About this 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 ). Please like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in for future episodes.