OFF THE SHELF: A GUSHING AND EXPENSIVE TRIBUTE TO GEORGE LUCAS

• Published in: The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M. : 1988)
• Main Author: England, Terry
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Santa Fe, N.M Santa Fe New Mexican 22.05.2005
• Subjects: Hearn, Marcus; Lucas, George
• ISSN: 1938-4068

  If you're a die-hard Star Wars fan or if you think [GEORGE LUCAS] can do no wrong, then go ahead and shell out the 50 bucks for The Cinema of George Lucas by Marcus Hearn (Abrams, and it really is $50, but in Canada, they have to shell out $75). Nothing I say will change your mind, and you're the person it's aimed for anyway because it's a flattering, glossy tribute to Lucas without any dissident views. Lucas, of course, had to deal with the studios if he wanted to be a big-time moviemaker, one who sees his films distributed across the country. Hearn discusses Lucas's troubles getting his big-scale version of THX 1138 made and the mixed reception it received. Then came the film that really pushed him along the way, of course: American Graffiti. The Cinema of George Lucas goes back and forth between description of the technical achievements Lucas had pioneered and the themes of his movies. It's full of interesting little tidbits, such as the original name of Indiana Jones (Indiana Smith); that yellow hot rods of various forms pop up many times, from American Graffiti through Revenge of the Sith; that what Darth Vader said to Luke in the famous scene in Empire Strikes Back was "You don't know the truth: Obi-Wan killed your father." (The intended line, kept a secret even in filming, was -- all together, now -- "I am your father, Luke.")