie.
• Episode 4 -- actually much weaker than I remember. Doesn't do a very good job of setting up the characters, or story. Just an action flick. Luke especially is extremely whiny. Leia and Han are alright characters, but they don't get enough screen time to develop. C-3P0 actually is like a toned down Jar Jar -- whenever someone is about to say something important, he blathers and worries about something. R2-D2 actually has more of a screen presence and personality than most of the characters. Another interesting thing I noticed is that apart from the first scene of the movie, Darth Vader does not make much of a presence; flying the fighter against Luke at the end doesn't really make him that special other than a commanding officer; he's not nearly as "scary" as I remembered. The Imperial officers actually argue with him a lot and don't take him that seriously. The Death Star being destroyed isn't any less ridiculous than the prequel.
• Episode 5 -- After the initial battle of Hoth, which was pretty good, the action slows down a lot. This is to focus on character development, which the movie does a good job of overall. But Luke is still a whiny character (like father like son?), and Han and Leia's relationship developing is also an issue with pacing -- good presentation, but Leia suddenly liking him seemed to be just as quick as the Anakin/Padme romance. It works a little better because Leia is more expressive with her anger at Han than Padme had toward Anakin (Padme always kept composure), but otherwise I think very similar. Also, Darth Vader seems a little too much in the background of most scenes -- it's implied he does a lot, but we never see him DO it on the screen, so can't really take him seriously yet. In fact, apart from the battle of Hoth at the beginning, you kind of forget an Empire exists because the story focuses so much on following Luke and Han. That's fine to develop characters but there isn't really any sense of urgency of fighting this big empire. 3PO still annoying, R2D2 kind of bad-ass.
• Episode 6 -- until the Ewoks

Wrath of Khan

Randal Graves: Which did you like better? "Jedi" or "The Empire Strikes Back"?

Dante Hicks: "Empire".

Randal Graves: Blasphemy.

Dante Hicks: "Empire" had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings. All "Jedi" had was a bunch of Muppets.

The summer of '77 was awesome, and the hot ticket was this new movie called Star Wars.

I saw it from about the fourth row, looking up at a screen that was gigantic, and I was mesmerized because the special effects were so advanced for the time. The storyline wasn't awesome, but it was certainly entertaining. With Alec Guiness, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher in the cast, the story moved along nicely.

Episode V was still pretty good, but I think the movies went downhill from there.