DVD Reviews

The People vs. George Lucas – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Oct 28, 2011, 13:46 GMT

They gave him their love, their money and their online parodies. He gave them...the prequels. The passion the original STAR WARS trilogy inspires in its fans is unparalleled; but when it comes to George Lucas himself, many have found their ardor has cooled into a complicated love-hate relationship. This hilarious, heartfelt documentary delves deep into Lucas\'s cultural legacy. Utilizing interviews taken from over 600 hours of footage, and peppered with ...more

Bangs gavel.  This is not exactly an official trial, although some of the more vitriolic geeks would have George strung up.  This intriguing documentary does posit some interesting timeline as to the joy and annoyance of being a Star Wars fan. 

Last night, I watched the Man who would be King with Michael Caine and Sean Connery.  What does that have to do with Star Wars and this documentary?  Well, when we learn that our gods are just flesh and blood we tend to behead them and use their craniums as polo balls. 

Many folks tended to worship George Lucas (whom many refer to as George, shouldn’t you give a pseudo-deity his due and say Mr. Lucas?) thanks to his iconic trilogy of films.  However, the years have shown that Mr. Lucas himself didn’t hold the products in the high regard that his supplicants did. 

Ironically, Lucas also appears to have started off being rather anti-corporate (I swore to my father that I wouldn’t be a businessman) but eventually became all that he swore not to be.  Lucasfilm has merchandized (or milked) those original films into a multi-million dollar corporation. 

Frankly, Lucas actually turned out to be a genius businessman and this perhaps overshadowed much of his filmmaking potential.  He devoted so much to the Star Wars universe that any other project never materialized to its level or success. 

Maybe that was too much to hope as nothing could ever live up to that (as Harper Lee seemingly discovered with To Kill a Mockingbird). 

I certainly count Star Wars as a major filmic influence.  Empire may be the first movie I remember seeing in a theater.  My memory tells me this is so, but I don’t trust it.  Lucas had us all salivating when he hinted that there were three more films that happened even before Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) hit screens.  The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) only garnered more fans and… hope. 

Then silence for a time and 1997 saw the announcement that new special editions where going to hit theaters and the fanbase raged again.  What he told us was that there would be cleaned up and new special effects and a trailer showing a tease of it caused whole offices to come to a standstill as it was downloaded and viewed. 

What he didn’t tell us was that Greedo shot first, Jabba would appear to spout the same story points we already knew, and that he would be engaging in other revisionist musings.  I actually went to see A New Hope during this run, found the narrative changes a bit silly and repetitive, and never ventured in to see the next two. 

However, I did drop some change on the special edition laserdisc set (I still have the original, unaltered CBS/Fox discs too).  That success would lead to a new trilogy of films, but the results would be a bit disheartening.  I can’t help but feel a tinge of sorrow for George as nothing could live up to the overwhelming anticipation. 

Not many folks liked that Lucas was tinkering with the films they loved (nay, worshipped in some cases).  The odd twist is that this documentary was shot before the film hit Blu-ray and would witness even more tinkering.  Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!  I’m sure many of the interviewees would be more acidic under those circumstances. 

Interviewee Neil Gaiman may say it best (and I’m paraphrasing) when he says that when a creator is done with something and releases it unto the world it ultimately becomes the world’s.  He also says that doesn’t mean the world gets to come into this study and tell him how to write.  I suppose so, but I’m editing that part out and replacing it with a CGI alien band. 

Another annoying and troubling thing is the insistence of George (or Lucasfilm lawyers) that the original negatives don’t exist.  Pair that with all his statements about altering films (in defense of not colorizing films) and you’ve got a head-scratching enigma. 

The documentary looks at all this but also puts up some amusing, and sometimes horrifying (the South Park episode about Indiana Jones), parodies. 

The People vs. George Lucas is presented in widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features include an audio commentary with director Alexandre O. Phillppe, director of photography Robert Muratore, and editor Chad Herschberger, the 13 minute “The People vs.

Star Wars 3D” with a few opinions on the conversion of the films to 3D (how can I take seriously an opinion from a kid that needs a haircut wearning a paper Optimus Prime hat?), the 3 minute “George Lucas raped my Childhood” music video (that’s a bit much IMHO), 12 minutes of poetry slam videos, and the 21 minute full interview with New Hope/Empire producer Gary Kurtz. 

The People vs. George Lucas is equally fascinating, annoying at some folks delight and dichotomy at bashing Lucas, and ironic.  It’s a great watch though for even the casual Star Wars fan. 

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