If you’re like me, then you’ve been enjoying Lucas’ return to the spotlight over the past months as he’s been promoting the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. While the museum itself features a Star Wars exhibition, the saga only makes up a tiny percentage of the museum itself. With that said, there’s no better time to revisit Lucas as a filmmaker and some of his works away from Wookiees, Sith and backwards talking creatures. Below are some of his most iconic works, some you may have forgotten about and some that are worth a second look.
For obvious reasons, I’ll leave out a certain man in a fedora….
THX 1138 (1971)
Originally conceived by Lucas as his student film, it bore the title Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB. The story takes places in dystopian future where emotions are suppressed by drugs and citizens are controlled by android police and reproduction is prohibited. The film was somewhat poorly received upon its release and was a flop at the box office. Like most of the genius with Lucas, however, it was only in retrospect that the film gained a cult following, especially after 1977. In 2004, Lucas went back to the film and released his Director’s Cut of the picture using state of the art modern ILM technology. The film stands as a testament to Lucas’ vision of filmmaking and imagination.
AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
This once again cult classic came about whilst Lucas was working on THX and his friend Francis Ford Coppola asked Lucas to write a comedy and something more fun and fluffy. In stark contrast to THX, this film was a goliath success and grossed $140 million against a budget of less than $800,000. Universal Pictures originally intended the film to go direct-to-television, but strong word of mouth and buzz rallied the studio to release it in cinemas. The success of the film allowed Lucas more financial freedom with his endeavours and won widespread critical acclaim. Not only does the film star Ron Howard, who would later go on to step in as director of Solo: A Star Wars Story, but the film stars Han Solo himself – Harrison Ford.
LABYRINTH (1986)
Destined for cult adoration was this classic from the 80s that starred the legendary David Bowie. Lucas served as an Executive Producer on the film but also made significant, and uncredited, contributions to the story and drafts of the screenplay. The film stands as the final film that Jim Henson directed and the puppet work is still quite a sight to behold. There have been rumours of a legacy sequel for years with as close as December 2024 being the latest update with Chris Columbas rumoured to be taking the helm. Only time will tell if we’ll ever return to the bog of eternal stench.
WILLOW (1988)
Willow stands as one of the few films outside of Star Wars and Indiana Jones that Lucas actually wrote a full story treatment for and is credited for doing so. The idea for the film was conceived as far back as 1972 and Lucas had always envisioned a film where “little people” take the lead to take on evil. It wasn’t until meeting Warwick Davis where he thought he’d found his lead and Lucas also waited for practical effects to catch up to what he had in his mind, much like he did with the prequel trilogy. The film was directed by Ron Howard and a sequel series was made a few years back. The least said about that, however, the better.
RADIOLAND MURDERS (1994)
It’s the film on Lucas’ list that is probably most forgotten about but again Lucas wrote the story for the film and it was again conceived during his highly productive writing period of the early 1970s. The film is a homage to the screwball comedies of 1930s Hollywood and was in ‘development hell’ for two decades. Originally set to star superstar comedian Steve Martin, the film eventually opened and quickly faded. The film has status among Lucasfilm, however, with many employees saying that the film is screened at the picture house inside the Lucasfilm complex on a regular basis.
RED TAILS (2012)
This film is significant in many ways. It was widely known to be a deeply personal project for Lucas but it also stands as the final film that he had a hand in directing. By that, I mean, Lucas directed extensive reshoots and pickups before the film’s release when Anthony Hemmingway was unable to direct them himself. Originally developed back in the late 1980’s, by the time the film was released in 2012, it had the distinction of being the first film under the Lucasfilm banner not to be associated with Star Wars or Indiana Jones in nearly two decades. This film was also the final picture that Lucasfilm released an independent company before the Disney acquisition in October of 2012.
STRANGE MAGIC (2015)
And this is the full stop in the story of Lucas’ filmography. Though he is credited as an Executive Producer on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, for all accounts that seemed to be ceremonial only. On this film, Lucas served as story writer and Executive Producer. It’s the final film Lucas was, and most likely, will ever be involved with. It’s essentially, as he puts it, “Star Wars for a young female audience”. It had been in development for 15 years by the time it came out and also brough Lucas full circle. Much like with American Graffiti, the film was primarily told through its soundtrack. Something that Lucas was heavily involved in dealing with. It’s worth a look and is streaming on Disney+.