Legend? why not? A legend to a lot of people for sure. Star Wars is one of the most well known and iconic films ever made and for people of my generation was a significant part of my life…one of my earliest memories was my dad taking me out to see something ‘special’ and queueing up for what seemed like hours to get into the cinema and being utterly wow’d by what I saw. Nobody had seen anything like it up until that point…it was the movie equivalent of the Beetles it was so significant and has shaped and influenced movies and the industry ever since, not to mention inventing the concept of movie merchandising showing that the merchandise industry is far more valuable than the movie (wether that is a good thing or not is debatable). It also created a whole new industry in the innovative special effects they invented, and all the technology that has come out of that.
So yes, I’d say he’s a legend and along with all the original cast and crew. They took what was a pretty amateur outfit, unproven director, actors and a bunch of nerds who make models and next to no budget and a very flakey original screen script and made one of the most iconic films in history. It was a movie nobody thought would or could ever succeed and made it what it was. The newer movies prove that you can throw as much money at things as you like…get amazing actors and special effects and all the necessary ingredients you thought would guarantee a good movie and it doesn’t work. The original cast and crew did the opposite so that is pretty special. Depends what you define as a legend.
