Hard to rate this badly.

Although tackling the subject of star wars is difficult, it is important to keep in mind the way that it was made- the way that it was hyped, and how George Lucas came to fame. Lucas had only released THX 1138, a futuristic dystopic film starring Robert Duvall; and American Graffiti, about American life. Although both the movies received mild success (and are more recognized now, post-star wars), undertaking the making of a movie on such a scale as Star Wars was unheard of. The lack of funding for the grandiose battles involved forced a society of over-creative special effects people (who are still among the leading special effects teams) that brought alive the imagination of people everywhere. The first movie's script was simple, and narrow in scope- we saw the federation, the death star, the emperor's involvement and young Luke learning his part in the galactic war. Simple concepts, recycled from so many other sci-fi stories, but with a certain life of their own that flourished as fans became hooked and created their own mythologies for the planets, aliens, and wars that occurred "a long long time ago, in a galaxy far away". Simple hooks in the movie brought fans in more - the cantina scene is one of the most memorable, and well done despite the lack of technology used to create it. The idea of the death star "That's not a moon, that's a spaceship!" was unprecedented and created a sphere of hate for which the American people could rally against. The use of Harrison Ford as Han Solo and James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader spawned careers of two very successful actors and gave them iconic lines and style.
Despite the turn that Star Wars took later, when George Lucas was merely looking to make money off an already-established franchise, the original trilogy HAS stood the test of time as a bit of a masterpiece, and George Lucas will be remembered forever for this strangely interesting foray into galactic conquest.