 Kurtz's early production credits included the films "Chandler" and Monte Hellman's cult road movie "Two Lane Blacktop" (1971).He then began his hugely successful collaboration with George Lucas by producing Lucas' commercial breakthrough, the low-budget "American Graffiti" (1973), which went on to become one of the most profitable films of all time.Kurtz then produced, worked as a second-unit director, and played a major creative role in the first two "Star Wars" films, but the partnership ended acrimoniously in the interval between "Empire" and the third instalment of the series, "Return of the Jedi", when Lucas and Kurtz fell out over the creative and commercial direction of the franchise.