Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
I voted ESB. I always find it interestin that CO always says that ESB was too dark for him as a kid, whereas I was about the same age when I saw it and loved how dark it was and especially loved how the heroes got beaten around the block for the entire movie. It was great! But Star Wars is a very, very close second. Especially after having gotten the DVDs, I've been appreciating the magic of the first movie more and more, and it's helped a lot that it's lacking all of the crappy additions that George made. There is just something so special about it. So it's very close to me between those two movies, but I had to go for ESB in the end.
I voted ESB. I always find it interestin that CO always says that ESB was too dark for him as a kid, whereas I was about the same age when I saw it and loved how dark it was and especially loved how the heroes got beaten around the block for the entire movie. It was great! But Star Wars is a very, very close second. Especially after having gotten the DVDs, I've been appreciating the magic of the first movie more and more, and it's helped a lot that it's lacking all of the crappy additions that George made. There is just something so special about it. So it's very close to me between those two movies, but I had to go for ESB in the end.
If I made this list in 1983, I would be gushing about ROTJ, saying that was a close second to SW, and ESB would rank 3rd on my list. I can't say I hate ESB when it came, and even when it came to HBO in 1986, I was in Jr. High, I still didn't love the movie like Jedi & SW. I remember the day Jedi came out to buy on VHS in the mid to late 80's, I bought it and loved it. I really think my problems with ESB stemmed from the darker tone and the lack of resolution, and Jedi had that resolution that SW had in '77. I guess as a kid, I didn't want to watch a movie without a proper ending, I felt it to be very anti-climatic.
But I do remember when ESB finally hit as the great movie it is, I got one of VHS boxsets in High School, I believe I was in 11th grade, and I watched all 3, and it had been a couple of years since I really watched all 3 SW movies since being in High School was the first time I thought it wasn't cool to like SW and tried to distance myself from the movies.
I watched SW and always get the same result: nothing beats it, and that has never changed. But being older now and watching ESB, I remember just being utterly speechless after watching it and saying, "God, that is such a great F**** movie, what the hell was I thinking all those years?" As I watched Jedi, I started really noticing the ewoks, and the slower parts of the movie stuck out now, but watching it as a trilogy really put ESB in context for me, and the lack of resolution didn't bother me anymore.
And that hasn't changed for the past 15 years, SW & ESB are really the same in terms of quality, but I just love SW more cause of the standalone movie it can be watched as whenever I feel like it. But I will give Kersh credit for really delving into the characters more in ESB, and that is its biggest strength, not 'I am your father."