A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…..
Star Wars would still be the perenial list topper for populist film charts.
It is not the case anymore I would wager. The document of the Top 100 list puts this down as Star Wars: A New Hope. Bollocks to that. This film is called Star Wars, and no jiggery pokery with additional episodes or digital touch up of effects will change that. Considered on its own, as it should be, it is a bundle of fun with shaky effects and a decent girl/boy, rescue the princess, save the Universe plotline. Considered as part of a six film magnum opus; its wit, charm and lightness of touch seems wildly out of place in such po-faced company.
Do not give me any crap about Lucas always wanting to do a six film, or nine film epic. Star Wars is in itself perfectly contained, which is clear from the convolutions the other films have to do to satisfy continuity. Certainly the seven year old me knew there was only one thing Luke was going to do after that big medal ceremony at the end, and that was go and snog (shag) Leia. None of this sister guff please, none of this girls prefer a bit of rough. Darth Vader is much more evil when he is not Luke’s Dad, sometiomes we need good old fashioned evil. The lines of Star Wars are drawn clearly, and the rest of the films fuck up the fun. You can’t even buy the version with the ropey effects any more, which is revisionism gone mad.
Nice to see the canon builders getting the usual suspects out of the way. And trust me, the Usual Suspects is out of the way.