1. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
In 1977, the film-making landscape changed with the release of Star Wars. George Lucas' space opera energised an entire generation with the story of good versus evil as a young boy joined a cocky pilot, two droids, an old knight and a walking carpet in rescuing a beautiful princess and fighting an evil empire. A legend was born. Three years later, Empire Strikes Back set the standard for what a sequel could and should do. It expanded the universe and treated audiences to never before seen worlds, it introduced a complexity and uncertainty into the storyline, it raised the stakes and developed all the characters. There are lightsaber fights, Yoda, the kiss and that twist, not to mention the coolest scruffy-looking nerf herder this side of Mos Eisley saying 'I know' like no-one else in cinema history. Return of the Jedi came in for some criticism when it was released in 1983, mainly because of the Ewoks, but it still has Jabba's palace, the fight with the Rancor, the speeder chase on Endor, and the final lightsaber battle on the Death Star which, let's face it ain't bad at all. The prequels may have fallen short of the mark, but here's hoping the new trilogy can recapture some of the magic that made this one of the greatest trilogies of all time.
Trilogy Low Point: Similar to having to pick your least favourite child, the precocious scamp Return Of The Jedi probably nicks it.
Did you Know?... During filming in London, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher joined The Rolling Stones at a party thrown by Python Eric Idle. He served them all a potent liquor called Tunisian Table Cleaner and kept them up all night drinking. The first scenes shot the next morning were their arrival in Cloud City. Fisher says the nights booze fuelled antics explains why she and Ford are so happy in those scenes.