If GWL had made TPM in 1977, he probably would have done some pretty weird things, like have a main character. A big part of what makes TPM so dramatically inert is that it plays the foreshadowing and destiny angle so aggressively, to the point where throwaway moments like [Character A], meet [Character B] are supposed to be big and dramatic. Like two people meeting and shaking hands are supposed to be the most important moments in the film.

If he tried making TPM in 77, the script and story would have undergone far more revision before the camera recorded anything, because that's how he worked back then, and given that, I can see TPM being a great movie. If he had made the PT back then, and then twenty years later, tried making the OT (which I guess would be called the ST in this case) with his rich/fat/control freak working methods, IV, V, and VI would be the clusterfucks. Young, hungry, creative GWL could have made a masterpiece out of TPM, though it would be so different (and better) as to be unrecognizable.