The Empire Strikes Back (1980 Bonus Episode)

This special bonus episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1980 features Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back. Directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan and starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels and Frank Oz, The Empire Strikes Back was the highest-grossing movie of 1980 and helped establish Star Wars as a pop-culture force for decades to come.

The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Gary Arnold in The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/review97/empirestrikesbackarnold.htm), Arthur Knight in The Hollywood Reporter (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/empire-strikes-back-review-1980-movie-752672/), and Vincent Canby in The New York Times (https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/061580empire.html).

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