Marcia Lucas (1945-2026); an editing virtuoso of 1970s cinema…

A long time ago, in an editing bay not too far away… Born in Modesto, California in 1945 to an Air Force officer father, Marcia Griffin moved all over California, until her parents divorced and she went to North Hollywood, where she and her mother stayed with her grandmother. It was in Hollywood where Marcia…

How 1973’s “American Graffiti” created a ripple effect still felt over 50 years later…

*****TWIN BARREL-CARB SPOILERS!***** After the arguably unjust box office failure of his arthouse-dystopian sci-fi film “THX-1138” (1971), George Lucas was challenged by his mentor and American Zoetrope producing partner Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather” trilogy, “Apocalypse Now”) to do something challenging to his own avant-garde sensibilities, which, for young George Lucas, meant creating a warm,…

George Lucas’ original sci-fi epic, “THX-1138” (1971)…

******SPOILERS AHEAD!****** Past Prologue. In 1967, a 23 year-old USC graduate named George Lucas wrote and directed an ambitious futuristic short film called “Electronic Labyrinth THX-1138 4EB,” which chronicled the escape of a dissident (Dan Nachtsheim) from a futuristic dystopia. The film runs just 15 minutes, but it acquired a lot of notice for its…