Order

1) Revenge of the Sith. I have carefully spaced out my viewings of this film, and have only seen it seven times, but every time I see it, I am utterly amazed at how quickly it goes by. Truly the mark of agreat film. One moent Anakin and Obiwan are may the be withing you, and the next they're trying to kill each other. Plus I think Sith is the epitome of a SW film. For me, it has all the elements that stood out in each previous film, and it presents them exceptionally. (BTW: I think of TPM as the political film, AOTC as the War one, ANH as the adventure story, ESB as the dramatic one, and ROTJ as the Saturday Night's Main Event one.
2)The Empire Strikes Back. It was the best before ROTS, and ROTS does not diminish it in any way.
3)A New Hope. This one is almost two now. But unlike some of the jelly fish in this thread I want to be decisive. ESB ranks slightly ahead only because of the returns of Yoda, and Palpatine, and Boba Fett.Oh, and can you believe Vader has a plan to recruit his son and overthrow the Emereor? It's what he really always wanted. See ROTS.
4) Return of the Jedi. Love the Tatooine sequence. LOve LUke/Vader Palps. Just don't get how a bunch of primitive Teddy Bears did what Jedi and Wookies could not. BTW the primitive society overthrowing technology is a theme in all the SW moves just about. i ANH the rebels strike out from a jungle base to defeat the death star. In Empire, the rebels hide on a planet whose elements aid/hinder them, and Dagobah is practically a character of its own. Jedi- covered. TPM, the Gun-Gan's vs. the battle droids. In AOTC, human clones v s. super battle droids. Anakin, Obi, Padme try to ride a beast to freedom only to be coralled by droidekas. ROTS:The Wookies may not be primitive, but they are old fashioned. Plus Obiwan rides a livinbg creature while he pursues General Grievious, and Padme Birthing the twins as Vader is born.
5) Attack of the Clones. Unlike most, i think this is a great movie. The battle of Geonosis is THE Star Wars battle for me. BUt you gotta make a choice and when in suck mighty company, great is not enough.
6) The Phantom Menace. A beginning. That's it. Like the first hundred pages of a novel. Necessary, but not missed once you get to the meat of the story. It6 must have been frusturating for Lucas to make TPM knowing it was the weakest part of his story, and no matter what, he could not make it better, or as good as the other parts. THe canvas simply was not available.

I love SI. This is pretty much the way I feel about all of these especially ROTS. Awesome movie and better than I ever could have hoped for.

I'm just going to chime in with my two cents on the rankings now after watching all six films through. It really is the twelve hour film Lucas wants it to be. There are so many incredible moments in all six that work with connecting each film to the next. So many times I had a shiver run down my spine. I no longer know where to place the films in a ranking.

Wow, ETAndElliot4Ever, that was a quick change of heart. Two days ago you almost had them all worked out in order, with Empire on top. What changed your mind?

Truest words ever writen.

Boom:

1) The Empire Strikes Back
2) A New Hope
3) Return Of The Jedi
4) Revenge Of The Sith
5) Attack Of The Clones
6) The Phantom Menace

Very tough choice for third spot.

RANK (from fave to least fave)
1- AOTC. I expect to get some serious shit from you guys for this, but there it is. To me, AOTC is the turning point of the entire saga. Anakin has bouts with evil and an inability to break his emotional attachments to people while Palpatine carefully and invisibly orchestrates the entire galaxy into civil war, aided and abetted by Dooku, someone the Jedi desperately *need* to believe is a fundamentally good man who just uses questionable methods and shady associates. AOTC cranks up the theme of moral amiguity more than it's predecessors in the saga ever did and it really makes you question who the good guys actually are (Jedi fighting side-by-side with stormtroopers against people who, fundamentally, just want a tax break and a shot at equal justice; worse, the Jedi are the aggressors in the war). Finally, JW's score features new themes, TPM references and OT themes as well. It is by far my favorite SW soundtrack. I seriously love this movie. #1 with a bullet.

2- TPM/ESB. They're tied at #2 but for totally opposite reasons. Like Manny Ortez, I love TPM's light, family-ish tone. The coming darkness hits *much* harder by having this type of innocence and contrast going. Seeing Jar Jar's naivity (sp?) and Anakin's innocence here make the future movies so much more heartbreaking. We see Palpatine take his first step in galactic domination, we witness just how rotten and corrupt the Republic actually is, how out of touch the Jedi Council has become and we see dreams of youthful idealism from Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padme shattered in their own individual ways. TPM could be the most subtle SW film... and easily the most unappreciated. ESB, on the other hand, makes much less effort in being geared for kids. Frankly, the galaxy in ESB is a bloody and war-torn environment where faith and hope have been replaced by cynicism, deception and vengeance. Luke begins to hone his Jedi skills, there's the obvious paternal subplot, the romance between Han + Leia blossoms and the Empire has begun tightening the noose on the Rebellion. Both are great films, but I appreciate them for different reasons.

3- ROTS. The Jedi get whacked, Vader is born, Palpatine becomes the Emperor, Padme dies, the galaxy has voluntarily given over it's freedom to a tyrant and the action spectacle has no peer anywhere else in the saga. However, I'm *VERY* disappointed that Lucas didn't resolve Teh MysTery from AOTC and the whole Vanishing Jedi subplot. *He* made them big issues, not me. I can understand wanting to drop subplots for the sake of cutting down the film's runtime, but resolving those issues wouldn't have added much more than a minute and a half to the runtime. There may even be extenuating (sp?) circumstances to all this, but whatever. My grade stands.

4- ROTJ. I just almost put ANH here, but thanks to the PT (and as many of you have mentioned) ROTJ has taken on a completely new depth and sophistication that I never expected. By killing the Emperor, Anakin is not only saving Luke, not only balancing the Force, not only sacrificing his own life, not only renouncing the Dark Side, but FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE Anakin is choosing FREEDOM. He's been a slave his entire life (first to Watto, then the Jedi, then the Sith) that literally the only way Anakin can break free of bondage is, sadly, death. But he saves the entire galaxy in doing so. However, the first act (again, as many have you pointed out) does drag on... and on... and on. Ford seems bored, Leia seems coked out and really only Hamill, McDiarmid and ProwseJones seem to have really put forth the full effort here. I don't mind Ewoks at all (except for the occasionally *too* cute moments) and I applaud Lucas for inserting Episode III-era Hayden as Anakin's Jedi Ghost. It now makes sense. Still, ROTJ's first act = p00p.

5- ANH. Even in the '04 edition, the effects shots look too dated, the film drags in WAY too many areas and it feels like the relationships between various characters aren't even *hinted* at quite as much as they could be. The other SW movies do a great job of letting the viewer speculate on their backstories, but ANH never even suggests what's going through Obi-Wan's head when he duels Vader again (which, obviously, is a very complicated story, but ANH could've at least made a *general* comment or suggestion). Aside from blocking a couple of non-lethal energy bolts, we never see Luke do anything really demonstrable with the Force. No swordplay, no levitation, very little. He's a gifted pilot and he can block energy bolts from a remote. *yawn* And yeah, he blew up the Death Star, that isn't my point.

But I love all of them though and there's not a bad one in the bunch.

I don't get how TPM is more "family friendly". What does that even mean? There's loads of talking and shit that a lot of the "family" probably wouldn't even understand (the taxation of trade routes?). The whole movie chronicles the end of an era. Soon, that kid flying the podracer's going to be killing everyone. What Qui-Gon discovers pretty much defines the saga. I don't know about you, but hearing him tell Anakin about the Force and midi-chlorians is just one of those surreal moments now. I mean, the guy knew what he was doing and the rest of the council treated him like shit. Then you've got Mace Windu and Yoda wondering just who the hell the Sith Lord is when he's right in front of them. It's excellent connectivity. There is some bull shit, but for the most part it's loaded with foreshadowing, one of the best lightsaber duels in the series, the badass podrace, and Watto, probably the best-realized CGI character all around next to Yoda. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's friendship was just more believable than Obi-Wan and Anakin's in AOTC. They actually talk to each other like normal human beings.

I dunno, I find myself saying "I am the Senate" quite a bit more than "I am your father" these days.

1.) ROTS
2.) ESB
3.) AOTC
4.) TPM
5.) ROTJ
6.) ANH



I know, I'm fucking weird. Don't mean that ANH sucks, far from it.

Agree about QG's need to be inserted. Rank wise your 1 and 2 are tied for 1 for me.

1. ESB/ROTS
3. ANH
4. AOTC
5. ROTJ/TPM

Me too. Great line.

Dude, if one-liners made a good movie, Bad Boys would have cleaned up at the Oscars. Can you name one memorable line in Citizen Kane other than "Rosebud"? No, me neither, yet its considered one of the best movies of all time, rightfully so. There is much more to movies than witty dialogue. Films are about moving images, afterall.