Before he did Star Wars he did American Graffiti which was seen by a few people.
Bah, American Graffiti was nothing special. It only made $55 million in its initial release, giving it one of the highest cost-profit ratios ever and AFI only ranked it #77 in its Top 100 movies of All Time. 
It also was the third highest grossing film of 1973, behind two other “nothing specials”: The Exorcist and The Sting.
I may be mistaken, but I don’t think I’ve seen Alien.
Very true, but American Graffiti feels like a Robert Zemeckis or John Hughes film. American Graffiti and Star Wars are worlds apart (no pun intended). I would wager that a casual viewer of the two films, knowing nothing about George Lucas, would never guess they were directed by the same guy. The directing style in the two films, from what I remember of AG, is quite different.
And then there’s THX-1138.
Wookiee Godiva was a freedom rider.
She didn’t care if the whole world rhhhaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwrrr.
Round here they love it.
Lancia, did you see The Empire Strikes Back?
Yup. I’m not a big fan of straightforward (as in not fantasy or SF) dramas and I didn’t really enjoy the Godfather when I finally watched it after 30 years of seeing it parodied. It doesn’t mean it;s not a great film, but that it’s not my type of film and it’s suffered from parody splashback.
(My PhD was about the numerous extratextual uses of Hamlet and the way they affect the reception of the play itself).
In my quite broad experience as a teacher and parent, Star Wars is extremely popular. Just the other day one in my 13-year-old daughter’s group of friends mentioned that she’d never seen Star Wars and the others were all shocked. Everyone they know, geeky or not, has seen it and mostly liked it.
Since when does Star Wars have anything to do with science fiction?
I wonder what the OP thinks about the Enterprise vs ISD debates!
Who would win, Darth Vader or Batman?
Ginger or Maryann?
The robots, the lasers, the death star, the setting in space. It’s not hard SF, but it’s science fantasy or space opera. Still, I’d say that liking fantasy makes you more likely to enjoy Star Wars than liking science fiction.
Mary-Ann could totally whomp Ginger in a fight.
(Or was that not what you were asking?)
You guys are joking, right?
Star Wars: saw it in the theatre back in 1977 as a kid. Went in with high expectations, and enjoyed it immensely. I can still watch it to this day and enjoy it, as (for reasons many others have noted in this thread) it’s a very well-crafted movie.
The Empire Strikes Back: again, went into the theatre with high expectations, really enjoyed the film, and still watch it again from time to time.
Return of the Jedi: for me, this is where Lucas started to drop the ball. Went in with the same high expectations, and was quite disappointed. “Why are they blowing up the Death Star again?! This is the exact same story as the first movie” was my major complaint at the time. That, and the Ewoks. I absolutely hated the Ewoks. Now I sort of take them for granted, but at the time I was really annoyed by them. I think that even as a kid, I unconsciously understood that I was being pandered to.
The Phantom Menance: after sixteen years, it’s the return of Lucas’ Great Dropped Ball. Same high, and then dashed, expectations. The Internet has done a good enough job of cataloguing the complaints with this film, so I shall spare you from re-reading them for the thousandth time. It seemed that Jar-Jar didn’t annoy me as much as he annoyed other people though. I guess the Ewoks kind of inoculated me.
Attack of the Clones: More like “Attack of the Incomprehensible Plotline” amiright?! Har har, I slay myself sometimes. Anyway, I went in with LOW expectations this time, turned off my brain, and enjoyed all the pretty CG and 'splosions.
Revenge of the Sith: More LOW expectations, but I was able to enjoy the much darker aspects of the film. Plus the plot was much more straightforward, as all the Byzantine backstory was laid out in the last two clunkers. I’ll still watch this on DVD from time to time. I’m not a very violent person, but it’s worth it for the scene when whiny old Anakin gets his legs chopped off. Take that!
TL:DR VERSION
The first two movies were fantastic (probably by accident), the remaining four were not very good.
Lucas, if you’re reading this, I want my money back. We’ll say $5 for the tickets for each of the four bad films, and we can make it an even $20. Paypal or cash, no cheques please. May the Force be with you.
It is worth noting “Star Wars” won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, so its genius in this regard was well recognized. “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” were nominated for the award as well.
None of the prequels were nominated.
I was 25 when the movie came out, not exactly a pimply teenager. Lancia, here’s where I think it went wrong for you.
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You heard about it first. I saw it the week it opened. We didn’t* know *what was going to happen. Sure it had been massively hyped, but it was all teasers and still photos. We were ready for the shock and awe.
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You didn’t see it in a theater. There’s no substitute for hearing the deep rumbles, and watching the opening on a huge screen.
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You watched it alone. Star Wars was meant to be seen with a crowd that was ready to believe from the first moment he was on the screen that Darth Vader was evil, a crowd that actually gasped when the Millenium Falcon went into hyperdrive, and cheered when the Death Star blowed up real good.
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You didn’t look past the big cinnamon buns on her head to realize that Princess Leia was really yummy (and I presume women had the same reaction to Han Solo.)
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In the version you saw, Greedo shot first. When Han shoots first, you get that he really is a badass.
I can watch it now and realize that Harrison Ford was really stiff, that Alec Guiness couldn’t hide his contempt for the whole production, that the dialog was clunky and that we should have realized all along that Darth was Luke’s father. But I can watch any 25+ year old movie, from *Animal House *to Last Tango in Paris and have it spoiled for me because either I’ve been overexposed, or the people who praise it ignored its shortcomings leading me to focus on them.
Stay tuned for my “So I finally got around to watching The Notebook…” discussion. Where I dismiss it due to the lack of automatic weapons.
It’s a trick question. The correct answer is Ginger and Maryann.