Jaws had a rubber shark and a real-world setting. Star Wars is much more typical of the SFX-heavy fantasy movies that destroyed intelligent American cinema in its wake.
Have you tried watching a pre-Star Wars movie lately? You might be misremembering the “intelligent” movies of the past. The very best movies then are nowhere near the quality of the very best movies now. Of course, the absolute best movies were made during my high school years in the late 90s. The best music, too.
Ep IV. Darth is Dread
Ep V. Darth is Dad
Ep VI. Darth is Dead
Good Vs. Evil Heroic Fantasy with Spaceships.
We’re all entitled to think of our own youth as a golden age. When it comes to mainstream American movies for an intelligent grown-up audience, though, the early 1970s does take some beating:
1971: A Clockwork Orange, The French Connection, Klute, The Last Picture Show.
1972: Deliverance, The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris.
1973: Badlands, Don’t Look Now, The Exorcist, Mean Streets, Serpico.
1974: Chinatown, The Conversation, Godfather II, Lenny.
1975: Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Nashville, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
1976: All The President’s Men, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Marathon Man, Network, Taxi Driver.
1977: Star Wars.