Sci-Fi Classic Review: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) 

I agree with Rich Elliott comment, in that the, "Ambiguity", of this film gives the audience the opportunity to use their, "Imagination", to fill in the gaps. Sometimes, that's more important and/or rewarding than having every little detail explained to you.

Actually I like the ambiguity of the movie as in 2001 you aren't spoonfed what's going on,just like in real life.

Many of the scenes and ideas are taken from real ufo events and as the news has informed lately its been true all along. And the psychological lingering effects are all to common with an encounter. The movie while not the modern day action packed blockbuster that is now done is still more thought provoking and closer to what actually has occurred.

Re-watching the movie a good few years ago, I was struck by how good the John Williams score is (not just the iconic notes). It's the only time I can remember him using an abstract approach to an SF movie and it works extremely well. The film never really engaged me as much as I expected it would and I just put that down to myself. I'm relieved that you share some of my issues with the film. It definitely is impressively made in every respect and Dreyfus is perfectly cast. It's just that it sort of slides past when I watch it and I don't find a way to immerse myself in it.

That was really cool. I just got done watching a few speilberg commentaries and I think you touched on the little-explored part of his life where he was trying to steam roll his personal issues with his work. You compare this to War of the Worlds where he put a divorced, absent father in charge of his family during a crisis and gave him no one to turn to for guidance about anything and you can see how Speilbergs viewpoint developed.

It was the fact that Bonnie LEFT Roy earlier (taking his kids, who clearly wanted to stay with their dad) that made me accept Roy's decision to leave Earth and his life there behind. Indeed, I would ask wouldn't any curious human choose to remain on Earth when offered the chance to explore life 'out there'? Of course we see this same yearning to see what it is like 'out there' in an earlier film, the TV episode of The Twilight Zone's 'To Serve Man'. Not all exploration has a positive outcome.

IMHO, the best version of CE3K is the original version. I got to see it in theater in December 1977. It is the one that works best by focusing on Roy going crazy after experiencing something that cannot be explained. His story arc fits perfectly within the structure of the hero’s journey. Has it aged well? I think it has. After watching it recently, it has rocketed up in position in my list of the top 3 films of all time.

The movie that started the "lets all stare at the camera with our mouths wide open" craze that followed in its footsteps! Yes looking at you Star Trek The Motion Picture as possibly the worst example lol . I still liked Close Encounters though, it was just epic for the time.

The actual screenplay was first drafted by another guy. He just felt it was too much changed to leave his name on it, so SS took credit for his own great efforts. PS I do think Caan could have played Roy very well.

When i saw that little boy saying "bye" and then he huged his mom and cried on her shoulder.. I started to cry too and i had to use almost all of our house tissues, because that scene was so fricking ADORABLE 😍😍😍

You wouldn't use CGI if you remade Close Encounters today. You would use a painted model with LED lights.

Great review indeed, lots of new angles to look at this movie

I first watched this movie as a double header with this movie being first and the little know second feature, called Star Wars as the second feature just two theaters down in the multiplex theater near my Marine Corps base in 1977. I thought this movie was pretty cool until I saw the second feature. :o)

I love the Special Edition. So his opinion doesn't matter.

Great reviews mate I m binge watching them atm Very enjoyable I m subbed and liking as I go

One of the problems with having a great memory is that sometimes somebody like Spielberg comes along and tries to make you think you're a crazy person. I rented this film about ten years after having watched it in the theater during its initial release. Not realizing it had been "special editioned", I'm like: "Huh? Did I imagine him digging up shrubs and throwing them through a window before? How did I not notice a huge ship in the desert? I somehow forgot the main character getting on an alien space ship? What the hell is happening here?!" The early examples of special editions created a world of pitfalls...

Loved it. One of my favourite films. I find it quirky in that the aliens didnt care about humanity. They abduct people throughout history with no care that they are losing their lives (friends and family dead) and dont really give humanity anything useful back for their trouble. Alien existence is still hidden...people taken again with just some music recorded at the end. What was the point? Loved the film though....

I can't fault CE3K because, when I saw it at the cinema on its first release, I was uplifted and emotionally overwhelmed and that has continued to this day. I do have to be in a certain frame of mind to even start watching the movie as I know what its effect will be. It's cathartic in many ways. I find the same thing in The Shawshank Redemption. I know it will make me weep with both frustration and then joy but I'm glad I can still feel emotions like that. Whilst I enjoy your synopsis of the movies you choose, I really ought to avoid any criticism of certain ones because, really, I don't want to hear it and go deaf to it. This is not a criticism of you, just my own personal failure to be able to detach and be objective about a movie I love.

Honestly, I was dissatisfied with the mothership interior scenes in the special edition of CE3K. It makes me feel better that Spielberg didn’t like them either.

I'm open to the possibility of advanced extra terrestrials having visited the Earth. But I do find some of the better known cases of alleged abductions (*cough-Travis Walton-cough*) to be completely unbelievable.

I'm reading Indecent Exposure. The Columbia days when Close Encounters was being previewed by the execs while David Begelman, head of the studio was being investigated for multiple embezzlements. Quite an expose of life at the top in L.A. You think Washington D.C. is the land of lawyers....anyway, this film was vastly important to Columbia at the time.

I saw this at the Movies wen i was a kid...... i feel old (:

Amazing

This is a one of a kind film. I never get tired of watching it. Thanks for posting T U G.

This is not a religious film, yet it has a mysthical aura...anyway, this an awesome Spielberg 's classic!

superbe film , merci Monsieur SPIELBERG

Keep going, your channel will explode one day.

Roy's wife leaving seems cold hearted by today's standards, but this was 1977. Awareness of post traumatic stress illness was not well known as it is today.

Demonic fare !

I enjoyed your review, however, it’s not one of your best. I will give it a B+. You actually made two errors, by saying there was a 30 year DVD movie out in 1997...but it was 20 years. Also, you stated the box office internationally was $171, not $171 million. It just seems you put effort into this review, but when I compare it to others you have done, it pales in comparison. Keep it going though. I do love your channel!!

I enjoyed the movie when I first saw it and somewhat agree with Roger Ebert's review that this was a film full of Hope and joy. But when I watched it later I applied a few brain cells working in synchronization and actually thought about it. And one question kept occurring to me. Why? See when you think about it the movie makes almost no sense. The aliens go about abducting people pulling them from their lives then leaving artifacts and clues about. Why? They then contact a bunch of human beings programming their minds with the location of the encounter and also seemingly contact the government to set up this meeting. Why? They then after ripping the people from their lives and their time release them unchanged 40-50 years later. Why? The aliens instead of translating their language into English or teaching us their language communicate in a series of beeps and boobs that really isn't a language. Why? They then take the people that they have chosen up into space far away to their planet or wherever. Why? I like to think the last one is because they're going to pull out a book called to serve man and cook them up nice and juicy. This review does supply at least a partial answer Spielberg believed in UFOs and in order to make sense of them they have to act enigmatically without any rhyme or reason discernible to rational humans. All in all if you don't think about it or use enough drugs perhaps this is an enjoyable trippy fick. Oh yes and one how? How did the government know that the aliens would be arriving and understand they need the communicate in obscure musical tones?

this type of narration is what causes sudden clicking away from the bs. good bye.

The movie is utter garbage filled with plot holes and no act 3