The career of American filmmaker George Lucas has been an interesting one. He is responsible for the creation of two of the biggest film franchises in history, with a few films of his going down in history as some of the most incredible works of cinema ever made. Then, on the other hand, he is also considered the destroyer of worlds, unable to leave his own work alone without tampering. Oh, and he also directed the prequel trilogy...
We’ve used IMDb to rank his top five best films ever alongside the five considered the worst.
WORST: THX 1138 (6.7)
George Lucas’ first film was one he would stick by through thick and thin. He wrote and directed the dystopian piece of sci-fi and loves to sneak references to the numbers 1138 into his other films. Considering the feature was developed from his student film project and ended up being picked up by Warner Bros and American Zoetrope is a testament to his creative ability, and the fact that his fifth ‘worst’ film ever is a relatively solid 6.7 on IMDb is quite impressive.
BEST: Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (8.2)
The fact that George Lucas created Harrison Ford taking on the title role and Steven Spielberg being given directorial reigns over each film, it was already a star-studded production.
Lucas might not have directed it, but to have conceived the franchise as a whole by himself then convert it into an immensely successful franchise in its own right certainly deserves some recognition.
WORST: Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones (6.5)
As you might expect, there is going to be a lot of Star Wars on this list. In fact, aside from the prequel trilogy, the only Star Wars film not present is Episode III. As for Episode II, many consider it the worst entry into the series. Lucas had left behind his story-driven exploration of unique characters in charming settings and become obsessed with creating as many merchandisable characters as possible, dumping them in front of a green screen to do edited acrobatics. This was not his finest hour.
BEST: Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of The Jedi (8.3)
Speaking of finest hours, Return Of The Jedi is the conclusion to the original trilogy that sees Luke Skywalker and co finally defeating the Empire. At the time, the film was seen as weak in comparison to its predecessors, but ‘weak’ takes on a different meaning in the Star Wars original trilogy.
This is still a film full of brilliant characters who each develop in their own way, while the action has come on leaps and bounds since the dismal effects of the original film.
WORST: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (6.5)
It’s hard to judge whether The Phantom Menace is worse than Attack Of The Clones. They both have their own selling points, but, in the end, they basically provide the same results and, as such, get the same rating on IMDb. For some reason, Lucas decided to make the first film in the Star Wars universe follow taxation route disputes, the childhood of a masterful villain, and give a lead role to a very strange lizard-esque comic relief character. There is also a twenty-minute long pod race, yet very little time is given to one of the coolest villains the franchise ever produced, Darth Maul.
BEST: Raiders Of The Lost Ark (8.4)
The first of the Indiana Jones films came from the tag team of genius minds that is George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Hitting screens just a year after the second Star Wars film, the Harrison Ford-starring film was an instant hit.
It went on to become the highest-grossing film of 1981 and received eight Academy Awards nominations. The fact that this film, which is widely regarded as one of the best of all time, came from the mind of George Lucas is often overshadowed.
WORST: Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (6.1)
However, just when you thought things were getting good, we have to look at The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull. The Temple Of Doom was pretty good, and The Last Crusade holds up pretty well also, but they were all released in the 1980s. After that, Lucas packaged up the franchise and got on with life.
For some strange reason, he returned to the Indiana Jones world in 2008, with Harrison Ford returning as the aging titular character and Spielberg just about injecting a bit of life into its existence. However, Lucas’ story is incredibly poor, and you’d happily believe that the overuse of CGI had something to do with him as well.
BEST: Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (8.6)
The first Star Wars film didn’t have a subtitle when it was released back in 1977. It was simply Star Wars: nothing more, nothing less. There was no expanded universe, or trilogy of trilogies, or expansive universe of TV shows. Just one fantastic film.
Lucas began work on the film after American Graffiti in 1973, and he eventually had the movie produced by his own company, Lucasfilm. It was a relatively modest film in of production, using just an $11 million budget to generate upwards of $700 million and various Academy Awards. The franchise is now worth $70 billion, and this is the film that started it all.
WORST: Red Tails (5.9)
This might be the film on this list that George Lucas had the smallest involvement in, but it was involvement, nonetheless. This was the first non-Star Wars/Indiana Jones film to be produced by Lucasfilm since 1994 and saw Lucas take a hands-on approach, acting as executive producer and director of reshoots himself. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out particularly well, and the critical response was poor thanks to poor characters and dialogue.
BEST: Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (8.7)
Unexpectedly, it is Episode V of Star Wars that tops out this list. George Lucas’ best film of all time happens to double as one of the greatest works of cinema in history.
The incredible characters created in the original Star Wars film gave him a leg up automatically, but to be able to double down and produce something so exciting, so well made, and so full of action and characters is just downright impressive.
