I get all of the ideas and creativity, the personnel was there and it looked like it could have been a very interesting film BUT, the technical aspect could not have possibly been up to par with Star Wars. In the movie they say this could have been better than SW, or even the best science fiction movie ever made? All the ideas in the world can not override technical know how, which is what made Star Wars such a big deal upon it's release.
shareFun fact: Dan O'Bannon who was chosen for Jodorowskys' Dune project, went to Star Wars when "Dune" failed and worked in the tech department.
I think in its design and special effects Star Wars was revolutionary at the time, and, yeah, I also doubt Jodorowsky-Dune would have been better.
But, J. gathered surely a team of great scifi artists and for the most of them the best was yet to come.
Personally, I think, the designs of Ralph McQuarrie, who formed the look of the first Star Wars movies, are unrivaled. Not even Giger and Moebius could compete.
What trips me out about this documentary is that Jodorowsky saw 'Dark Star' and said "this is the guy I need to make the effects for the most ambitious film of all time".
Really? I mean the guy went on to do some good stuff but Dark Star isn't exactly technical mastery. It's the equivalent of Peter Jackson's 'Bad Taste' or Sam Raimi's 'Evil Dead'. Impressive low budget efforts but far from the guys you'd chase on a perceived bottomless wallet.
Well, Peter Jackson did the sfx for Bad Taste then went on to make nothing but film versions of classic books.
And Sam Raimi did the sfx for Evil Dead and he went on to do the sfx for Spiderman
Dark Star was definitely special. Jodorowsky saw the creative use of a shoestring budget, not the cheapness of the effects. When you look at the original Star Wars movies critically, you see that they had some pretty poor production values. Jodorowsky's Dune could easily have spawned something much larger than Star Wars, and probably ensnared the same rabid fans who would look at a concept for Star Wars with similar skepticism. But Jodorowsky's right: His movie will be made someday, even if that's after he's dead. It's all about the book.
shareDark Star is a pretty good movie. Only the effects and cinematography suck. But the actors are decent, the story is very good and also the music by John Carpenter.
shareBecause nothing could ever be better than Star Wars. Just asked my unopened collection of action figures. They agree.
shareEvery single film made in the 1970s is better than Star Wars. Lucas didn't care about making a great film. He hated directing and he is a notoriously bad screenwriter(even he admits it). Basically what he did was ripping off Kurosawa's 'The hidden fortress', read Robert McKee's book on story and basically wrote the cheapest,laziest,most unimaginative script of all time. (A mystical force that surrounds the universe called The Force, swords of light called lightsabers? How *beep* lazy can he be?) And his only intent was to sell toys and make sequels and buttloads of cash, by his own admission. Stop pretending like it's the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel. It's the movie that killed 70s American filmmaking and made it harder for people with actual talent and insight(Robert Altman,Hal Ashby,Martin Scorsese etc.) to get their films made.
shareDepends. Everybody have his own idea of "the best". I also sometimes think about it.
But honestly the two stories are just very different to compare.
At the core SW is just a lightweight action-adventure-scifi. The misticism element ("the force", the Jedis) are added just like we add a pinch of salt to our meal, to make it more tastier.
The core of Dune however is much more mystical, spiritual, thriller, even political thriller and then a scifi.
I don't think we could ever compare both movies.
"The sleeper must awaken!"
The difference is that Dune would be SF and Star Wars Sci-Fi.
Star Wars was mainly a marketing device. Enjoyable but for every Alec Guinness there is a C3 PO.
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It's not "Sci-Fi", it's SF!
"Calvinism is a very liberal religious ethos." - Truekiwijoker