[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Startaiger

Agreed. Even if Lucas took some elements from Valerian or Kurosawa's movies (among others), Star Wars is its own thing, & is far more popular worldwide than any of the "ripped" properties.

The Kurosawa influence on Star Wars is a little different since it's a totally different genre but also Lucas was fairly vocal in admitting how much Kurosawa's work influenced him (particularly The Hidden Fortress influencing parts of ANH). At one point Lucas even wanted to cast Toshiro Mifune, a regular leading actor in Kurosawa's films, as Obi Wan but 20th Century was opposed to casting a Japanese actor in a lead role and Toshiro was concerned about how the image of the Samurai would be altered in Western perspective if he were cast.