I thought it was documented that a British editor did the first rough cut?
In any case, the Oscars Marcia Lucas, Richard Chew, and Paul Hirsch received for editing Star Wars speaks for itself.
The way I know the story is that a British editor (not sure how he became involved) did a cut without Lucas really watching (I think he was busy), Lucas sees it and hates it, scraps it and starts over with new picks, who each take a chunk of the movie under his supervision and in collaboration with him.
Yes, that’s correct.
If Star Wars was “saved in editing,” which I don’t think it’s fair to say it was, then it was saved in editing by, primarily, Lucas himself.
Lucas is obviously a man of many talents and from the start of his career always seemed more interested in visuals, sounds, and editing, rather than actors. And it’s not surprising to me that he stopped directing after the health problems he faced on Star Wars, though I don’t know why he never did get back around to making that experimental stuff. Who knows, probably the becoming a business man and parent just took priority.