Saga If you were to recommend that someone see only ONE Star Wars movie...

...which one would it be? Essentially, if someone was going to only watch ONE of the six movies, who had never seen any of them before, which episode would you tell them to watch?

This is not someone who plans to watch all six, this is someone who will most likely only watch the one you recommend. Which would you choose? I myself would choose the Empire Strikes Back. I think it is the best one, so if someone was only going to see a single film in the series, I think it's got the best of everything.

Thoughts?

 

ANH or TPM. All the rest have too much narrative baggage to carry, too much reliance on what came before or after. Eps IV and I are the only ones that really stand alone perfectly.

 

I was going to say Jedi as I think it brings things together very nicely, but Prefect is right. TPM and ANH are very self-contained and, I think show us the wider galaxy far and away much better than the other four do-mostly Tattooine, granted, but Tattooine is about as 'normal' as Star Wars gets.

 

Episode numbers aside, the only film that stands alone is ANH, it was the only one ever intended to.

TPM can sort of work by itself (it's very similar to ANH in structure), but there's a few too many loose ends - the Chosen One prophecy, the Sith, Anakin's mother, the threat of Palpatine (if you picked it).

Vader escaping at the end of ANH is sort of a loose end, but it's more of a tease for potential sequels than an unanswered question. For all intents & purposes, the Rebels beat the Empire & they all lived happily ever after.

 

It would have to be ANH.

1. Its one of the most important movies in film/western culture history, so everyone should see it just once in their life for no other reason than to say they have seen it.

2. Its the only one that works as a stand alone movie and doesn't need either sequels or prequels to understand whats going on.

 

ANH, without a doubt.

 

Definitely ANH(or as I still like calling it....Star Wars).

 

I think a new hope aka episode 4. The reason is because while it works best as a stand alone movie it makes you want to see the rest of them. i know it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but it does make you like the series and if you knew there were more you would want to see the rest.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

I can recommend two, not one. And they would be ESB and AOTC.

 

The original.

It's the one that hooked the public in the first place. And if that movie doesn't make them want to watch the rest of the Saga, nothing will.

 

STAR WARS, without a shred of doubt.

 

Revenge of the Sith. It's not quite my favorite (TESB and AOTC are still the ones I want to come back to most often), but it does have my favorite single scene with Padme's Ruminations, and also I think Episode III captures the best summation of the cycle's overall ability to switch between blazing pulpy action and serious, somber character portrait painting.

 

The Phantom Menace without a doubt!

One of the most beautiful films ever made

 

If the criteria is that this person won't ever watch another Star Wars film, then you gotta pick A New Hope. However, part of me wants to say ROTS for Ians performance as Palpatine, alone.

 

It depends on the person.

III, IV, and V are, in my humble opinion, "the great ones," and each offers a distinct approach to the heroic myth: ROTS is operatic, ANH whimsical, and TESB meditative.

I'd be inclined to ask the viewer which classic s/he prefers: Doctor Zhivago (ROTS), The Wizard of Oz (ANH), or The Third Man (TESB).

 

I agree that ANH is the only one that really stands on its own.

However, if I had to choose only one to show, it would be TESB, which I consider to be a masterpiece and one of the greatest movies ever made in any genre.

 

While few can argue that "The Empire Strikes Back" is a brilliant stand alone film.

I think it's either ANH or TPM.

TPM has the best story of all 6 films.

ANH has a timeless qualitiy about it.

In the end I'll go with ANH.

 

Agreed, well said. I would have to say ANH for these reasons, but it would pain me to only be able to suggest one instead of the whole Saga. I would at least emphasize to the person that they consider watching the rest at some not-too-distant point in the future.

 

Return of the Jedi

It has all the important characters and themes of Star Wars, and its the only upbeat Star Wars movie with a resolved ending. It also has a pretty wide range. It never gets as dark as III or V, but some scenes are sad or scary. It also seems to have the most action..

I would say IV or V, but I don't think I'd be a fan if I'd only seen IV, and V might have the best last 30 minutes of just about any movie I can think of, but the first two thirds are kind of overrated by Star Wars fans.

III wouldn't be too bad, but I think in order for that one to make an impression you have to know the characters beforehand.

 

It also makes zero sense if you haven't seen the first two.

 

ANH, in its day, seemed to have something like a resolved ending. The Empire may not have been utterly defeated, but the loss of the DS seemed like a crucial blow. However, Luke becoming a Jedi, facing the supposed killer of his father, and getting into even one lightsaber battle were all yet to come.

TPM seems to have an upbeat, resolved ending, if one overlooks the fact that a Sith just got elected Chancellor of the Republic.

 

Meh, does everything HAVE to happen as intended? It's not that complicated anyway. Strong good guys, interesting bad guys.

 

A New Hope.