They had a heartwarming story on Breitbart of a dying patient who got his wish for an advanced screening of the latest Star Wars flick ‘The Rise of Skywalker‘. Poor kid. But whenever I see something about the Star Wars franchise only 1 thought comes to mind, Hollywood had 1 original idea in 42 years and promptly beat it to death. Star Wars beget Star Trek movies. Which beget a number of space series on TV. Battle Star Galactica, Buck Rogers, Star Trek the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine… and no doubt a host of shows I can’t remember. I think a lot of things were better in 1977. Be it fashion, cars, music or any number of things.
If you read any interviews with directors and such they always think the film making art was advanced by various inventions, like the -Steadicam in 1976 or Computer Generated Graphics in the 90s. Good grief. The Golden Age of Hollywood truly was 1935 – 1965. Before that they had some great silent films, though most of the really good ones were made overseas. I remember one interview in particular with George Lucas at the start of the release of the fourth film. He was all excited about the computer technology that just wasn’t available in 1976 when he was shooting the first movie. Ha.
Good film has absolutely nothing to do with technological advancement. One of the best examples of that is the chariot race scene in the original Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ in 1925. Metropolis was a good one. The ones that tend to blow me away are the silent films of France, Germany and Italy. Later India had a very strong film industry. The Russian Jews that founded Hollywood seemed better at monopoly and forcing out competition than they were at good filmmaking, but even that was better than today’s claptrap. Hollywood puts too much faith in silicone, whether it be chips or breasts.
Metropolis (1927)
[A movie on TCM this morning is a prime example; ‘Scaramouche‘ (1923). How Hollywood made it is beyond me, it seems really good. Very good. Clowns, gowns, wonderful cinematography. Not overacted in that “silent picture” kind of way. And this is way before CGI and Steadicams.]
Iowa life 
Actually, it was technology (the invention of the camera, nickelodeon machines, etc.) that made Hollywood possible. Silent movies were the norm until sound was invented. Black and white was the norm until color film was invented and became cost-effective to use. As technology changed, so did Hollywood. It was the invention of TV that almost put Hollywood under, but resilient thinkers like Walt Disney adapted and used TV to further their own creations. It’s true that the great studio moguls (Adolph Zukor – Paramount; William Fox – Fox; Louis B. Mayer – MGM; Jack L. Warner – Warner Bros.; Carl Laemmle – Universal; and Harry Cohn – Columbia) were mostly poor Jewish immigrants who invested in the technology, created Hollywood, and became fabulously wealthy. It’s also true that it took a lot more creativity back then to create special effects and produce a quality movie than it does today. Today, the computer does most of the work. And yes, Hollywood is about profits – not creativity – and they do beat a dead horse until they milk it for all it’s worth, so I agree with your post.
Oh sure, plus I violated the prime directive, which for this blog is supposed to be lighted hearted fun stuff. I kind of remember thinking that at the time. I should have just fleshed out the kid’s wish, and why those films were so important to him.
You wrote what was in your heart and what was important to you. The story about the boy was an introduction into the falseness and superficiality of Hollywood.