70mm is the only way I saw âThe Empire Strikes Backâ in 1980. I saw it only twice at AMCâs Midland Theater in Kansas City. The next time I saw it was on home video in 1984, and I do remember being a little confused by the additional shot of the rebel fleet flying away from the camera at the beginning of the scene. I prefer the original flow of the scene starting with the camera passing though the fleet front to back, and ending with the fleet flying past and away from the camera. The second shot of the fleet passing the camera at the beginning of the scene just serves as an unnecessary interruption to the flow for me. Iâm also a bit biased toward what John Williamâs scored. Iâm not much of a fan of cutting and pasting music to fit later edits.
That being said I would love to see (and hear) both of the 1980 original release versions preserved and made available to the public.