…much less say it?

It is absolutely accepted doctrine the whole world over that The Empire Strikes Back (’80…45 years old next month!) is far and away the best Star Wars film ever made…the best that ever will be made.

Partly because it plays like a fly-by-night episodic…no real “beginning” (it just drops onto the ice planet of Hoth and kickstarts itself) and certainly without a satisfying “ending”…it leaves you hanging with the young, immature, pint-sized hero in a robe, pajamas and slippers while recovering from a recent hand amputation plus the dominant macho-muscular hero encased in carbon freeze…it just slams on the brakes.

The best thing Empire has to say at the end is “well, at least the heroes aren’t dead!”

And partly because it delivers the best third-act plot twist in the history of genre cinema….

But mostly (and I’ve said this four or five times) because it’s the only escapist, teen-friendly space action fantasy that behaves like a film noir…the only Star Wars film in which the good guys are constantly losing at every turn…running for cover, barely escaping, the bad guys in hot pursuit and pretty much maintaining an upper hand start to finish.

Name another action classic in which the heroes constantly get their asses kicked, and don’t even manage a small win at the end.