Ranking All of Lucas' Work

I apologize if this thread has been done previously. I cannot find it so I will assume it hasn't.

I wish to see how fans on this board think of all of Lucas' work comparatively. I'm sure the answers will be interesting. This includes the work he only wrote/produced for. If I've forgotten anything, please let me know. (This list only contains films.)

Strongest to weakest:

The Empire Strikes Back
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Return of the Jedi
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars
American Graffiti
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
THX-1138 (short film)
THX-1138 (feature film)
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Howard the Duck
Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
More American Graffiti
The Land Before Time
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (movie)
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
Radioland Murders
Star Wars Holiday Special
Red Tails
Willow
Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Twice Upon a Time
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones

These are the only films I've seen. It's nearly all of the ones he's done, minus most of his short films and a select few of his features.

For those that love Clones, it's been my least favorite for over 10 years and I doubt that will change anytime soon. Too many pacing issues and bad scenes for me to love it like the rest of the franchise. I still love it, and like the older brother that's always been rude to you, I've come to accept it because it's family. But to me, it's the weakest entry into the entire franchise and probably Lucas' worst work.

 

1. American Graffiti
2. A New Hope
3. Attack of the Clones
4. Willow
5. Temple of Doom
6. Revenge of the Sith
7. The Last Crusade
8. The Empire Strikes Back
9. More American Graffiti
10. Raiders of the Lost Ark
11. The Phantom Menace
12. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
13. Return of the Jedi
14. Howard the Duck

Didn't count the Ewok films as they were made for TV. Didn't count The Land Before Time as I recall my old stuffed dinosaur far more than anything from the actual film. Anything else I haven't seen yet.

 

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark? Whats that one

 

I enjoyed Clones more than TPM, probably due to the Fett presence (and relative lack of JarJar).

 

WriterMan As you can see by my sig I love AOTC - no offense taken

I still haven't seen most of the non-Indy and Star Wars GL films, I need to get on that.

 

Almost an impossible task!
I'm a fan of everything he's done, from technology to books.
As for major film projects my faves remain:

Young Indy
The Clone Wars
Prequels
OT
Tucker : The Man and His Dream
Willow
Ewoks animated series

I'm also a huge fan of the Shadow War Chronicles trilogy.

 

It's hard to rank them. All I can say is that ESB and Raiders are the best of the lot.

 

I'm getting into the LucasArts games now (hey, better late than never). It's just amazing how much great entertainment he produced over the years. The overall quality is so high - even the soundtracks to his games are awesome! The care and quality he put into his productions is second to none, IMO. Twenty, thirty years later fans are still ogling the posters for his films and collecting obscure merchandise. Most movies are forgotten after they leave theaters, even big successful ones. I think he put together the best entertainment company of all time and the key was quality and always pushing out into new directions.

Also, I forgot the Indy features in my list!

 

No, it says you love ROTS

 

I'm a bit of a Lucasphile but I only really consider movies that he directed as the real deal, so with that in mind my favourite Lucas movies are..

1. Attack of the Clones
2. THX 1138
3. Star Wars '77
4. American Graffiti
5. Revenge of the Sith
6. The Phantom Menace

I expect to be fully flayed for my number 1 choice, especially with such a cracking directorial resume, but for me its genius lies in its oddness and its expressionistic/experimental qualities. I can't get enough of it.

 

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Star Wars
4. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
5. American Graffiti
6. Return of the Jedi
7. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
8. Revenge of the Sith
9. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
10. Attack of the Clones
11. Willow
12. The Phantom Menace

the others I either have not seen or do not care much about.

 

1.Empire
2. Raiders
3.ROTS
4.Star wars
5.thx-1138(feature film)
6.ROTJ
7. Last Crusade
8. tpm
9. WIllow
10. AOTC

An interesting fact is that he and Martin Scorese were camera operators on Gimme Shelter the but Lucas footage was cut because it his camera broke

 

As a fan of Scorsese as well, it's interesting to hear that. I did not know that! Thanks for sharing that with me. I might bring it up to my other movie-loving friends sometime.

 

Yeah, I did not know that either till I was reading the wiki entry on Lucas on his birthday earlier in the month. what they shot was at Altamont. It is possible George Lucas and Martin Scorsese were witness to all the stuff with the Hell's angels

 

Only going by what he's Directed:

Star Wars (or A New Hope)
THX 1138
American Graffiti
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
The Phantom Menace

 

Directed

1. Star Wars
2. American Graffiti
3. The Phantom Menace
4. Revenge Of The Sith
5. THX1138
6. Attack Of The Clones

Created
1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
3. Star Wars
4. American Graffiti (Imperious! Each of these are 10/10 films for me- almost without flaws)

5. The Phantom Menace
6. Return Of The Jedi
7. Temple Of Doom
8. The Last Crusade
9. Revenge Of The Sith
10. Willow (Well crafted films with some flaws)

11. THX 1138
12. Attack Of The Clones (Huge flaws in both of these films for me but I do still enjoy watching these films)

13. Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (An abomination of a film that fails on almost every level- I thought that the only redeeming features Harrison Ford, the opening sequence after the god awful gofer and up to the fridge and Marion's return the rest was complete and utter garbage)

A lot of the other stuff like Howard The Duck and Labyrinth I would not rank because I am uncertain of his actual input on those films.

 

Star Wars
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
The Last Crusade
American Graffiti
Revenge of the Sith
Temple of Doom
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Willow
Thx 1138
The Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Red Tails

 

Wow, that's a really strange and unique ranking. You would normally get torn to shreds just for putting Prequels over OT but TCW and Young Indy too? I like you man, keep it up.

 

I'm only going to include films that GL directed or played a part in writing.

1) ROTS
1) TESB (tied)
3) Raiders of the Lost Ark
4) ANH
4) ROTJ (tied)
6) Temple of Doom
7) THX-1138
8) American Graffiti
9) TPM
10) Willow
(Below this point are his films I find mediocre or worse.)
11) The Last Crusade
11) ATOC (tied)
13) Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
14) Both Ewok movies (Both these films were released theatrically in some countries in Europe!)

GL also wrote the story for Radioland Murders, but I've never seen that.

GL didn't write or direct: Labyrinth, Howard the Duck, Red Tails, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, More American Graffiti, and The Land Before Time. It seems like GL didn't really have that much commercial success as a Executive Producer. Only The Land Before Time was a modest domestic success. Adjusted for inflation, it would've earned about $96 million domestically.

 

Australia, too, that's how I first saw them. I have a feeling they were only ever 'Made for TV' for the US (and maybe Canada), everywhere else got cinema releases.

 

1. The Star Wars Saga
2. Everything else

 

Oh god. The ranking of the SW Saga films is pretty arbitrary. ROTS is definitely my favorite, but after that...well, anyways, of what I've seen:

ROTS
TPM
ESB
ANH
ROTJ
AOTC
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Last Crusade
Temple of Doom
Battle for Endor
The Clone Wars film
The Holiday Special
Crystal Skull

 

Some of it I find difficult to differentiate between, but here's my clear cut top 5:

Star Wars
TESB
Raiders
THX
American Graffiti

 

1.ANH
2.ESB
3.ROTJ
4.Last Crusade
5.Raiders of the Lost Ark
6.Clone Wars series
7.Battle for Endor
8.Land Before Time (only the original)
9.Labrynth
10.Willow
11.Crystal Skull
12.Howard the Duck
13.PT

 

Sometimes it irks me that Lucas doesn't get the credit he deserves for his versatility. In my opinion he has created absolute classics in 4 different genres. Sci fi, youth drama, fantasy and adventure. 3 of those I would easily consider the pinnacle of each genre (Graffiti, SW and Raiders) while THX is every bit as good as Stalker or 2001 A Space Odyssey. I also struggle immensely to separate the quality of his work, a testament to the inherent quality. I can concede that The Star Wars Saga is his best work and that ESB is the best SW movie, but beyond that it becomes very hard.

Star Wars:

1: ESB
6: TPM, AOTC, ROTS, ANH, ROTJ (equal)

Indy:

1: Raiders, Crusade (equal)
4: Doom, Skull (equal)

The rest:

1: THX, Grafitti (equal)