An absolutely idiotic notion is cleverly illustrated here. If Star Wars had been released in 1957 instead of ’77 and if George Lucas had hired Saul Bass to do the main titles, this is how it would have looked. Right. Bass would have ignored the celestial adventure aspects and sought to invoke an urban jazzy vibe, going in the exact same direction as the main title sequences for The Man With the Golden Arm and Anatomy of a Murder.

I’ll admit that in its own nonsensical way it’s a pretty good Bass knockoff. Bass was great. His main-title sequence for Walk on the Wild Side (’61) was widely praised as being better that the film that followed. The same was true for his Man With the Golden Arm sequence, even though the brassy big-band jazz music feels a little too forced.