I don't know if it's true or not but I heard that Star Wars was saved in the editing room after the studio brought in someone else to fix what Lucas did.
First of all, every movie is "saved" in the editing room. Editing is is the number 1 thing that makes movies unique as art. Second of all, Marcia Lucas (his wife at the time) helped in the editing room. That is true and she deserves a lot of credit for that. But there would have been nothing to edit if Lucas didn't shoot the film and decide to shoot it the way he did. And ultimately it was his choice what to do with the film. If he didn't like any edits, he could have changed them. He's certainly had plenty of time to change it since 77. Structurally it's still pretty much the same film.
It just amazes me how much people want to discredit GL. He gave you Star Wars. There is no Star Wars with him. Yes he needed help, but none of the people that helped him came up with initial idea. And if you love the current Lucasfilm, you should thank him. He made the decision to sell the company and put Kennedy at the head of it. There is no sequel Trilogy or spin-offs without GL deciding to let others play in his sandbox.
