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George Lucas to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award

Posted by michael on from the your-father-can-never-be-turned-from-the-Dark-Side dept.

KefabiMe writes "George Lucas is receiving the AFI Lifetime Achievement award. I will make no other comment."

10 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. Lifetime Achievement Award Requirements by modifried · · Score: 5, Informative
    "The Life Achievement Award honors an individual whose career in motion pictures or television has greatly contributed to the enrichment of American culture.

    The criteria stated that "the recipient should be one whose talent has in a fundamental way advanced the film art; whose accomplishment has been acknowledged by scholars, critics, professional peers and the general public; and whose work has stood the test of time." In 1993, AFI trustees extended the criteria to encompass individuals with active careers and work of significance yet to be accomplished. "

    (From http://www.afi.com/tvevents/laa/laasite/)

  2. past winners by Pompatus · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to MSN Encarta (hey, it was the first one I found on a google search) these are the past winners of the AFI Lifetime achievement award.

    1973 John Ford
    1974 James Cagney
    1975 Orson Welles
    1976 William Wyler
    1977 Bette Davis
    1978 Henry Fonda
    1979 Alfred Hitchcock
    1980 James Stewart
    1981 Fred Astaire
    1982 Frank Capra
    1983 John Huston
    1984 Lillian Gish
    1985 Gene Kelly
    1986 Billy Wilder
    1987 Barbara Stanwyck
    1988 Jack Lemmon
    1989 Gregory Peck
    1990 Sir David Lean
    1991 Kirk Douglas
    1992 Sidney Poitier
    1993 Elizabeth Taylor
    1994 Jack Nicholson
    1995 Steven Spielberg
    1996 Clint Eastwood
    1997 Martin Scorsese
    1998 Robert Wise
    1999 Dustin Hoffman
    2000 Harrison Ford
    2001 Barbra Streisand
    2002 Tom Hanks
    2003 Robert De Niro
    2004 Meryl Streep

    There are some pretty serious names on that list. My point is, why now? The nostalgia for the first trilogy of films is good and all, but really, they were only 3 movies.

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  3. Well deserved by AndrewStephens · · Score: 5, Informative

    Much as we all enjoy reading about how Lucus raped your childhood, his movies are probably only a small part of why he is getting this award. The man is directly responsible for much of the technology behind modern film making - nonlinear editing, sound post-production and reproduction, digital effects, virtual sets, virtual extras, and now he is a leading force in digital film. Not to mention the great strides he made in marketing and licensing :)
    All these techniques were developed for his projects, and there is not a film made today that does not use them in some way.
    He is certainly more deserving than 2001's winner - Barbra Streisand!

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  4. It's all about special effects... by pedantic+bore · · Score: 4, Informative
    If you RTFA, you'll see that what is being recognized is primarily Lucas's pioneering work in special effects: ILM, Pixar, Lucas Sound, etc. The man might not know how to direct his way out of a paper bag, and his ear for dialog went deaf about twenty years ago, but he has created some wonderful tools for other directors/writers to use. He deserves something for that.

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    Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
  5. American Graffiti by httpamphibio.us · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm constantly surprised that George Lucas was lucid and creative enough to create American Graffiti... it's a film that has not only withstood the test of time, quite an achievement for what could have easily been just a nostalgia piece, but has the perfect balance of comedy and drama, and manages to develop many different storylines (most multi-threaded films tend to skimp on any sort of real character and story development and the crossover between storylines is often very poor).

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  6. Re:I will. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    but let's not forget what Lucas has done for special effects, cinema sound, etc.

    He deserves a special award because he looked at the current state of audio and video and turned his nose up at it and demanded more money be spent on more technology? Sounds like he simply demanded a higher level of medium in which to do his work, he had a team of guys do their homework then slap his company name on the project and declare "if you don't have THX then you are nothing, btw, it costs $90,000 to for a license to use THX, thanks in advance".

    Just because the first invented a stop sign doesn't mean they would never have been invented.

  7. Re:Yoda Speak by sparcnut · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not quite, try "Award you shall win!"

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  8. Re:woohoo by John3 · · Score: 2, Informative

    They won't redo the Indiana Jones films because Spielberg and others would have to be involved. Lucas doesn't have 100% control of that series so he needs get approval and signed contracts from too many folks to make changes.

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    "We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
  9. I'm probably the only one in the world who thinks by SynapseLapse · · Score: 2, Informative

    But I think he should win for giving us the beloved Lucasarts company... :)

    Well, up until the screwed up, and then canceled Sam and Max 2 and Full Throttle.

  10. Re:I will. by kamapuaa · · Score: 2, Informative
    I take good movies in black and white with mono sound over bad movies with excelent visual and sound effects.

    It's not just stupid blockbusters. ILM type effects, as they trickle down to cheaper and cheaper production companies, have a huge influence on movies high and low, probably the largest change in the look of films since French New-Wave techniques. "Amelie" used CGI effects in nearly every scene (if just to increase contrast), low-budget "Eurotrip" inserted the Tower of London to a scene of Prague, to avoid the budget hit of a trip to London. Cannes award winner "Oldboy" used computer effects to visualize memories. I don't have to mention "Lord of the Rings."

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