• I think the original 1977 version of STAR WARS and AMERICAN GRAFFITI are easily the two best films George Lucas ever did.  (I do like THX 1138, but not quite as much as the other two films.)  Years ago Lucas said he wanted to go back to making little experimental movies and put STAR WARS behind him, stating that even if his more personal movies didn't find an audience it would be OK.  (Obviously George has a comfy nest egg if a film doesn't do well at the box office.)  But instead of pursuing that, Lucas pretty much became the corporate entity/brand name/movie mogul that he and his fellow "Hollywood Mavericks" of the early Seventies seemed to revile and went beyond just the STAR WARS prequels to launch the various animated spin-offs, computer games, etc.  He appears to have abandoned the purist filmmaker persona that he seemed to long for after all the pop culture focus on his original STAR WARS trilogy.