Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss,  François Truffaut, and Teri Gar.

Plot: Roy Neary is a line worker who has a series of encounters with unidentified flying objects.  Soon, he starts having a vision of a mountain that almost drives him insane.  He meets a single mother who also saw the UFOs and has the same vision.  Together, they'll try to figure out what those strange things were and why they keep having these visions.  Meanwhile, a team of scientists who work for the government are also trying to figure out what these strange occurrences mean, and prepare for contact with possibly extraterrestrial beings.

Good: This film is an excellent example of amazing special effects.  It's one of those few instances where you have to remind yourself that what you're seeing is not real and is a special effect.  If a movie made 37 years ago can fool the audience like that, than the movies today have no excuse for looking fake.  The spaceships look absolutely gorgeous, with their beautiful lights and sounds.  That final scene from when the mothership arrives to when it leaves is one of the most stunning scenes in cinema history.  The music, by John Williams, is amazing as always, and when placed with the visuals, can bring a fan of science fiction close to tears. Richard Dreyfuss does another incredible performance as Roy, and he does a great job as a man with an obsession that nearly drives him insane.  The rest of the cast is great, including a stand-out performance by Melinda Dillon as Jillian.  The film does a great job at making the events in the film feel like they could really happen, with an absence of a villain, and the scientists actually being listened to, like they should be.

Bad: It was hard finding things I disliked about this film without being nitpicky.  One problem is that Roy starts to seem like he doesn't care about his family.  This is hinted at when he destroys the yard of their house in order to make a sculpture of the mountain made out of mud and plants, and it is made very evident when he leaves Earth in order to go with the aliens.  To me, this makes him seem very unlikeable very fast.  One small problem that I have is that the movie reveals what the aliens look like.  I think that it would be a lot better if it was left ambiguous as to what the aliens looked like, just to make them seem more intangible.

Trivia: 

• All the small aliens were played by local 8-12 year old girls, because Spielberg thought girls moved more gracefully than boys.
• Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and Steve McQueen were approached to play Roy.
• The words the Indians chant in the film are "Aaya Re!  Aaya!", which means "He has come".
• Stanly Kubrick wanted Cary Guffy (Barry) to play Danny in The Shining after he saw him in this film.

Final Verdict: While it may have some flaws, this film is still absolutely amazing.  The acting is great, the music is fantastic, and the visuals will blow your mind.  I recomend this film to anyone who even has the slightest interest in science fiction, Steven Spielberg, or just movies in general.  It is almost criminal that this film isn't talked about more.  It's not just a great science fiction film, nor is it just a great Spielberg film, but an amazing film in general.

Next time, we'll go back in time and take a look at one of Spielberg's not so loved films; 1941.

Stay tuned