George Lucas made Star Wars. It is his legacy. Kershner is similar to Lucas in the way that they both made a single good movie in their careers.
But A New Hope is genius level filmmaking. Only one movie could steal lightning from 2001 A Space Odyssey. That movie is the very first Star Wars Movie.
Verdict ANH > ESB
ESB was responsible for ushering in the "Cliffhanger" in a time when we didn't have social media to spoil movies(Thank God) and had to rely on STARLOG Magazine for my STAR WARS Return of the Jedi updates.. Interestingly enough, initially, it was titled "Revenge of the Jedi" but Lucas had to change that because Jedi's didn't get revenge
shareI give the nod to ANH. Though ESB is a 4 out of 4 as well.
The rest not quite up to those two, according to my personal taste.
But the first six are enjoyable to varying degrees.
And the only ones that exist in my universe.
Edit: btw, ANH was a cliffhanger as well -- Vader escaped after all.
For me, Empire is better but the original Star Wars is still very good. I love the dynamic between the wise old Obi, the young naive Luke, and the cynical, anti-heroic Han. And I always felt Alec Guinness' and Peter Cushing's presence brought so much to that film.
But I still slightly prefer Empire for a few reasons, and the main one is the locations. It opened up the universe and gave us different and unique environments but ones that looked and felt real and atmospheric, unlike the prequels.
One of the biggest disappointments for me with Jedi was just going back to deserts and forests again.
I saw A New Hope when it opened and there was just nothing like it. So, that makes the film the amazing movie that triggered decades of massive interest and fun for probably billions of people.
Meanwhile, I saw Empire opening weekend in New York City. The crowd was so energized and the movie so surprising that watching the movie was the best movie experience I've ever had and I'm a huge movie fan.
So, Empire is a great film had better special effects, settings, and twists than a New Hope, however, there could be no Empire without New Hope, so New Hope wins.
Yes, ESB is better in every respect. Technological clumsiness shows in ANH and it's a silly movie. In ESB the Star Wars universe burst into full bloom. Technology and SFX wizards at ILM were more experienced and relaxed and it shows. Then it was over, ROTJ was a children's movie, the only good stuff were Luke, Vader and Emperor confrontation and space battle stuff.
shareI like Empire Strikes back but A New Hope is my favorite Star Wars film. I like Return of the Jedi more than I like the Empire Strikes Back
shareStar Wars is obviously the best by far of the original 3.
It introduced Luke, Leia, Han, C3P0, R2-D2, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader.
It could have just ended at that and been great.