THE MAKING OF EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
http://amzn.com/0345509617
in the final few chapters, they cover Gary Kurtz departure in detail, and the entire book is about how they went way over schedule and over budget - including how much (to the penny) was borrowed from banks, how much interest was involved, and how 20th Century Fox almost got their rights back.
ONCE UPON A GALAXY by Alan Arnold
http://amzn.com/0345290755
Also an alternate and far more honest and less promotional view of the production.
I respect and love EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and I even concede that in many technical ways it is a superior film - but my favorite is the original 1977 A NEW HOPE. I felt it was more of a slice of the entire galaxy thing, and less specific to these few characters. EMPIRE turned VADER into a "Hey, I'm gonna choke and kill anyone who disagrees with me" now military ranked guy, whereas there was more politics, subtlety and scope in the first film
RETURN OF THE JEDI sucks. No two ways about it for me. Completely unoriginal, bland, and entirely lacking in drama. Lawrence Kasden, who is blissfully involved in all new STAR WARS movies at Lucasfilm today, wrote a great draft of RETURN OF THE JEDI. It was then re-written by George Lucas and all the great drama removed.
I point to the Kasden script in one scene to demonstrate how George Lucas ruined his own idea. In Kasden's script, right after Yoda died, Obi Wan shows up and Luke SCREAMS at him
LUKE
Why didn't you tell me Vader was my father!
OBI WAN
You weren't ready. We told you to finish your training
LUKE
I had to leave! I had to save my friends.
OBI WAN
And didn't they wind up saving you?
And THEN they had a calm conversation. See? DRAMA. Better.
I used to rank JEDI lower than PHANTOM MENACE. Then I watched them all in a row. Nope, PHANTOM MENACE sucks worse.