2) Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
Directed by: George Lucas
Written by: George Lucas
Starring: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse
A New Hope was bound to make it into the top set of Star Wars films – not only because it’s the movie that launched the entire endeavour, but also because it’s an excellent film, by any measure. Breaking new ground in narrative cinema, George Lucas literally drops us into the midst of a narrative that is already progressing. This is simultaneously an origin story, while not being an origin story – by showing us the initial cohesion of the Skywalker/Solo/Organa team, but not the origin of the conflict in which they fighting.
It hits the ground running with a legendary shot of an Imperial Destroyer gliding across the screen, and Princess Leia hiding vital documentation inside an astromech droid. Instantly, we’re hooked. Who is she? What has she hidden in the droid? Why do these villains want to find it so desperately?
These questions are answered in short order, while the story rapidly expands to introduce Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, and Chewbacca. The stage is set for this epic space opera to change the face of cinema forever, and it never once loses that momentum.