Still, it shouldn't be necessary. I don't have to read The Silence Of The Lambs in order to make the movie great, because the movie IS great thanks to the actors, screenplay and direction. The book adds lots more details to the plot (from what I recall, I read part of it over 15 years ago) but their loss isn't felt thanks to the way the story is handled.
I grew up with Star Wars, I loved those movies as a kid (A New Hope came out the year before I was born) but looking back I have to admit to the major flaws that would see them justifiably torn to shreds nowadays.
A New Hope:
Hamill & Fisher's acting in this movie was goddamn awful, plain and simple. And the character of Darth Vader kinda proved just what happens when you take the voice of a charismatic actor (James Earl Jones), seperate it from his own body language and pair it up with a non-actor in a mask who just happens to be tall (David Prowse). Harrison Ford probably saved the movie as he was at least vaguely convincing in his role. Alec Guinness was good but I'd expect nothing else from someone of his experience and he probably wasn't trying very hard (he made no secret of how much he disliked the role). Sad to say but some of the best performances in this movie were shown by largely peripheral character (Peter Cushing as an example). For the time though the special effects were spectacular and combined with the fantasy storyline this is probably what saved it.
The Empire Strikes Back:
The lead actors started hitting their stride in this one, and coupled with the better screenplay and direction added up to a much better movie
Return Of The Jedi:
Lucas is driven insane by the merchandise revenues and starts thinking of ways to make even more characters that can be molded in plastic, the rest is history.
In a recent interview with Harrison Ford he stated that he didn't think the character of Han Solo really added up to much and he thought it would have given ROTJ more emotional weight if he had died. When asked why he thought that didn't happen he replied "George didn't think 'dead Han' toys would sell very well".
