10 Most Dishonest Editing Cuts In Film History

9. Greedo Shoots First - Star Wars: A New Hope (Special Edition)

The whole "Greedo shoots first" debacle might be the most significant controversy surrounding a single piece of editing in any film ever. In the original theatrical release of Star Wars: A New Hope, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) of course shoots bounty hunter Greedo dead in the catina without even flinching.

It was a superbly badass scene and an exceptionally economical piece of character development, immediately letting the audience know just how smart and ruthless Han could be when he sensed danger.

George Lucas, feeling that this made Han a "cold-blooded killer," re-edited the scene for the 1997 Special Edition, having Greedo instead shoot first and miss Han, before Han quickly fires back in self-defense.

In addition to making Han simply seem less-cool, having Greedo miss from three feet away made him and the entire scene play as monumentally stupid.

Worse still, for the 2004 DVD release, Lucas digitally altered the scene further, having the blaster shots fire at almost exactly the same time and making Han awkwardly dodge Greedo's blaster shot through cringe-worthy CGI manipulation.

Lucas continues to defend the edit as consistent with his own conception of Han, which really just confirms how little he truly understands his own creation.

It's dishonest to the fans, and worst of all, dishonest to the character as depicted through the original three movies.