Get me Scorsese on the phone...

I had an enjoyable walk in to work today. It was snowing again. Also, I was listening to Steely Dan's The Royal Scam (an excellent Christmas present). It's a good album, partly because one of the songs has the lyric "No, I'm never gonna do it without the fez on", which I assume is about the requirements of doing a good Tommy Cooper impression.

The other good thing about it is that it makes me feel like I'm in a mid-seventies American drama film. I was also wearing a scarf, which completed the illusion. Even though I was walking through suburban Oxford, I felt like I might be starring in one of those gritty, sophisticated movies that they don't really make any more.

I think I'd play a steelworker in Pittsburg or somewhere, walking to work through the city I loved. That would be by day. By night, I'd pursue my dream of being a dancer in some echoey warehouse loft, whilst trying to convince my brother (John Cazale) to give up smack.

I'd be married, but having marital problems because my wife (played by Meryl Streep) and I can't conceive. My boss at the factory would be played by Gene Hackman, and I'd have a streetwise best friend called Donny Q (played by Billy Dee Williams). Donny would play the saxophone, and I'd always greet him with an elaborate handshake.

The opening of the film would involve me, wearing a scarf, walking down the snowy street with Kid Charlemagne playing in the background. I'd be friends with all the cool looking street kids, with whom I had credibility despite being white, middle-class and offensively English.

It's funny that the early-to-mid seventies seemed to have so many good, serious drama films. Cinema had really matured, and become capable of dealing with complicated issues in a sophisticated way. All these actors who we'd go on to see as some of the best ever were in a constant stream of amazing stuff: Pacino, Hoffman, DeNiro, Streep, Hackman.

It must have seemed at the time that cinema was going to attain the same respectability as classical art and the novel.

And then George Lucas came along.

The studios must have thought: "Well, we could continue to make thought-provoking pieces of art. But look how much money Star Wars made! Look how much money the toys made!"

And everything changed. People started making films for twelve-year-old boys. They don't want to see a complex exploration of the consequences of the American dream through the eyes of the oppressed. They want to see people getting shot by lasers. And who could blame them?

Stupid George Lucas.

I don't think I really believe all that. There's no doubt that Star Wars had a big impact on the kind of films studios chose to make, but it's not really that simple. Episode IV came out in 1977. The Deer Hunter came out in 1978.

Herbie Rides Again came out in 1974.

Also, without Star Wars, there'd probably be no Back to the Future, so I can't complain.

George Lucas is stupid though.