I honestly think that George is not a good director. I think ANH is the lowest quality film of the OT, and not because the effects were more dated or anything. I just don't think George can direct. He's got a decent vision, but he needs someone else to bring it out of the actors, out of the sets, and out of the editing. The best movie of the OT is Empire, and that is because of the director. He was able to adjust, to get what he wanted, to get the best take even if it wasn't what he wanted, to allow the characters to evolve.
In my opinion, the best scene in Empire is Han being put into Carbon freeze. Leia yells to him that she loves him, and Han just looks back at her stoicly, and answers with his brief, "I know." That wasn't in the script. That was Harrison being irritated at having to redo the same take so many times, and yet still being in character, being pissy, and ad libbing something Han would actually say, and in doing so, advancing his character so much with just two words. George would never have taken that take and kept it in the movie. He'd have taken a less good one, edited it to something he wanted exactly, and the character of Han would be shallower, and less interesting. Thank God GL didn't direct Empire and Jedi. If he did, Star Wars would never have been as big as it was, I don't think.