Arguably the most important film innovator in the history of the medium, George Lucas continually "pushed the envelope" of filmmaking technology since his early days as a student at U.S.C. Considered a wunderkind by his contemporaries, he had a much harder time communicating his vision to studio executives, whose meddling managed to compromise each of his first three feature directing efforts in some way. The monumental success of "Star Wars" (1977) ushered in the era of the “summer blockbuster,” which, despite the later popularity of low budget independent films, was still the prevailing mentality powering the Hollywood engine....